Milestones

Two significant transitions occurred these past couple of days . . .

Olivia de Havilland reached the age of 100 on July 1.  A versatile and accomplsihed actress, she first came to people's attention for her role as Hermia in the 1935 film version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and she established herself via her roles as Maid Marian in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood and as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in 1939's Gone With the Wind, for which she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her first Oscar, for Best Actress, was awarded to her for her performance as Josephine Norris in 1946's To Each His Own with a second Best Oscar Actress for her role as Catherine Sloper in 1949's The Heiress. She played many roles in TV and movies before retiring in 1989 (at age 73) and now lives in Paris.

On a sadder note, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel died at 87 on July 2.  An activist for peace and justice, he devoted his entire life to fighting and eradicating racism and ethnic cleansing in all its forms, and his efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.  Wiesel accepted his survival of what Jews refer to as the Shoah as a responsibility to crusade for an end to murderous hatred to make the world a better and more understanding place  RIP. :-(