Joan Fontaine (1917–2013)

So, I wanted to understand - how does a woman acknowledge sexual abuse from her stepfather, then take his last name a her stage name? What better way to untangle that, than from herself. Well, the name was first one that popped into her head when a fortune teller offer "think of a name ending in 'e'" when she went looking for sage advice. OK...

Drill-sergeant stepfather "Danny" Fontaine's abuse was only recalled years later in a rare period of speaking terms with sister Olivia de Havilland: show more "The washcloth would tarry too long in intimate places". OK...

Mother, to whom the book is dedicated, snaps "You're nothing but a whore" when Joan lets a young man take innocently her hand while in the audience during a Beethoven trio. She hovers like a ghost.

The set of Rebecca, crude Laurence Olivier, serial marriages to Brian Aherne, etc., but not even a dalliance with Howard Hughes who she got Olivia to walk away from. Dalliances with Conrad Nagel (who "surprised" her out of her virginity) and including Adlai Stevenson, Prince Aly Khan, and cartoonist Charles Addams. In the end, the longest chapter of greatest intimacy is the epilogue - right after mom's funeral - a poignant, sad letter to the departed "Mater". show less

I am a big fan of classic movies, and one of the things that had me curious is how Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, sisters, with about 15 months age difference between them, have managed to be estranged from each other for many years. It's kind of sad to think that at 92 and 93 years old that they wouldn't try to reach out to each other.

This book of course is told from Joan Fontaine's point of view, and paints a picture of her sister Olivia as jealous, conniving and out to thwart her show more sister's career. I have no opinion as to who may be the better actress, as they both have starred in Oscar Winning movies and have won Academy Awards for their individual performances. One would think that there would be enough movie roles and fame to go around for two siblings, and that they would be happy for each other's success, but such is the cutthroat movie business.

All I could think of when reading this book was how very sad Joan Fontaine's life seemed to be and that of course, there are two sides to every story. show less

Fontaine tells her story in smoothly written, very interesting memoir.