'Gone with the Wind' star Olivia De Havilland Has Died At Age 104

Jul 26, 2020 by apost team

Legendary Hollywood actress Olivia De Havilland has passed away aged 104, her representatives confirmed earlier today.

The actress was best known for her iconic role as Melanie Wilkes in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind. 

De Havilland’s former lawyer, Suzelle M. Smith, confirmed the actresses’ death to NBC News via email.

“Last night, the world lost an international treasure, and I lost a dear friend and beloved client,” Smith told the publication. 

Smith revealed De Havilland passed away of natural causes “peacefully” in her home in Paris, where she has lived for more than six decades.

Olivia de Havilland was a two-time Oscar winner. She was also the last surviving cast member of Gone with the Wind at an amazing 104-years-old. We're taking a look back at her amazing life, her impressive decade-spanning career, and the role that made her a Hollywood legend. 

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Olivia de Havilland was born in Tokyo on July 1, 1917, to parents Walter de Havilland, an English professor and Lilian Fontaine, an academy-award-winning English actress. As a teenager, De Havilland would act in amateur theater before making her film debut in 1935, when she starred in the drama, A Midsummer Night's Dream, according to Forbes. The film saw De Havilland play the role of the sweet, charming love interest we all got to know her for in later projects. 

In 1938, the actress shot to Hollywood stardom with her role as Maid Marian in The Adventures of Robin Hood. The film was released to critical acclaim and even bagged an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Gone with the Wind follows the lives of southern Americans who lived during the 1861’s Civil War, in which De Havilland played the role of Melanie Wilkes, the cousin of Scarlett O’Hara, the lead role of the film.

All in all, she has been seen in over 50 movies during her career. She has also won the prestigious Oscar for two movies, The Snake Pit in 1948 and The Heiress in 1949. For both, she was given the Best Actress award.

De Havilland enjoyed years of success in Hollywood in her younger days as a gorgeous starlet. She was a successful actress for many years before retiring around three decades ago. The actress was appointed as a Dame Commander during the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II and was given this title right before her 101st birthday. 

As she approached her 100th birthday, the Dame spoke to Vanity Fair about what she attributed her long life to:

“The three *L’*s—love, laughter, and light," she revealed.

We mourn the loss of a legend.