LAST UPDATE 12/17/13 5 PM (ET) – most recent updates at end of post

Classic movie fans are in mourning today, as five unique performers, each much loved for their contributions to the diverse art of film, have died in the last week.

Joan Fontaine, an Oscar winner for Alfred Hitchcock’s SUSPICION (1941) and a nominee for REBECCA (1940) and THE CONSTANT NYMPH (1943), passed away at her home in Carmel, California on Sunday morning, December 15. After a three decade career that began in 1935, Fontaine’s final feature film role was in Cyril Frankel’s THE WITCHES (1966), a Hammer horror movie also known as THE DEVIL’S OWN. Fontaine continued to work in theater and on television for three more decades, with an Emmy nominated role on the ABC daytime drama Ryan’s Hope in 1980, and appearances in TV movies and mini-series throughout the ’80s and ‘90s, including…