Screen icon Olivia de Havilland has died at the age of 104.
Best known for her roles in 'Gone With The Wind' as Melanie Hamilton, and starring alongside Errol Flynn in swashbucklers such as 'Captain Blood' and 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', Olivia de Havilland was active in the industry for six decades, retiring from acting in 1988.
Throughout her career, de Havilland scored two Oscars in 1947 and 1950, and was nominated a further three times, including Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Gone With The Wind'. As well as this, de Havilland was also famous for challenging Warner Bros. in court over her contract, giving rise to the 'de Havilland law', which helped to formalise certain elements of contract law in California.
After her retirement in the '80s, de Havilland was still active in the movie industry, appearing at the 2003 Oscars and received the National Medal of Arts in 2008, at the age of 92. She was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire at 101, the oldest woman to receive the honour.
As well as playing complex and colourful characters on screen, de Havilland had an equally colourful personal life. She dated Howard Hughes in the '30s, and almost married John Huston in the '40s. She eventually married in 1946 and again in 1955, but remained single for the remainder of her life. At the age of 101, de Havilland sued FX and Ryan Murphy over 'Feud', the TV miniseries which examined the bitter rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, which Olivia de Havilland featured in. The case was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court by de Havilland, but was ruled against her.
de Havilland is survived by her daughter, Gisèle Galante.
