De Havilland was a courageous, independent woman. She demanded roles that appealed to her and she vigorously fought the old studio system; at the time, actors were effectively made into indentured servants by the studios who had them under contract and they had to appear in the films that the studios told them to. In 1943, de Havilland sued Warner Brothers and won a significant legal victory over them that resulted in greater freedom for all artists, not just for herself or other actors.