Editing Joan Fontaine (section)

===RKO===
Fontaine signed a contract with RKO Pictures. Her first film for the studio was ''[[Quality Street (1937 film)|Quality Street]]'' (1937) starring [[Katharine Hepburn]], in which Fontaine had a small unbilled role.

The studio considered her a rising star, and touted ''[[The Man Who Found Himself]]'' (1937) with [[John Beal (actor)|John Beal]] as her first starring role, placing a special screen introduction, billed as the "new RKO screen personality" after the end credit.<ref name="Fristoe">{{cite web |author=Fristoe, Roger |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82735/the-man-who-found-himself#articles-reviews |title=Articles: The Man Who Found Himself |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=October 11, 2012 |archive-date=April 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415162158/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/82735/The-Man-Who-Found-Himself/articles.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Fontaine later said it had "an A budget but a Z story".<ref name="budget">{{cite news |title=Joan Fontaine Wins Stardom by Being Self: Has Fought Comparison With Sister, Olivia de Havilland, Since Age of 10 |first=Lucie |last=Neville |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 3, 1940 |page=L1}}</ref>

RKO put her in ''[[You Can't Beat Love]]'' (1937) with [[Preston Foster]] and ''[[Music for Madame]]'' (1937) with [[Nino Martini]].

She next appeared in a major role alongside [[Fred Astaire]] in his first RKO film without [[Ginger Rogers]], ''[[A Damsel in Distress (1937 film)|A Damsel in Distress]]'' (1937).<ref>{{cite news |title=Joan Fontaine New Lead for Astaire |date=August 3, 1937 |newspaper=The Washington Post |page=14}}</ref> Despite its being directed by [[George Stevens]], audiences were disappointed and the film flopped. She was top-billed in the comedies ''[[Maid's Night Out]]'' and ''[[Blond Cheat]]'', then was [[Richard Dix]]'s leading lady in ''[[Sky Giant]]'' (all 1938).

[[Edward Small]] borrowed her to play [[Louis Hayward]]'s love interest in ''[[The Duke of West Point]]'' (1938), then Stevens used her at RKO in ''[[Gunga Din (film)|Gunga Din]]'' (1939) as [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]]'s love interest. The film was a huge hit, but Fontaine's part was relatively small. Republic borrowed her to support Dix in ''[[Man of Conquest]]'' (1939) but her part was small. [[George Cukor]] gave her a small role in MGM's ''[[The Women (1939 film)|The Women]]'' (1939).<ref name="Quinlan" /><ref name="budget"/>