The ingenue who roared

摘要

ON THE FIRST day of rehearsals for "Captain Blood", in 1935, Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn returned their lunch trays together to the canteen. Already she had thought "Oh!" at the sight of him; but, being sensible, she had eaten alone at a distant table. Now they sat together on the stage ramp, by the huge doors that opened onto the street, and his first words were: "What do you want out of all this?" She answered, in her clear young English tones: "I would like respect for difficult work well done." That sounded more modest than his aim, which was simply "success". But it meant hard fights on several fronts. When she reviewed her proudest achievements later, they were not just her major role in "Gone With the Wind" in 1939 and her two Academy Awards for Best Actress, in 1947 for "To Each His Own" and in 1950 for "The Heiress"-still less her 49 feature films altogether. She had also broken the hold of Hollywood studios over their actors, leaving them freer to choose the roles they were best suited for.