A Tale of Two Sisters

This is Part 3 in a three-part review of the book Sisters: The Story of Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine (1984) Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Prior to purchasing "Sisters: The Story of Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine" by Charles Higham, the reviews I had read were almost wholly negative. While I anticipated the arrival of the book, I was hellbent on being pleasantly surprised with the material therein.

Alas, one cannot always get what they want.

The story itself is quite interesting, as the lives of these two sisters are both thrilling and tragic; full of success and defeat; and last, but certainly not least, legendary.

The savage sisterly feud of which Charles Higham writes stands as one of the most iconic and enduring celebrity catfights in Hollywood history. Both women have taken public, and private, shots at one another; and both sisters have been left deeply hurt.

The subject matter being this book's only real redeeming quality, I have very few positive things to say about it. The writing alone became very tedious rather quickly. Charles Higham's prose seems to carry a very slow pace. Because of this, I found myself often bored, flipping through the rest of the book to try and find the TRULY juicy details. There also seem to be a number of factual errors in Higham's story. It also became apparent to me that the storyline could get confusing, the way Higham jumps from one sister's life to another. That being said, one must still give him credit for his ability to intertwine the sister's lives in an accurate chronological fashion.

Poor editing aside, Higham seems to have dropped a few bombshells within his book; most of them, it seems, are directed at Olivia. The following things about which I was most shocked are:

1.) The abuse (mental, physical, and sexual) both young girls endured at the hands of their tyrannical stepfather, George Fontaine.

2.) The accusation that Errol Flynn once, in a drunken stupor, tried to break down the door to Olivia's dressing room and rape her.

3.) The inclusion of Olivia's court testimonies stating that first husband Marcus Goodrich began to abuse and terrify her shortly after their son's birth.

4.) Olivia's alleged extramarital affair with Luther Davis in the mid-1960's.

It was the shocking and scandalous passages that held my attention. Had Higham not spiced things up, it is sufficient to say I would have put this book down. It was my dedication to Olivia and Joan that inspired me to see this novel through.

All of this being said, I would only recommend this book to die hard fans of Olivia de Havilland and/or Joan Fontaine. Only they will have what it takes to finish this book.

The Little Sister Who Actually Happens to Have Talent (Take Note Ashlee Simpson)

This is Part 2 in a three-part review of the book Sisters: The Story of Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine (1984) Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

While Charles Higham's "Sisters" destroyed my illusions of Olivia, it failed to change my opinion of Joan Fontaine. Prior to reading her own autobiography, I had very little interest in her as anything other than an actress. But once I opened "No Bed of Roses," I was hooked. I found a woman with whom I could strongly identify. She was witty, strong, intelligent, and obviously very different from those around her.

Because of her honesty in her own book, there was very little that surprised me in "Sisters." One thing is for certain, though: While Higham was kind to neither sibling, his portrait of Joan was the more flattering. He portrayed Olivia as a psychopath; he gave the impression that Joan was a misunderstood wit with a terribly weak immune system.

Other than stating that Joan was a sickly child whom Olivia cast aside, especially within school halls, there is no reason to delve into her childhood for she shared one with Olivia; and I touched on their childhood in my review FOR her elder sister.

They shared the same incidents of child molestation, the same eccentric absentee father, and the same sordid childhood rife with Draconian discipline.

Joan managed to escape her parents' (mother and stepfather) house for a year, when she traveled to Japan to live with her father and stepmother. This arrangement ended when Walter de Havilland, the girls' estranged father, allegedly propositioned Joan.

Throughout adulthood, Joan beat Olivia to many monumental firsts: she was first to lose her virginity, get married, win an Oscar, and have a child. Certainly this poked holes in an already perforated bond.

Joan was also married twice as many times as Olivia. The first, to Brian Aherne; then William Dozier; followed by Collier Young, and then Alfred Wright, Jr.

Her only biological child is Deborah Leslie Dozier, born to Joan and Bill Dozier. She also informally adopted a poor Peruvian child by the name of Martita Valentina Pareja (how BEAUTIFUL is that name??!!!). Joan, unfortunately, suffered 2 miscarriages during 1965.

Her personal life has seen many ups and downs, but it has been full of laughter, glamour, and wonderful friends.

Professionally, though Olivia is regarded as the more successful and iconic of the two, Joan has surely made her mark on Hollywood. She is a true screen legend, and she will be remembered for quite some time.

Olivia, Interrupted

This is Part 1 in a three-part review of the book Sisters: The Story of Olivia De Havilland and Joan Fontaine (1984) Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I have been a great admirer of Ms. de Havilland since I was 15, when her example inspired me to cope with an illness I had been battling for quite some time. The impression her talent, beauty, and charisma left was one of great dignity and kindness. When I began reading "Sisters" by Charles Higham, I had every confidence that his research would support my image of Olivia.

I was sadly mistaken. Mr. Higham painted a rather ugly portrait of her; and though he was quite brutal in his presentation of both women, Olivia seems to have gotten the shorter end of the stick.

The woman I had thought to be sweet, delicate, and demure (and don't forget "innocent") was nothing of the sort. In all reality, at least the way Charles Higham writes it, Olivia Mary de Havilland is a hot-tempered, impatient, overly dramatic diva. In shorter words, she is a b----.

According to this book, she was frequently late to her sets, difficult to work with, and prone to throwing tantrums of epic proportions. While her talent makes up for her character (or, rather, lack thereof) on-screen, it does very little to help her off. In her personal life, she seems to have exhibited the same selfish patterns: from allegedly subjecting Joan to various tortures, including breaking her collar bone when the girls were in their late teens; to alienating family and friends; to getting her "slut" on with writer/producer Luther Davis in 1964, much to her second husband's chagrin; to ruling her household with an iron hand, subjecting her children to strict discipline remminiscent of her own childhood.

Still, Charles Higham shows a more tragic side of this fiery woman, especially in reference to her childhood.

Her biological parents parted ways while she and Joan were still toddlers, and from then on her father remained undoubtedly estranged; once the girls grew older, he began exhibiting increasingly peculiar behavior, even holding press conferences and writing to newspapers about Olivia's selfish behavior and unfair treatment of him.

The stepfather who joined their mother in raising them was no ray of sunshine either. He allegedly (and even according to Joan's own account) punished the girls by way of almost animalistic beatings, leaving welts and bruises on their bodies. And, probably the most harrowing of all, in 1924 he engaged in sexually abusive behavior, molesting both young girls (then 7 & 8) in the bathtub, as he washed their bodies. Though his outrageous, borderline abusive, discipline went on to bear fine results, it is clear, at least to me, that such events left deep psychological scars in the hearts and minds of both sisters.

Completing the cycle of tyrannical men in Olivia's life was Marcus Aurelius Goodrich. Her first husband, whose son she bore in 1949, treated her rather unkindly throughout their relatively short marriage. According to Olivia's court testimonies, he was not only incredibly tempermental (birds of a feather...), but physically abusive as well. Shortly after the birth of their son the couple engaged in a verbal disagreement that resulted in Goodrich smacking Olivia across the face. (It seems to me like it's basically old school protocol for a woman to take it in the face every once in a while. That's pretty f----- up.) On another occasion, he assaulted her to the point of quite serious bruising, threatening her life and scaring her to the point that she fled their vehicle and ran down the street to escape his rage. Though he chased her into the bushes, she managed to find refuge in a neighbor's house until she felt she was safe.

Clearly Olivia's life was never just rainbows and Butterfly McQueen. And everyone is human, we all have our faults- even those men and women we like to idealize. I was quite disappointed with who Olivia turned out to be, at least from Charles Higham's perspective. But when I ponder this I realize that if one were to write a book about me, there would be a lot of things that could make me look like a total psychopath, too.

What I know for sure when it comes to Olivia is this: She is one of the greatest actresses to grace the big screen, and one of the most beautiful to boot. Throughout her life she has exhibited great strength and resillience, as well as an indomitable determination to succeed. These qualities have allowed her to leave an astounding legacy, one that will be remembered for decades to come.

No matter her personal flaws, Olivia Mary de Havilland is a legend.