Monday Muses: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine

On December 15th, 2013, Hollywood lost a piece of film star royalty in Joan Fontaine. She and her sister, Olivia de Havilland, were some of Hollywood's most famous siblings and became famous during the time of the studio darlings. They were most known for their work on the big screen, Havilland in Gone With the Wind and Fontaine in Suspicion. As much as they were known for their work their long time feud was also public knowledge. After Fontaine's death Olivia made a rare statement about her sister, saying she was "shocked and saddened" by the news and that she was grateful for "the many kind expressions of sympathies." Fontaine died in her sleep at the age of 96 at her home in Carmel, California.

While we like to keep everything on the blog a positive note, the feud between these famous sisters does pique our interest! It's rumored their feud started when as children, Joan felt that Olivia was her mother's favorite. And well...considering when Joan wanted to follow in her sister's acting footsteps, their Mother REFUSED to let her use the Havilland surname as well leaving Joan to invent a new surname! We'd be steamed about that too!

Joan Fontaine in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in 1978 is quoted to have said, "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!"

Despite the sibling rivalry, we think both Joan and Olivia are beautiful and had several vintage ensembles that we wouldn't mind getting into a fight over.