Olivia de Havilland, the only surviving star of the classic 1939 film Gone With The Wind, celebrated her 104th birthday on Tuesday.
People Magazine reported that de Havilland, who lives in Paris, France, is considered to be one of the last true stars of the golden era of Hollywood.
Though she was nominated for her first Oscar for her work in Gone With The Wind, de Havilland did not end up winning the award until 1946, when she won her first of two Best Actress Academy Awards for To Each His Own.
Three years later, de Havilland won this same award again for The Heiress.
de Havilland retired from acting in 1988, and she has mostly stayed out of the limelight since then.
In 2017, she reemerged when she was given the honor of being named a dame, saying at the time that she was “extremely proud that the Queen has appointed me a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.”
“To receive this honor as my 101st birthday approaches is the most gratifying of birthday presents,” she added.
That same year, de Havilland reemerged once again to file a lawsuit against FX for their depiction of her in miniseries “Feud: Bette and Joan,” in which she was portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
“Miss de Havilland was not asked by FX for permission to use her name and identity and was not compensated for such use,” her attorneys said at the time, according to Vanity Fair.
“Further, the FX series puts words in the mouth of Miss de Havilland which are inaccurate and contrary to the reputation she has built over an 80-year professional life, specifically refusing to engage in gossip mongering about other actors in order to generate media attention for herself.”
The lawyers went on to add that the series portrayed her in “a false light to sensationalize the series” and enhance the profits from it.
Though a state superior court judge initially turned down FX’s request to have the suit thrown out, a California appeals court later reversed this decision, saying that de Havilland’s suit “should have been tossed because it’s precluded by the First Amendment.”
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected de Havilland’s petition to review this dismissal.
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com and is used by permission.
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