Bette Davis and Joan Crawford publicity shot for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
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Robert Aldrich’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has done more to define later generation’s ideas about who Crawford was than perhaps any other movie that she was actually in. Unfortunately, most of those ideas center around Crawford’s supposed feud with co-star Bette Davis, which began as a marketing ploy and turned into something quasi-real -- or, at least as real as certain celebrity “feuds” of today.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on set for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Show notes:
Every episode this season will draw from the following books about, and/or based on conversations with, Joan Crawford:
Not The Girl Next Door: Joan Crawford, a Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler
Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography by Lawrence Quirk and William Schoell
Conversations with Joan Crawford by Roy Newquist
Sources specific to this episode:
The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis - A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler
Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?: His Life and His Films by Alain Silver and James Ursini
This episode was edited by Sam Dingman, and produced by Karina Longworth with the assistance of Lindsey D. Schoenholtz. Our logo was designed by Teddy Blanks.