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Olivia de Havilland is 103 Today! Let that sink in for a while. There are few living legends among us these days, but de Havilland certainly qualifies. One of the truly great movie stars from Hollywood’s classical period, she was a contemporary of Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stan read more

Readers, I returned to the United States on Tuesday after 2 weeks in Europe, and as my jet lag seems to finally have been conquered, I wanted to write to you about the lecture and the other classic film-related things I did while abroad. It was an absolutely magnificent trip, filled with many wonde read more

Olivia de Havilland: Lady Triumphant Victoria Amador University Press of Kentucky, 2019 It is comforting to know, that at this moment 102-year-old Olivia de Havilland is living in luxury in a Parisian hotel. With her bright white hair, pearls, and velvet caftans, she still entertains visitors, and read more

Good morning, dear readers! I wanted to update you briefly on some upcoming excitement at Backlots. As TCM’s 24-hour Doris Day tribute plays in the background, I find myself in the midst of packing for a big trip. Due to my coverage of the Olivia de Havilland v. FX case, I received an invita read more

Olivia de Havilland: Lady TriumphantWe have SEVEN Books to Give Away via Twitter or this Blog A tribute to one of Hollywood’s greatest legends… It’s time for our next book giveaway contest! And we’re very excited about this one! That said, CMH is happy to say that we will read more

I received confirmation this morning from Olivia de Havilland’s counsel, Suzelle Smith, that the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of Havilland v FX, Olivia de Havilland’s petition to the court to hear her case against FX. It is a disappointing decision, but de Havilland has read more

Hello readers, just a very quick update for those following the Olivia de Havilland case. Today, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not they will take up her petition. If you would like to follow the case on the SCOTUS blog, here is the link to the petition page. I will update as m read more

Hello dear readers, Just a quick note to let you know that Backlots’ coverage of Olivia de Havilland vs. FX won the CMBA Award in the category of Best Classic Movie Series. It has been a marvelous run–and it’s not over yet! Stay tuned for more coverage as we wait to see if the Un read more

Hello dear readers, the month of September seemed to whiz by so quickly that Backlots went without an update. But here we are at the beginning of October and I’m here to report that we have movement on the Olivia de Havilland case. De Havilland’s lawyer, Suzelle Smith, has informed me read more

Armed with the rejection of the California Supreme Court in her case against FX, Olivia de Havilland is to file her case with the United States Supreme Court this September. This is a huge undertaking, and while the SCOTUS only takes a small fraction of the thousands of cases filed with them every read more

Dear readers, I’ve been waiting to post about this until I got details from Olivia de Havilland’s lawyer regarding next steps, but a few days ago we got word that the California Supreme Court has declined to review de Havilland’s case against FX. For those of us who have been adv read more

Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood are once again hosting their blogathon tribute to Olivia de Havilland. Click HERE or HERE for the contributions to this online event. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. had the rights to James Edward Grant's 1947 short story Journal of Linn read more

Phyllis Loves Classic Movies and In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood are once again hosting their blogathon tribute to Olivia de Havilland. Click HERE or HERE for the contributions to this online event. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. had the rights to James Edward Grant's 1947 short story Journal of Linn read more

Olivia de Havilland is 102! Olivia de Havilland turned 102 on July 1. Yes, 102! De Havilland is a true living legend and one of the few movie stars still with us who came to be during Hollywood’s Golden Age. A two-time Best Actress Oscar winner—To Each His Own 1946 and The Heiress read more

Today, the legendary Olivia de Havilland is turning 102 years old! What a victory! For a third consecutive year, Crystal from In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and Laura from Phyllis Loves Classic Movies are hosting the Annual Olivia de Havilland Blogathon. I’m happy to take part in t read more

Dear readers, over the past months, I have gotten several comments and emails from people asking what they can do to help the Olivia de Havilland case. I just received some correspondence from de Havilland’s legal counsel, outlining exactly how to get involved in the petition to review the a read more

Dear readers, just as I was preparing to update you on the remaining days of the TCM Classic Film Festival (and my Show People intro), some pressing news found its way into my inbox. I have prided myself on bringing news on the Olivia de Havilland case to Backlots’ readers before the mainstr read more

The 2018 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Champion is Barbara Stanwyck. After two previous final fours where she came up empty handed, the third time was the charm for Missy, as she withstood a furious rally by Olivia de Havilland to win 78-76. Babs joins Carole Lombard and Audrey Hepburn as read more

This afternoon, a decision came in for the case of Olivia de Havilland vs. FX, which I have been following closely here. The appeals court has decided to “reverse and remand” the case to lower court, overturning the decision of lower court judge Holly Kendig and giving the case to Feud read more

In the aftermath of the Olivia de Havilland oral arguments yesterday, I have seen many reports about what happened during the hearing, and opinions about the case from varied sources. As one who was in the courtroom as it happened, I would like to address a few things that I’ve been seeing f read more