Melanie Hamilton, oldest living Civil War survivor is 96

As goodie two-shoes, Melanie Hamilton Wilkes

A beautiful Maid Marian, Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938

This one almost got past me. July 1 marks the 96th birthday of Lovely Livy. Last living co-star of the epic soaper ' Gone With The Wind ' and for all I know possibly the only living member of the film that all epics are more or less measured against. She is also the former flame of legendary lothario writer/director John Huston and fended off more than a few advances from screen partner Errol Flynn. The duo made a total of eight films together starting with 1935's' Captain Blood' and culminating with 1942's' They Died With Their Boots' On. In between they also made ' Dodge City ' in 1939, ' Charge of the Light Brigade ' in 1936 and 1938's all-time classic ' The Adventures of Robin Hood '. According to de Havilland herself Errol tried for several years to jump her bones, to no avail. Appears that she was the one who got away from that Tasmanian Devil Flynn. Their final film was ' Boots ' and Olivia has said that both she and Flynn knew it was to be their last film together, so the knowledge of that gave their farewell scene where General Custer goes off to do battle at the Little Big Horn a bittersweet poignancy .She never gave the movies she made with him much credit, but they live on today as great epics, spectacles with sound, fury, adventure and romance from a distant time and place that no longer exists. The movies are the poorer without them.

Olivia's career covered more than five decades with the 30's and 40's being her golden period in which she would win two Best Actress Oscar's and have several more nominations her first coming in the Supporting Actress catagory with ' GWTW '. If I had to pick only one Olivia perfomance to take with me on a desert island, I might pick 1941's  Mitchell Leisen's 'Hold Back The Dawn'  with Charles Boyer. An acerbic, touching romantic drama from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett before that duo went on to be one of the great writer-director-producer partnerships Hollywood ever produced. Still with us living in France [ Paris ?], one of the Golden Ages last movie stars when that really meant something, 96 years old today, but forever young, delicate and beautiful to me. Happy Birthday!
 

Great pic of the two stars probably from around 1940. Note the hand holding.