Joan Fontaine Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Joan Fontaine
OCCUPATION: Film Actress
BIRTH DATE: October 22, 1917 (Age: 95)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Tokyo, Japan
Originally: Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland
AKA: Joan Burfield
AKA: Joan Fontaine
ZODIAC SIGN: Libra

Best Known For

Academy Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine has appeared in such films as Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), Jane Eyre (1944) and Othello (1952).

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Joan Fontaine

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Joan Fontaine. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 06:45, May 22, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/joan-fontaine-20987191.

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Joan Fontaine. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joan-fontaine-20987191 [Accessed 22 May 2013].

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Joan Fontaine [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 22] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joan-fontaine-20987191.

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Joan Fontaine, http://www.biography.com/people/joan-fontaine-20987191 (last visited May 22, 2013).

AMA Style

Joan Fontaine. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/joan-fontaine-20987191. Accessed May 22, 2013.

She made guest appearances on such shows as Wagon Train, Hotel and The Love Boat. She also had a recurring role on the daytime soap opera Ryan's Hope in the early 1980s.

Life Off-Screen

Fontaine has been married and divorced four times: In 1939, she married actor Brian Aherne. The couple divorced in 1945. The following year, she wed producer and actor William Dozier. Dozier and Fontaine had one child together, a daughter named Deborah, before splitting up in 1951. In 1952, she married Collier Young, a writer, and their union lasted until 1961. Her final marriage to journalist Alfred Wright Jr. lasted from 1964 to 1969.

In 1978, Fontaine released her autobiography, No Bed of Roses. She wrote about her long, troubled relationship with sister Olivia, much to Olivia's dismay. Their final straw between the two siblings reportedly came with their mother's death around the same time. Fontaine has said that she was not invited to the funeral, and has threatened to talk to the press about being omitted from the service. The date of the funeral was changed so that Fontaine and her daughter could attend, but Joan and Olivia have allegedly not spoken since their mother's funeral.

Fontaine lives in Carmel, California.