Turner Classic Movies (TCM) star of the month Joan de Beauvior de Havilland (Joan Fontaine) was born October 22, 1917 in Tokyo, Japan. She is the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. The girls fulfilled their mother’s dream (Lillian Fontaine) of being an actress. Joan’s first stage name was Joan Burfield so she wouldn’t compete with her sister’s use of the family name that Olivia was using. Joan’s first small role was in 1935 in No More Ladies. Two years later she started using her final stage name Joan Fontaine and landed the role in You Can’t Beat Love in 1937.

Joan continued to act in movies and in 1940 she was nominated for an Academy Award for the movie Rebecca. She didn’t win her first nomination but the next year was nominated again for Suspicion. This time she won and took home her Oscar. Joan was nominated for a third Oscar for The Constant Nymph the following year. By the late 1940s her movies were decreasing in number and successes. Joan started doing TV and dinner theaters and well as Broadway plays. The last time Joan appeared before a camera was in the TV production Good King Wenceslas in 1994. Joan is writing in her spare time and you might still catch Joan on stage and in the lecture circuit.

TCM Movies Featuring Joan Fontaine:
No More Ladies
You Can’t Beat Love
The Man Who Found Himself
Quality Street
Until They Sail
The Women
A Damsel in Distress
Rebecca (Oscar Nominated)
Suspicion (Oscar Won)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Othello
Gunga Din
Ivanhoe
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Sky Giant

Catch your favorite Joan Fontaine movie on the Specialty Channel: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) this November.

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