Post by timshelboy on Aug 27, 2024 19:24:09 GMT
Joan Fontaine became a star in a role that required her to be gauche, ,frightened and timid- quite unlike her offscreen self.
She was born in Tokyo in 1917, but after her parents divorced moved to California with her mother.
As sister Olivia was doing quite well as a movie actress Joan tried her luck in 1935s NO MORE LADIES she was rival to Joan Crawford. In 1937 she supported Katharine Hepburn in QUALITY STREET
She made half a dozen B movies for RKO over the next couple of years. The exceptions were two musicals MUSIC FOR MADAME and A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS opposite Fred Astaire. Fans of Ginger were not too put out as she only had one dance.
She auditioned for Scarlett... and Selznick instead cast her in THE WOMEN as the one who isn't a bitch. Below, with Rosalind Russell and Norma Shearer
The big break - as the second Mrs DeWinter in Hitchcock's REBECCA came next in 1940. The plot was altered from the DuMaurier novel but I doubt anyone much cared - the film was a smash hit and she got an Oscar nomination
She followed in with the lesser SUSPICION, but it was good enough to snag her the Oscar. With Cary Grant.
She starred opposite Tyrone Power in the dull THIS ABOVE ALL
And then had another couple of good ones THE CONSTANT NYMPH opposite Charles Boyer (another Oscar nomination)
and JANE EYRE 1944
FRENCHMANS CREEK saw her as a Milady dallying with pirates. It cost $4m dollars and was not a big enough hit to make that worthwhile
THE AFFAIRS OF SUSAN and FROM THIS DAY FORWARD were more modest productions.
IVY cast her as a bad lot -
THE EMPEROR WALTZ sat on the shelf for a couple of years despite presence of Bing Crosby - candidate for Billy Wilder's weakest effort.
Nor did LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMEN exactly pack em in cinemas at the time - although most observers now regard it as a career high point
The next was not a career high point although she got top billing above James Stewart - a sign her Hollywood stock was still high
KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS didn't quite live up to it's "come hither" title but was a satisfying London set Noir with Burt Lancaster and Robert Newton
BORN TO BE BAD lived up to its title but SEPTEMBER AFFAIR was a solid hit, with her and Joseph Cotten believed dead in a plane crash allowing them to start new lives together...
SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR was another that spent a couple of years on the shelf - less deservedly this time - She was an alcoholic actress involved with married Ray Milland.
As Rowena in IVANHOE she took over the part from Margaret Leighton at the last minute and accepted third billing. It was a big hit.
DECAMERON NIGHTS was colourful tosh that gave all the principals several roles
THE BIGAMIST was an offbeat look at the phenomena - she was the legal wife.
BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT was another excursion into Noir
The BO tease of miscegination - plus scenery - accounted for large audiences for ISLAND IN THE SUN. It looks pretty tame now but her and Harry Belafonte were hot stuff in 1957
UNTIL THEY SAIL was a soaper about 4 sisters - she took second billing to Jean Simmons, but above Piper Laurie and Sandra Dee (and indeed Paul Newman)
Glacially chic in A CERTAIN SMILE with Rossano Brazzi
One hardly expected to see her in the likes of VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA but she was
{Spoiler}
and got eaten by a shark
and got eaten by a shark
TENDER IS THE NIGHT saw her supporting Jennifer Jones, her old Selznick stablemate. She writes candidly about the demotion.
THE WITCHES 1966 was really the last gasp of her star run - A Hammer Horror
She made a few efforts for Tv but nothing of any note.
Still - she was an accomplished woman - "a licensed pilot, champion balloonist, prize winning tuna fisherman and an expert golfer...a licensed interior decorator and a cordon bleu cook" (E Katz) Autobiography NO BED OF ROSES
She died in 2013.Thanks for reading
