Letter: Joan Fontaine, my Hollywood godmother

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/dec/16/joan-fontaine-hollywood

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Joan Fontaine was my godmother. For my father, Richard Hough, the publisher and naval historian, she was part of a magical period in his life. He joined the RAF in 1941 and was sent to learn to fly in California – a stone's throw from Hollywood.

He was 19, handsome, unworldly and possibly about to die for his country. Immediately, and for six heady months, he was welcomed into the inner circle of film stars revolving around Joan and her sister, Olivia de Havilland.

Joan was infinitely kind, generous and loving, having him to stay for weekends, taking him to hugely glamorous parties and nightclubs, and giving him a grand 20th birthday party, with dinner and dancing. He wrote back to his fiancee, my mother: "Dancing with Joan among the palms in the very dimmed light … But don't worry, I was pretending it was you."

Joan's kindness extended beyond the war years. They kept in touch, and she became my godmother. My only memory of her is when she visited us in 1951, in our very modest little cottage near Watford. She had already given me a magnificent rocking horse, and now I watched through the window as she arrived in an enormous limousine. My father was beside her, carrying a huge and wonderful doll's house.

I remember no more, except for the aftermath. When she left, there was a strange and highly emotional exchange between my parents, and I never saw the doll's house, or Joan Fontaine, again.

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