Olivia de Havilland's death Sunday at 104 in Paris has left many of her fans in mourning.
To express their grief, such fans -- some of whom famous themselves -- have taken to social media.
Actor and musician Jared Leto was among the stars paying tribute to the late actress, sharing a handful of photos of her on Twitter, along with a lengthy statement.
"The legendary Olivia De Havilland passed away yesterday. She was 104. Olivia made a powerful impact in my life and I had the pleasure to spend some time with her in Paris," Leto, 48, began. "I thanked her for her bravery and shared how her choices affected me and my brother and gave us opportunities to fight for our creative freedom. She was a class act."
"RIP, Olivia de Havilland. Spunky ingenue, femme fatale, daffy screwball queen, soul-bearing melodrama heroine, sinister grande dame," one fan wrote. "She did it all, with grace and authenticity. An actress of fierce courage, onscreen and off."
"I'll always be in awe of how persistent and fearless Olivia de Havilland was," another wrote. "She changed the game forever and did it with grace. We've all been so lucky to receive her performances. Thank you Dame de Havilland — what a wonderful life to celebrate."
"Rest in peace, Olivia de Havilland, who died peacefully in her home in Paris at the age of 104," another said, sharing two photos: one of the actress riding a bike as a young woman, and another showing her biking in her later years. "De Havilland was still cycling in her 100s!"
Related: 7 Things You May Not Know About Olivia de Havilland Ahead of Her 104th Birthday
Havilland filmography
| And courtesy of Frank G: |
A temporary victory, apparently. RIP Ms. de Havilland [Daily Beast?!?] Legendary actress Olivia de Havilland received many tributes when she celebrated her 101st birthday on July 1. Appearing in 49 feature films spanning 1935 to 1988, she was Errol Flynn's romantic partner in movies like The Adventures of Robin Hood, nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for Gone With The Wind (1935) and was the winner of best actress Oscars for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949). Also noted were her successful efforts to break the old studio system, known as the studio-contract system, where actors were bound to work solely for the company that had signed them.
Chafing against the inferior roles she believed Warner Bros. was giving her, she sued the firm in 1943. It was, The Los Angeles Times noted, a "landmark lawsuit that altered the business of Hollywood forever" resulting in the collapse of the long-term contract system by which Hollywood operated. In her honor, it is referred to as "the De Havilland Law."
But she received little recognition for the other important political battle she fought and won‐ending the alliance of Communists and liberals in Hollywood. During WWII, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in the war against fascism and liberals and Communists worked together to support the war effort and the Roosevelt administration.
...The break between the liberals and Communists finally came in a major speech delivered to HICAASP by Olivia de Havilland, who was also a member, at a Seattle rally in 1946.
It had been written for her by the Party's most prolific and highest-paid screenwriter, the legendary Dalton Trumbo, recently the subject of a Hollywood biopic in which he was played by Bryan Cranston. Urbane, witty, volatile and possessed of boundless energy, Trumbo was a larger-than-life eccentric who stayed up late into the night writing his screenplays while soaking in his bathtub.
He gave de Havilland the draft of his speech, in which she would tell the HICAASP audience in Seattle that Americans had to condemn "the drive of certain interests toward a war against the Soviet Union," and that the Truman administration's policy was one supporting union-busting, anti-Semitism and bigotry against racial minorities.
Without telling anyone in advance, de Havilland, horrified by the words Trumbo wanted her to mouth‐went to the podium, and substituted a speech of her own. In it she underlined the significant differences between those she termed genuine liberals and Hollywood Communists. From 1932 to 1945, she told the audience, a "coalition of all liberal and progressive forces" made up a sizable majority of the New Deal. But in the postwar era, "reactionary forces" have driven a wedge into the liberal coalition" and were trying to make it appear "that the great liberal movement is controlled by those who are more interested in taking orders from Moscow and following the so-called Party line than they are interested in making democracy work." To prove otherwise, she said, it was the duty of liberals to distance themselves openly from both Moscow and the American Communists.
"We believe in democracy," she told the crowd, "and not in Communism." She reminded them that the Communist Party had endorsed Roosevelt for re-election in 1944, and that he publicly repudiated that endorsement. Today, she acknowledged, "Communists frequently join liberal organizations. That is their right. But it is also our right to see that they do not control us, or guide us… or represent us."
She was brave in breaking ranks so publicly. Communists controlled the Screenwriter's Guild and were influential in the Screen Actors Guild as well, and were known to avoid giving roles to actors or scripts to writers whom they considered "fascist." Moreover, in breaking so publicly, she risked losing associates and friends who thought the Hollywood Reds were just "liberals in a hurry" and sincere anti-fascists‐many of whom would ostracize someone they considered to be a "Red-baiter."