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Directed by William Wyler, The Heiress (1949) tells the story of Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Havilland), the plain and socially awkward daughter of a prominent physician, Dr. Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson), who makes no secret of his disappointment in her. Catherine is resigned to her ordinary existence until she meets a charming young man named Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift). She is immediately smitten, but her father suspects Morris is a fortune hunter and threatens to disinherit her if she marries him. Undeterred, she makes plans to elope with Morris, though not before telling him about her father's decision. On the night they are to elope, Catherine waits all night for Morris to come and take her away, but he never arrives. A few days later, a heartbroken Catherine has a bitter argument with her father, who reveals that he is dying. She tells Dr. Sloper that she still loves Morris and challenges him to change his testament if he is afraid of how she will spend his mone...

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan. Her mother, Lilian Augusta Ruse, had been an accomplished student of music and voice who had won a scholarship to Reading Musical College in England at the age of thirteen. In the summer of 1907, Lilian was offered a position in Tokyo as a teacher of choral singing. While attending a tea party at the British embassy, she met Walter Augustus de Havilland, a «suave Englishman» who ran a successful firm of patent attorneys in Tokyo. Following a whirlwind courtship, Walter proposed to Lilian, but she was not interested in marriage. Instead, she decided to return to England in December 1911 to study acting at Sir Beerbohm Tree's Academy, now known as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. When World War I broke out in 1914, Walter went back to England to enlist with the British Army. Despite being an accomplished marksman, Walter was rejected for military service due to his advanced age (he was 42 at the time). At the same...