KM informed me of the death of Joan Fontaine as I sleepily navigated the dark wood of my staircase last Tuesday before dawn. I smelled the coffee; Folgers, which my buddy Kevin Horn says really isn’t coffee. Kevin recommends I buy something called Seattle #4. But I buy cheap wine, too.
I said to KM that I thought Fontaine was the sister of another star, but I couldn’t remember whom. (I never say “whom,” even though spell check says it’s the correct word here.) She read a bit further and told me that I was thinking of Olivia de Havilland. THAT’S IT!!!
But Joan and Olivia were not poster girls for sisterly love. Quite the contrary.
Fontaine was born Joan de Beauvoir De Havilland in Tokyo, 16 months after Olivia in 1917. Her two major roles were as the second wife in the 1940 Hitchcock directed “Rebecca,” opposite Lawrence Olivier, who wanted the role to go to his future wife Vivian Leigh, but reports are that Leigh’s test was a disaster.
Fontaine was nominated for best actress for the performance, but lost to Ginger Rogers. The following year, she would win for her performance as the trusting bride in Hitchcock’s “Suspicion,” which co-starred Cary Grant. Olivia was nominated the same year for her performance in “Hold Back the Dawn.”
“We were at the same table,” Fontaine recalled, “When my name was called, I thought she was going to pull out my hair.” Olivia stated: “I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve lost prestige with my own sister,’ and it was true. She was haughty to me after that.”
Olivia’s turn came in 1947 for “To Each His Own.” Fontaine was the presenter, and as Olivia left the rostrum, Joan stepped forward to congratulate her but was brushed aside.
Fontaine died Sunday at her home in Carmel at the age of 96. She was an avid sportswoman who rode horses, became a licensed pilot, was a good golfer (she made two holes-in-one), fished, and flew in a hot-air balloon.
I wish I’d have known she lived in Carmel. I could have paid her a visit when KM and I were there in 2007.
Speaking of KM, it was her birthday Wednesday. It’s tough to have a birthday exactly a week before Christmas, and every year it seems to fall that way. The kids came over and KM cooked Mexican soup and Alexis made brownies, which soon became a la mode. Then we watched “The Family Man” with Nicholas Cage, which Matt analyzed as a kind of reverse take on “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Sometimes, it is a wonderful life.
•••
I drove to Gaston’s Resort on the White River a week ago Thursday for an APA Board meeting. The further north I got, the worse the roads became. Rusty Frazier, the publisher of the Stone County Leader in Mountain View told me some parts around there recently got a foot of snow.
It had been a lot of years since I’d been to Gaston’s. It’s one of those great places to visit if you have an interest in catching some big trout. It was way back in the ‘80s when I rented a boat and a guide. KM went because I wanted to, and as I seriously tried to bring in a lunker, with no luck, she read a novel and paid little attention to the frequently tightening line at the end of her rod. When we finished, she had caught the limit and I was still searching.
A lot has happened in our lives since that day, none of which is more trout fishing.