Joan Fontaine: Hollywood Woman of the World

for the award that year and she felt guilty winning before her more experienced sister did. She also knew that Aherne was upset to see his wife's fame eclipse his.

Joan's success strained her already uneasy relationship with Aherne. The pair divorced in 1945. Less than a year later, Joan married William Dozier, the head of RKO studios. Two years later, Joan gave birth to their first child, Deborah Leslie.

For the rest of the decade, Joan rode the wave of success. She followed her Oscar-winning role with another good performance in This Above All (1942). She then won another Academy Award nomination for The Constant Nymph (1943). Joan also excelled in romances such as Jane Eyre (1944) and Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948).

In 1946, Olivia was nominated again for an Academy Award, and this time she won. When Joan tried to congratulate her backstage, Olivia wouldn't even look at her sister. A Photoplay photographer caught the moment, which showed Olivia in a bad light. She had been upset over insulting remarks Joan had made to the press about her husband, novelist Marcus Goodrich. Far from being a poor sport, Olivia was only unfortunate enough to have her private disagreement with her sister displayed in public.

Joan had a dip in her luck with unimpressive roles in Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) and Born to Be Bad (1950), but she soon bounced back with strong performances in the popular romance September Affair (1950) and in Ivanhoe (1952). However, though she loved movies and acting, Joan had more interests than Hollywood life could satisfy.

Next time: Jet setting, cooking, golfing, hot air ballooning, fox hunting and in and out of love.

Joan Fontaine links

Thank you to Siverscreensirens.com for permission to use the photograph of Joan.

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