In 1943, Fontaine starred opposite Orson Welles in “Jane Eyre.”
By all accounts, the two were not close. Fontaine painted a less-than-flattering portrait of Welles’ behavior on the set of “Jane Eyre” in her autobiography, “No Bed of Roses.”
In a 1978 interview with People magazine, Fontaine said of Welles, “Everything about him is oversize, including his ego. He’s larger than life. I think he is much better combining directing and acting, because he wants control. And he’s right; he’s a genius.”
In the book “My Lunches with Orson,” Welles was dismissive of Fontaine telling Henry Jaglom that neither Fontaine “nor her sister Olivia de Havilland could act. I never understood their careers.”
Fontaine was born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland to British parents on Oct. 22, 1917, in Tokyo.
Her film career began in 1935 in “No More Ladies.” Her final screen role was as a supportive royal grandmother in “Good King Wenceslas” (1994) on the Family Channel.
She married and divorced four times. She is survived by her sister; a daughter, Deborah Dozier Potter of Santa Fe, N.M.; and a grandson.
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