STACK Magazine December Issue 122

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DECEMBER 2014 JB Hi-Fi
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026
EXTRAS STACK PAYS TRIBUTE
one worse than the last. But after
completing the dreadful Trog (1970),
the now 64-year-old star finally called
it a day and retired to her apartment in
NewYork.
When Davis was told by a
reporter in May 1977 that Crawford
had died, she replied, “My mother
taught me to always speak good of
the dead. Joan Crawford’s dead.
Good”. Davis survived Crawford by 12 years and
continued acting in films and television shows
almost right up to her death in 1989.
Although their feud became a Hollywood
legend, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were
two pioneering alpha females working in a male-
dominated business that was utterly soulless
and run by money-mad moguls. But through
their courage, determination and sheer bloody-
mindedness, they were both able to maintain
their star status long after all of their female
contemporaries from the golden age of movies
had faded from memory.They truly were two
of Hollywood’s most durable and
captivating dames.
Award nominations
were announced, their
temporarily dormant feud
reignited again.
Davis was nominated
for Best Actress for her
role as the deranged
former child star, Baby
Jane, but much to Joan
Crawford’s chagrin,
she was not among the four other nominees.
Davis wanted desperately to be the first actress
to win three Oscars and was furious to learn
that Crawford had volunteered to accept the
Best Actress award on behalf of the winner,
should she be absent from the ceremony. Davis
would later admit that she fully expected to win,
as she nervously paced backstage to await the
announcement.
“And the winner is... Anne Bancroft for The
MiracleWorker”. A devastated Davis felt a hand
on her shoulder. “Excuse me, I have an Oscar
to collect,” said Crawford as she strode across
the stage to thunderous applause to receive the
absent Bancroft’s award. Later, at the Oscar party
at the Beverly Hilton, Davis ordered a large Scotch
and shouted, “This is for Joan Crawford”. When
told that Miss Crawford only drank vodka, Davis
replied, “I don’t care what she drinks.This is going
into her f–ing face”. Davis never threw the drink
at Joan, but she would never forget that night and
swore she would get her revenge.
Following the success of What Ever Happened
to Baby Jane?, Aldrich wanted to reunite the
two stars. He got the opportunity when he
received a four-page outline from Baby Jane
author Henry Farrell, with the title What Ever
Happened to Cousin Charlotte?.This time he had
no problem with a tight budget, as all the major
studios were falling over themselves to finance the
next Davis/Crawford movie.
The plot concerned an ageing recluse haunted
by the murder of her childhood
sweetheart, who was beheaded
by an unknown killer.The title was
changed to Hush... Hush, Sweet
Charlotte (1964), Davis was cast
as Charlotte and Crawford as her
distant cousin, Miriam. Filming
began on location in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
Neither of the stars spoke
to each other, except when in
front of the camera. As the
shoot progressed, Crawford
instinctively knew that her part was inferior
to her co-star’s, which meant that once
again, Davis would be the star of the film.The
decidedly frosty atmosphere worsened when
the company returned to Fox studios to film
interiors.The rest of the cast and
the film crew waited tenuously
for the clash between the two
divas to erupt.
For the first time on a film
set, Crawford felt completely
powerless, so she feigned
another of her illnesses and got
herself hospitalised. Crawford told
her friend, film director Vincent
Sherman, “I’m not sick. I just
couldn’t spend another minute
on set with that awful bitch Bette
Davis”. Crawford was eventually replaced in
the film by Davis’s best friend, actress Olivia de
Havilland. Queen Bette had got her revenge.
When Davis was later asked about her
treatment of Joan, she replied, “Why am I so good
at playing bitches onscreen? Because I’m not a
bitch. Maybe that’s why Miss Crawford always
plays ladies”.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford would never
speak to – or work with – each other again.
However, they had both transformed themselves
with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which
set them up for a cycle of macabre/horror films.
Crawford would make another five – each
Continued...
Bette Davis and Joan
Crawford in an early
publicity shot for What Ever
Happened to Baby Jane?
Publicity shot for Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
before Joan Crawford was replaced.
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