(Credits: Far Out / Alexander Kahle)
Tue 15 April 2025 22:15, UK
Bette Davis was a true star, dominating Hollywood during its golden years with her powerful performances in everything from Jezebel to All About Eve to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Both on and off-screen, however, she was frequently labelled a ‘diva’, a term rather misogynistically used to describe women who knew what they wanted and didn’t hold back on their opinions.
While many male actors were just as demanding or perfectionistic, it was typically only female stars who were left with the title of being a diva, and Davis was one of the most notorious. She didn’t believe in watering herself down for the public eye, and she famously feuded with various stars, most notably Joan Crawford, her What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? co-star.
The actor clashed with Davis to the point of comic ridiculousness, with it being rumoured that Davis had harsh words to say when Crawford died. She reportedly said: “You should never say bad things about the dead; you should only say good… Joan Crawford is dead. Good.”
Crawford’s abusive treatment of her daughter is explored in the 1981 film by Frank Perry, Mommie Dearest, with Faye Dunaway playing the iconic actor. Coincidentally, Dunaway is the one star that you couldn’t have paid Davis to work with again after acting alongside her in 1976’s The Disappearance of Aimee.
Davis, being the outspoken person she was, didn’t hold back in telling Johnny Carson why she hated working with Dunaway in a 1988 interview. When asked who she wouldn’t work with again, Davis instantly answered, “One million dollars, Faye Dunaway. Everybody you could put in this chair will tell you exactly the same thing.”
The actor continued, “Well, she’s just totally impossible. I don’t think we have the time to go into all the reasons,” calling her “uncooperative”. Davis, who had her fair share of experience when it came to working with other actors, explained that “Miss Dunaway is for Miss Dunaway”.
When the pair shot The Disappearance of Aimee together, Davis couldn’t help but feel as though Dunaway had no regard for anyone else, holding up production by being late, even leading to Davis performing some musical numbers for everyone while they waited. “She’s very unprofessional,” Davis said, calling her a “difficult woman”.
Even when Carson called Davis a “true professional,” she couldn’t help but chime in with, “That is really what she isn’t.” Making extras wait around for hours and turning up without knowing her lines were just some of the things that Dunaway reportedly did during filming, leaving Davis disgusted by her co-star’s behaviour.
Only five years later, Dunaway would play Crawford in Mommie Dearest, a movie that came to be considered both a cult classic and one of the worst movies of all time. Davis maintained her negative opinion of Dunaway, calling her “self-centred” in an interview with Larry King, emphasising the actor’s lack of professionalism. In another interview with Gary Collins, she even called Dunaway “the most inconsiderate woman I have ever worked with”.
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