Obituary: Joan Fontaine, Hollywood great spurred by rivalry with her sister
Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, whose film career was marked by a long-running rivalry with her sister, Olivia de Havilland, has died aged 96 at her home in Carmel, California.
Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, whose film career was marked by a long-running rivalry with her sister, Olivia de Havilland, has died aged 96 at her home in Carmel, California.
The Hollywood Reporter said Fontaine's death from natural causes on Sunday was confirmed by the star's assistant, Susan Pfeiffer.
Among Fontaine's most memorable films was the Alfred Hitchcock picture Suspicion, co-starring Cary Grant, for which she won an Academy Award in 1942, beating her older sister in the competition.
The honour gave Fontaine the distinction of being the only performer, actor or actress, ever to win an Academy Award for a starring role in one of Hitchcock's many movies.
If I die first, [my sister] will undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it
De Havilland, who was nominated that year for Hold Back the Dawn, went on to win two Oscars of her own for her roles in the 1946 film To Each His Own and The Heiress in 1949. Now aged 97, De Havilland lives in Paris.
The feuding sisters remain the only two siblings ever to both win Academy Awards for acting.