Olivia de Havilland or Joan Fontaine?

For me, Fontaine is just OK in 'Rebecca'... 1940 is all about Katharine Hepburn in 'The Philadelphia Story.' I do however love Fontaine's work in Robert Stevens' 'Jane Eyre'... Have you seen that adaptation? Orson Welles plays Rochester. It's such a heady fever dream!

Brutally tough choice but de Havilland. Both are very good. 

Both were tremendous and dominated the 1940s in a way that only Ingrid Bergman could come close to matching . . . but Joan beats out her big sister for me. I give her three wins in that decade to Olivia's two. It still remains a shame that neither actress did many roles into their winter years. What a wonderful sight it would've been to see either one play Eleanor of Aquitaine, or Gertrude, or even Daisy Werthan.

I can tell from your avatar that you love 'The Heiress,' but have you seen her other Oscar winning performance in 'To Each His Own'? The film is just beautiful - I cried like a baby.

De Havilland

Joan had a more beautiful face although Olivia was the better actress, in my opinion.

Since it's being discussed, The Heiress is so good. One of the best Hollywood movies of that era and probably De Havilland's best performance. The ending is perfect.

I don't care for Joan Fontaine. Olivia De Havilland is the superior actress. I just think her style of acting holds up much better today than Fontaine's theatrics.

Fontaine in everything I've seen her in had that chest-holding, studio-era acting style a lot of actresses had back then that just does not appeal to me personally. I prefer a more modern acting style and I think Olivia's given performances (like in Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte and Gone With the Wind) that were less inclined to go in that other direction that I can't stand. 

Definitely de Havilland. Not only does she have higher peaks (mostly The Heiress but also others), but her CV and career in general is a bit more impressive and varied to me too.

I like Fontaine's sensitive style, but I would have liked to see her branch out a bit too. Agree with Stephen that it's a shame they had such (relatively) short careers.

Yes!! I always lament that we don't see enough of the likes of her, Joanne Woodward and co. but at least we've been able to see them pop up (usually in nothing grandma roles) throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s (even the '10s for Marie Saint!!). One of the more unfortunate things is the fact that all those old Hollywood golden age ladies hung up the towel. I guess they're from a time where women in general weren't expected to work then, let alone into their twilight years.