Joan Fontaine 1917-2013

_. Joan Fontaine, the great Hollywood actress, star of "Suspicion" and "Rebecca" &c, has died aged 96. She was born 22 Oct, 1917, at Tokyo, as Joan de Beavoir de Havilland, scion of that landed family, daughter of Walter Augustus de Havilland (1872-1968), by his wife the former Lillian Augusta de Ruse (1886-1975), and was a sister of the actress Olivia de Havilland (b 1 Jul, 1916). Her grandfather, the Rev Charles Richard de Havilland (1823-1901), married Margaret Letitia Molesworth (d 1910), scion of the Viscounts Molesworth (Visc Ireland, cr 1716), and she was thus a kinswoman of HRH The Countess of Wessex, wife of the Queen's youngest son, &c. -=-