8 Great Old Hollywood Feuds To Rival Bette And Joan

"Miss Davis was always partial to covering up her face in motion pictures. She called it 'art.' Others might call it camouflage."

From: NewNowNext

 Sunday night was the premiere of FX’s Feud: Bette and Joan, which sees Ryan Murphy chronicling the legendary beef that developed between screen greats Bette Davis and Joan Crawford while making What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?.

 Some elements of their feud are undoubtedly apocryphal, but when Davis got a nominated for an Oscar, Crawford contacted the other nominees and offered to accept on their behalf. She ended up accepting the award for The Miracle Worker’s Anne Bancroft, who was in a play in New York at a time.

 “It would have meant a million more dollars to our film if I had won,” Davis once remarked. “Joan was thrilled I hadn’t.”

While Feud’s next season will focus on the royal rift between Charles and Diana, we have other ideas for Murphy and Co. Here are eight feuds from the golden age of Hollywood that are just ripe for the retelling.

1

 Olivia de Havilland 

vs.

 Joan Fontaine

The de Havilland sisters were both Hollywood royalty: Olivia is best known for playing frail Melanie Wilkes in Gone With The Wind, as well as leading roles in The Heiress and The Adventures of Robin Hood. Joan, meanwhile gained acclaim in films like Suspicion, The Women and, of course, Rebecca.

Their sibling rivalry began in childhood, with Joan believing their mother, British actress Lilian Fontaine, favored Olivia. (Lilian even refused to let Joan use the family name in show business.) It crystallized after Fontaine won an Academy for Suspicion over de Havilland’s performance in Hold Back the Dawn.

Age didn’t soften their spat: Olivia even neglected to invite Joan to Lilian’s memorial service. In the end, Olivia, who turned 100 last year, achieved victory–inasmuch as she outlived Joan, who died in 2013.