Joan Fontaine, an iconic Academy Award-winning actress whose career spanned over half a century, passed away on December 15th, 2013 at the age of 96. Born Joan De Beauvoir de Havilland on October 22, 1917 in Tokyo, Japan, she was the elder daughter of English parents Walter Augustus de Havilland and Lillian Augusta Ruse. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, Fontaine moved to the United States and was signed to a contract with RKO Radio Pictures in 1935. Fontaine is most remembered for her role as the neurotic and fainting-prone maiden in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), which earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress – the first of two Oscars she received during her lifetime. Her other Academy Award was for Suspicion (1941) in which she starred opposite Cary Grant. In a career that spanned from 1935 to 1981, Fontaine starred in nearly 40 films, including Gunga Din (1939), The Constant Nymph (1943) and Jane Eyre (1944). She also wrote four books, the best known being her 1978 autobiography, “No Bed of Roses”. Fontaine is survived by her two nieces, actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Kelly Curtis. Her life and legacy will be remembered for generations to come.