Joan Fontaine

Lore & Background

Fontaine began her film career in 1935 with a contract at RKO Pictures. Her early roles included The Man Who Found Himself (1937) and Gunga Din (1939). Her career transformed after she was cast as the unnamed heroine in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), earning her first Academy Award nomination. The following year she won the Oscar for Best Actress for Suspicion (1941), also directed by Hitchcock. A third nomination came for The Constant Nymph (1943). She appeared in dramas such as Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) and the comedy You Gotta Stay Happy (1948), which she co-produced through her company Rampart Productions.

After Ivanhoe (1952), her film career declined, and she moved into stage, radio, and television roles. Her later films included Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) and her final film role in The Witches (1966). She released an autobiography, No Bed of Roses, in 1978 and continued acting until 1994. Fontaine was born in Tokyo to English parents; her mother was a stage actress and her father a patent attorney. She moved to the United States as a child following her parents' divorce and her mother's remarriage, settling in Saratoga, California.

Reader's Guide

Joan Fontaine's significance lies in her status as the only performer to win an Academy Award for acting in a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a feat achieved with Suspicion (1941). Her three Best Actress nominations—for Rebecca, Suspicion, and The Constant Nymph—place her among the leading dramatic actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. Her rivalry with sister Olivia de Havilland, both of whom won lead-acting Oscars, remains a unique footnote in film history. Fontaine's career spanned five decades and more than 45 films, though her most acclaimed work came in the 1940s. After her film roles diminished, she adapted to stage, radio, and television, and her 1978 autobiography provided a personal account of her life. Her legacy includes her collaborations with major directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Max Ophüls, and Billy Wilder, and her work in films like Letter from an Unknown Woman, which is now regarded as a classic.

Did You Know?

• Fontaine won an Academy Award for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion, making her the only actress to win an Oscar for a Hitchcock-directed performance.
• She and her sister Olivia de Havilland are the only siblings to have won lead-acting Academy Awards.
• Fontaine co-produced films through her company Rampart Productions, founded with her second husband William Dozier.
• She was born in Tokyo, Japan, to English parents and moved to the United States as a child after her parents' divorce.