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October 22: Happy Birthday, Joan Fontaine



The lovely Joan Fontaine led a colorful and unusual childhood, alternately living in California and Japan.

As soon as she struck adulthood she began auditioning for Hollywood film roles, racking up a spree of parts in B-movies.  A breakthrough role was in Hitchcock's Rebecca, in which she co-starred with Laurence Olivier.

The radio producers new she even sounded pretty, and snapped her up for parts in adaptations of contemporary dramas.  In this capacity, she appeared on Lux Radio Theater, Screen Guild Theater, and Theater Guild on the Air.

Born in 1917, Fontaine is now an American treasure.
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  1. JayOctober 22, 2014 at 8:47 AM

    A fan of her early work in which she showed a wonderful combination of naivte and wisdom - Rebecca, Spellbound. But with stardom came an archness and raised eyebrow method which I found pretty much unbearable.

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