'Gone with the Wind' Star Olivia De Havilland Is 102 but She Proves Age Is Just a Number

Dame Olivia de Havilland is a star and legend from the golden age of Hollywood, and at 102 years old her renowned beauty still shines through.

The retired actress has made over fifty movies, one of the most famous being the iconic film “Gone With The Wind”, where she played the character, Melanie Wilkes.

She shared,

“Melanie was someone different. She had very deeply feminine qualities...that I felt were very endangered at that time, and they are from generation to generation, and that somehow they should be kept alive, and...that’s why I wanted to interpret her role. The main thing is that she was always thinking of the other person, and the interesting thing to me is that she was a happy person...loving, compassionate.”

She is the last surviving member of the cast of “Gone With The Wind” for which she received her first Oscar nomination. But it was for her roles in “The Heiress” and “To Each His Own” that she took home Oscar statues. She is currently the oldest living Academy Award winner.

Olivia and her dashing romantic on-screen partner Errol Flynn made many movies together. They fell in love in real life, but de Havilland held back because of the simple fact that Flynn was still married.

The unrequited love gave the de Havilland-Flynn partnership chemistry that made their fans swoon. She said of her co-star,

“I was deeply affected by him. It was impossible for me not to be.”

In 2017, de Havilland was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, an honor that made her “extremely proud”. The actress was given a damehood for her services to drama, and the event took place before her birthday when she turned 101 years old. This makes her the oldest woman to receive the title. She graciously said it was “the most gratifying of birthday presents.”