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One of my favorite, ghostly photos of Bette, circa 1963:
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Hanging out with Kate and Missy..
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Olivia de Havilland sues FX over Feud: Bette and Joan
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40468051
Oscar-winning actress Olivia de Havilland is suing the makers of a television show which she says portrayed her as a "petty gossip".
De Havilland, who turns 101 on Sunday, filed a lawsuit against FX Networks and producer Ryan Murphy over the miniseries Feud: Bette and Joan.
The drama explored the bad blood between the Hollywood screen legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.
The actress, who appeared in 50 films, was played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
In papers filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court, de Havilland - who was made a dame in the Queen's birthday honours in June - said the show's characterisation of her damaged her "professional reputation for integrity, honesty, generosity, self-sacrifice and dignity".
The Gone With The Wind star is asking a jury to consider the emotional distress caused by the show, as well as potential financial losses and the profits made from using her identity.
She last appeared on the big screen in 1979's The Fifth Musketeer.
The Paris-based actress' lawyers told The Los Angeles Times: "The FX series puts words in the mouth of Miss de Havilland which are inaccurate and contrary to the reputation she has built over an 80-year professional life, specifically refusing to engage in gossip mongering about other actors in order to generate media attention for herself."
De Havilland - the only person depicted in the series who is still alive - also said she was not consulted.
But in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, Mr Murphy said he did not contact de Havilland because he "didn't want to be disrespectful and ask her, 'Did this happen? Did that happen? What was your take on that?'"
The eight-part series, which is a contender for an Emmy nomination next month, is due to air in the UK on BBC Two later this year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40468051
Oscar-winning actress Olivia de Havilland is suing the makers of a television show which she says portrayed her as a "petty gossip".
De Havilland, who turns 101 on Sunday, filed a lawsuit against FX Networks and producer Ryan Murphy over the miniseries Feud: Bette and Joan.
The drama explored the bad blood between the Hollywood screen legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.
The actress, who appeared in 50 films, was played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
In papers filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court, de Havilland - who was made a dame in the Queen's birthday honours in June - said the show's characterisation of her damaged her "professional reputation for integrity, honesty, generosity, self-sacrifice and dignity".
The Gone With The Wind star is asking a jury to consider the emotional distress caused by the show, as well as potential financial losses and the profits made from using her identity.
She last appeared on the big screen in 1979's The Fifth Musketeer.
The Paris-based actress' lawyers told The Los Angeles Times: "The FX series puts words in the mouth of Miss de Havilland which are inaccurate and contrary to the reputation she has built over an 80-year professional life, specifically refusing to engage in gossip mongering about other actors in order to generate media attention for herself."
De Havilland - the only person depicted in the series who is still alive - also said she was not consulted.
But in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, Mr Murphy said he did not contact de Havilland because he "didn't want to be disrespectful and ask her, 'Did this happen? Did that happen? What was your take on that?'"
The eight-part series, which is a contender for an Emmy nomination next month, is due to air in the UK on BBC Two later this year.
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Bette Davis
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Bette has Moon in Gemini.
Joan Crawford had Moon in Aquarius (which is why Linda Gray's face was so close to that of Crawford -- they shared the Scorpio Rising/Moon in Aquarius pairing. So does Diane Keaton -- who's look has been compared to Linda Gray's on the DALLAS page... even though one doesn't think of Crawford and Keaton looking too much alike).
But Bette's Moon in Gemini is often seen in brilliantly brittle, blunt, oh-go-to-hell! diva actresses -- e.g., Stephanie Beacham, Kate O'Mara, Jane Wyman, Elaine Strich (see the pattern?). So when you combine Moon in Gemini with the ultimate diva star pairing of Sun in Aries/Scorpio Rising (which both Bette and Joan had, as does every "the queen of...." icon you've ever heard of) you wind up with the actress generally known as "the grandest of the grande dames," Bette Davis.
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well I had to buy it off Amazon and the french version - but its in English thankfully
Yes, Whatever happened to baby Jane or Qu'est - il arrive a baby Jane?
Its just as good and campy as I remembered it, can throw out the VHS video now lol
Yes, Whatever happened to baby Jane or Qu'est - il arrive a baby Jane?
Its just as good and campy as I remembered it, can throw out the VHS video now lol
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Im baby Jane Hudson doncha know??
all together now
"Im writing a letter to daddy................................"
all together now
"Im writing a letter to daddy................................"
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oh Im just loving the Grand guignol of it all and Bette is in her element!
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the filming of this film
2 great egos!
xx
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the filming of this film
2 great egos!
xx
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Poor old Joan! And no Oscar nomination either for all that suffering!
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Poor old Joan! And no Oscar nomination either for all that suffering!
I´m glad you liked it this time too BF! About Joan´s non-nomination (is that a word?), well, karma is a bitch, isn´t it?
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final few pics
I can imagine Joan wasnt best pleased when Bette got a nomination for an Oscar
they really dont make movie stars like them anymore
Sad!!
I can imagine Joan wasnt best pleased when Bette got a nomination for an Oscar
they really dont make movie stars like them anymore
Sad!!
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I kinda wish someone would unearth the CHARLOTTE scenes Joan completed -- there were several.
I wonder if they still exist anywhere.
Notice Aldrich is in frame holding .... a Coca Cola. (After Joan pulled out of the movie, Aldrich had a huge Coke truck drive passed the camera when Olivia goes to Hollisport and sees Mary Astor):
I wonder if they still exist anywhere.
Notice Aldrich is in frame holding .... a Coca Cola. (After Joan pulled out of the movie, Aldrich had a huge Coke truck drive passed the camera when Olivia goes to Hollisport and sees Mary Astor):
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What happened @Snarky's Ghost that Joan C didnt continue in the role??
I have the book about their feud that I bought years and years ago
Im going to have to dig it out and revisit it!!
I have the book about their feud that I bought years and years ago
Im going to have to dig it out and revisit it!!
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Is that "The Divine Feud" by Somebody Considine?
Bette alleged that Joan had sabotaged her in the Oscars by campaigning against her and then calling all the nominees and offering to pick up the statue if they won. Bette was convinced she was a shoo-in as the victor. When Anne Bancroft's name was called as Best Actress for THE MIRACLE WORKER, Joan supposedly brushed passed Bette backstage (where the nominees used to wait) and said something like, "Outta my way/excuse me/move-it cow, I've got an Oscar to accept."
Had Bette won, it would have likely meant an increased box office take for BABY JANE, and given that both actresses had profit participation in the film, Bette felt Joan's treachery was terribly self-destructive.
What ever happened with baby Joan next seemed to prove Bette's theory about self-destruction. When Fox re-teamed the two actresses and director Robert Aldrich, Bette had gotten "associate producer" status (that credit does not appear on screen) and, as the story goes, Bette was trying to slash Joan's role while Joan was trying to do the opposite. Aldrich must have agreed with Bette about Joan's Oscar campaign behavior, because on CHARLOTTE he apparently made little effort to rein in Bette's tricks against Crawford, his probably figuring that diva Joan could handle herself (reportedly, he'd kept everybody under control during BABY JANE).
Crawford later insisted, probably accurately, that Bette had poisoned the crew against her before Joan got to Houmas House in Louisiana. Eventually, Joan felt so "bullied" (bullies are always cowards, which has been said about both actresses at one point or the other) that she left under the pretext that she was ill before any of her scenes with Bette had been filmed, and refused to show up on the set back in Hollywood to complete filming. Over the next few weeks, Aldrich put a detective on Crawford to see if she was fibbing. Joan was too slick for them and didn't stumble in her facade. (Her pal, director Vincent Sherman, visited her in the hospital where she admitted she wasn't sick and just didn't want to continue working with Bette). Finally, Bette realizing that Joan had no intention of either quitting or coming back to the set -- she planned to get the picture shelved, with Fox collecting the insurance for a failed start production instead -- Bette and Bob pondered who could replace Joan. (Several icons were approach and refused, or were just ruled out).
Olivia deHavilland at first said "no" but then Aldrich flew to the ski slopes of Switzerland and talked her into it.
The movie was finished by the first anniversary of Kennedy's murder, and released Christmas Eve of 1964 so it would qualify for Oscar nominations (it got 7, although it wouldn't win any) and then went into wide release by the following spring. It did well at the box office.
Joan never again appeared in an A-list movie (even her cameo scenes in ROSEMARY'S BABY were cut) and given that she'd now earned a reputation for sabotaging productions and/or their Oscar bids over petty squabbles with Bette -- no innocent, Miss Davis, but at least she didn't force the films into potential financial trouble as Joan had -- it's no wonder.
Later, Crawford said of Aldrich that he's "a man who loves evil, horrendous, vile things," to which he responded: "If the shoe fits, wear it. And I am very fond of Miss Crawford."
At least, that's the legend.
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I would love to see the scenes Crawford filmed as Cousin Miriam. Oh, where for art thou?I kinda wish someone would unearth the CHARLOTTE scenes Joan completed -- there were several.
I wonder if they still exist anywhere.
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Rewatching What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? after having recorded it off TCM, I get further annoyed at how Crawford just wouldn't tough it out with Davis and complete Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Having never seen the latter film, I can't say whether or not Olivia de Havilland did well as Davis' co-star, but I can say I seriously doubt I would like her as much as I would Crawford in the part. I've enjoyed some of de Havilland's other work, but knowing Crawford was intended for it, it's hard to accept someone else. Had Crawford completed Sweet Charlotte, and maybe if the Davis-Crawford animosity had mellowed, I could have seen these two ladies teaming up maybe once or twice more. Who knows the other movies that may have been tailored to their on-screen chemistry.
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It is interesting how similar the two movies are, yet distinct (the same team almost entirely made both films). Olivia DeHavilland brought a breezy contrast to Bette Davis which was nice, while Joan Crawford would have seem a bit more like Bette herself.
Yes, they'd already done BABY JANE together, but in that one Crawford was non-ambulatory and seemed like the obvious victim (at least until the end). But in CHARLOTTE, Joan would have been able-bodied and capable of battle, and whose malevolence, or at least snobbery, would have been evident probably from the very beginning.
I've said before that I can easily imagine Crawford silently wandering the moors and halls of that bayou plantation at midnight in her mid-'60s beehive and giant choker necklaces, and that it might have made an already terribly dark picture even darker in a back-of-the-dark-closet kind of way than it already was. (One can get a sense of how that would have seemed in William Castle's otherwise-shlocky I SAW WHAT YOU DID a year later, even photographed by the same DP, Joe Biroc, a master of B&W mood camerawork).
I like it with Olivia, and appreciate the note she brought it. But I have to admit I'm curious about how it would have wound up had Joan completed the picture.
Too much like Hallowe'en? If such a thing is possible.
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I'm sure had Crawford stayed with the production, it would have been more of a battle of who could upstage who. Being out of her wheelchair this go around, it would have given her more to do and more opportunities to be Davis' equal. Although I've only seen clips, I think Crawford would have been a little darker in the role (just as you said), and more vaguely glamorous. But would Crawford's mid-1960s style with her beehives and neck chokers, as you call them, be too much for this more gothic-like picture?It is interesting how similar the two movies are, yet distinct (the same team almost entirely made both films). Olivia DeHavilland brought a breezy contrast to Bette Davis which was nice, while Joan Crawford would have seem a bit more like Bette herself.
Yes, they'd already done BABY JANE together, but in that one Crawford was non-ambulatory and seemed like the obvious victim (at least until the end). But in CHARLOTTE, Joan would have been able-bodied and capable of battle, and whose malevolence, or at least snobbery, would have been evident probably from the very beginning.
I've said before that I can easily imagine Crawford silently wandering the moors and halls of that bayou plantation at midnight in her mid-'60s beehive and giant choker necklaces, and that it might have made an already terribly dark picture even darker in a back-of-the-dark-closet kind of way than it already was. (One can get a sense of how that would have seemed in William Castle's otherwise-shlocky I SAW WHAT YOU DID a year later, even photographed by the same DP, Joe Biroc, a master of B&W mood camerawork).
I like it with Olivia, and appreciate the note she note she brought it. But I have to admit I'm curious about how it would have wound up had Joan completed the picture.
Too much like Hallowe'en? If such a thing is possible.
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No, I think it would have enhanced it. But then how much darker could CHARLOTTE go? As critic Judith Crist said about the movie, "the guignol is about as grand as it gets."
There is something very dowager-y about the mid-'60s, although I can't quite explain why. Aging women surrounded with their ashtrays and candy dishes, in their sleeveless sack dresses and their sculpted hair of the period, personal objects dustily ancient and tackily modern, angsty and pensive and looking older than their years as was typical then, a bottle of something not too far out of reach, awaiting visitors or family or something banal.
Post-menopausal gothic, directly upon that tear in the space-time continuum occurring at the center of the decade.
That's Bette. And it's certainly Joan. Not so much Olivia.
