Why Joan Fontaine won the Oscar over her sister Olivia de Havilland

In 1941, Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland became the first sisters ever to compete for the Best Actress Oscar. It was the highpoint of a lifelong feud between both actresses.
In this video, I discuss how Joan Fontaine won the Oscar for "Suspicion" not only over her sister but also the other nominees Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Greer Garson.
Please note: This video is an excerpt from my video on the feud between Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland and their Oscar-nominated performances in 1941: • Best Actress 1941, Par...
You can find the playlist of all 1941 videos here: • Review 1941
My video on Greer Garson in "Blossoms in the Dust": • Best Actress 1941, Par...
My video on Bette Davis in "The Little Foxes": • Best Actress 1941, Par...
My video on Barbara Stanwyck in "Ball of Fire": • Best Actress 1941, Par...
My personal ranking of the 5 nominees: • Best Actress 1941, Par...
Music
Hanging Out - Bruno E.
#academyawards #bestactress #oscars #joanfontaine #oliviadehavilland #bettedavis #barbarastanwyck #greergarson #alfredhitchcock #balloffire #thelittlefoxes

[@slc2466]

I wish Stanwyck had won, but really for "The Lady Eve," and Joan had her Oscar for "Rebecca."

[@derrionbrown3923]

I love the new perspectives of these recent videos. ❤

[@darylchin53]

Love how you contextualize things, and explain what changes were to come. In 1941, Alfred Hitchcock was still a "prestige" director (in 1940, he was nominated as Best Director for REBECCA, and TWO of his movies made the list of Best Picture nominees, not just REBECCA but also FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT), so any of his projects would be "prestige" projects (and that's what happened to SUSPICION). But by 1944-45, his movies were being viewed, not as prestige projects, but as "mere" genre movies, and those were frowned upon. And people were turning down his offers to star in his films (Gary Cooper turned down FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, Barbara Stanwyck turned down SABOTEUR) because they considered his films "mere" genre (suspense/espionage/mystery) films. This little analysis was so incisive (and especially considering how you actually listed Bette Davis in THE LITTLE FOXES and Stanwyck in BALL OF FIRE as your top choices for this line-up).

[@FritzandtheOscars]

Thank so much!

[@DrDAP]

11:02 11:04

[@quitequiet1]

I don’t know why Olivia thought she would be nominated for best actress in Gone With The Wind. To me, it was clearly a supporting role.

[@kellie-nd1yp]

Greer Garson makes such a great point about this .I think there are many things the academy memembers conisder and it's not always one or two simple things when making up their minds.

[@leonardmirone8215]

Another great show, Fitz, and thank you. My pick for best actress in 1941, having seen all the performances, is Bette Davis hands down. Her Regina is one of her finest hours, in my opinion. I’m not upset that Joan Fontaine ultimately triumphed, as she would have been my second choice. You point out that Hedda Hopper and Ginger Rogers, who surprisingly won the year before, favored Barbara Stanwyck because, I suspect ,they were all part of a very politically conservative movement within the Hollywood community. How Rogers beat Hepburn the year before for her Tracy in ‘The Philadelphia Story’ to me is one of Oscar’s biggest blunders. As we know, Olivia went on to win two Oscars during her amazing career to Joan’s one. Did that contribute to their long rivalry? Who knows? My choices for 1941 best Actress is Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, Olivia DeHavilland, Greer Garson (who won the following year for ‘Mrs Miniver’) and last, Barbara Stanwyck in one of her lesser roles, imo.

[@johnjones5424]

I think Stanwyck in "The Lady Eve" was the best performance of the year. That should have garnered her nomination and her win.

[@jimc6054]

Thanks Fritz, another enjoyable video. I agree that Joan’s win was consolation for the “Rebecca” loss. I also really like her work 7 years later in “Letter From an Unknown Woman”, no nomination. Consolation Oscar is also mentioned for James Stewart when he lost for “Mr Smith Goes to Washington “ and won the next year for “Philadelphia Story”.

[@DanielaVilu]

Fonda should have won that year. I love Stewart but I don't think he was as sophisticate an actor as Henry Fonda was.

[@DanielaVilu]

Fontaine's win for Suspicion is probably my least favourite Oscar win of all time. That film and performance didn't stand the test of time for me. Whereas The Little Foxes and Ball of Fire.. I would watch them any day of the week and sometimes do. Barbara Stanwyck made it all look so easy! I think that's why she never won an Oscar (also the fact that she was a freelancer so she never had a studio's backing when it came to lobbying)

[@anthonyanderson2405]

Great Hollywood history as always.

[@victoriachase9550]

Olivia was the better actress between the two but Joan did deserve this one

[@kellicoffman8440]

I have to agree I like Melanie better

[@SandViolet]

Different year.

[@MuhammadAhmad-oj6mf]

This is probably the most awkward performance to win an academy award, awkward not in a good way.