Editing Joan Fontaine (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Lilian Fontaine with her daughters, Joan and Olivia, c. 1922.png|left|thumb|252x252px|Fontaine with sister [[Olivia de Havilland]] (center) and mother [[Lilian Fontaine]], c. 1922]]
Joan de Beauvoir de{{nbsp}}Havilland was born on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo City, in the then [[Empire of Japan]], to English parents. Her father, [[Walter de Havilland]] (1872–1968), was educated at the [[University of Cambridge]] and served as an English professor at the [[University of Tokyo|Imperial University]] in Tokyo before becoming a [[patent attorney]].<ref name="thomas-20">Thomas 1983, p. 20.</ref> Her mother, [[Lilian Fontaine|Lilian Augusta Ruse de Havilland Fontaine]] (1886&ndash;1975),<ref name="filmref">[http://www.filmreference.com/film/75/Olivia-de-Havilland.html Olivia de Havilland] ''FilmReference'' {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183740/http://www.filmreference.com/film/75/Olivia-de-Havilland.html |date=March 3, 2016}}. Retrieved February 15, 2013.</ref> was educated at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] in London and became a stage actress who left her career after going to Tokyo with her husband.<ref name="thomas-20" /> Her mother returned to work with the stage name "Lilian Fontaine" after Joan and her elder sister [[Olivia de Havilland]] achieved prominence in the 1940s. Joan's paternal cousin was Sir [[Geoffrey de Havilland]] (1882–1965), an aircraft designer known for the [[de Havilland Mosquito]],<ref name="french">French, Philip. "Screen Legends No.73". ''The Observer'', Review Section, 2009.</ref> and founder of the aircraft company which bore his name. Her paternal grandfather, the Reverend Charles Richard de{{nbsp}}Havilland, was from [[De Havilland family|a family]] from [[Guernsey]], in the [[Channel Islands]].<ref name="beeman">Beeman 1994, p. 24.</ref><ref name="thomson">Thomson 2010, p. 339.</ref>

De Havilland's parents married in 1914 and separated in 1919 when she was two; the divorce was not finalized, however, until February 1925.<ref name=bubbeo>{{cite book |last=Bubbeo |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nmjetV92THsC&pg=PP1 |title=The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-0-7864-1137-5 |year=2002 |page=55 |access-date=April 1, 2014}}</ref>

Taking a physician's advice, Lilian de{{nbsp}}Havilland moved Joan{{nsmdns}}reportedly a sickly child who had developed [[anaemia]] following a combined attack of the [[measles]] and a [[streptococcal]] infection{{nsmdns}}and her sister to the United States.<ref>Fontaine 1978, p. 19.</ref><ref name=bubbeo/> The family settled in [[Saratoga, California]], and Fontaine's health improved dramatically during her teen years. She was educated at nearby [[Los Gatos High School]] and was soon taking [[diction]] lessons alongside Olivia. When she was 16 years old, Joan returned to Japan to live with her father. There she attended the [[Tokyo School for Foreign Children]], graduating in 1935.<ref>[http://community.asij.ac.jp/Page.aspx?pid=464 "Prominent Alumni."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303053437/http://community.asij.ac.jp/Page.aspx?pid=464 |date=March 3, 2012}} ''The American School in Japan.'' Retrieved October 6, 2011.</ref>