Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine dies at 96 CARMEL, Calif. - Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine has died at the age of 96. Longtime friend Noel Beutel says she died in her sleep in her Carmel home Sunday morning. Fontaine won an Academy Award as a naive wife in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Suspicion" and also starred in Hitchcock's "Rebecca," which won the Oscar for best picture. Her other films included "The Women," `'Jane Eyre" and "Born to be Bad." Fontaine was the sister of fellow actress Olivia de Havilland.