Blind Items Revealed - Old Hollywood
April 14, 2014
If you're wondering how that feud between those two A++list Oscar nominated/winning actresses started, it started long before they costarred in that cult classic of a movie together. Back in the '30s, the elder of the two actresses caught her future arch enemy sleeping with not only her first B-list actor husband, but her second as well.
Joan Crawford/Bette Davis/"What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"/Douglas Fairbanks, Jr./Franchot Tone
Hussy!
ReplyDeleteDouglas Fairbanks was B-?
ReplyDeleteThese two betches could be mean and nasty I wish I had been around for this. They would chew up anything that's out there today. Talk about divas! :(
ReplyDeleteI loveBette Davis!! Always have.
ReplyDelete@Rhysie, was it her eyes? :D
DeleteThese two were both hotties when they were younger, they clawed their way to the top & stayed there even today.
ReplyDelete"caught"? Do tell!
ReplyDeleteWell if your going to do something than do it well
ReplyDelete@Sea Hag, it was Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., his son.
ReplyDeleteDouglas Fairbanks Junior was probably B, his daddy & mommy, Mary Pickford were A.
ReplyDeletebette was bi-sexual i think.
ReplyDeletenow THESE old broads knew how to have a feud. boning each others man aside, there was probably a TON of whitty/bitchy quips lobed to and fro. if i am ever i a feud please let it be with a quick witted dame with a boat load of sharp insults to keep me on my toes.
Luv ya ladies...RIP
Thanks, Karen. That makes the B- generous.
ReplyDeleteJoan was known for doing whoever tickled her fancy and of course, job opportunities.
ReplyDeleteThere is a rumor at one point. Joan wanted Bette, but she wasn't into Joan. So Joan, went after the next best ....Bette's men. This is all from what I read naturally.
I read an old Biography that stated Fairbanks SR had to have a private talk with Fairbanks JR & Joan because they were so hot & heavey they would go at it in public. This was still during the silent movie era, & Joan was a Starlet.
ReplyDeleteImagine if there were paps then or even just camera phones.
Wow...Bette...I'm shocked. Also, never found her that attractive.
ReplyDeleteEarly 30's she was lovely
Deletenow that must have been interesting.......
ReplyDeletethose two would be a great cat fight no?
one for the ages
Joan was supposed to be a major party girl when she was a Starlet & swing both ways.
ReplyDeleteBette was supposed to be more business, but they were competing with each other for roles.
Bette got around in her day. During WWII she started the Hollywood Canteen to entertain the troops. Apparently some of the hotter soldiers entertained her, as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Fairbanks Jr could be best described as B list, he was popular in his day but nothing like his dad. Mary Pickford isn't his mother though, she only had adopted kids.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, everybody has always slept with everybody in Hollywood, that hasn't changed.
I wonder how many degrees it would take to trace Paris Hilton's herpes back to a Joan Crawford or a Charlie Chaplin?
ReplyDeleteThe books I've read suggest that Joan would sleep with anybody, male or female. Take this with a grain of salt (or a whole shaker) but in B.D. Hyman's book, she said that the feud started over unwanted advances from Joan. It's an unflattering account of her mother while Bette was still alive, which I wouldn't recommend, but some of the events were interesting.
ReplyDeleteBetty Boop!!!
ReplyDeleteoh tangled web
And with the psycho Joan!
I always thought the feud started when Joan made a pass at Bette, and it pissed Bette off. Maybe that is why Joan slept with her husbands.
ReplyDeleteInteresting .... Doesn't surprise me though. HW was probably even more scandolous than just bc there were no cellphones & internet back than.
ReplyDeleteIn this blind, these guys were Joan's husbands, though, and Bette is the instigator, not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteI'm so confused!
DeleteJoan Crawford slept with everyone
ReplyDeleteBette was lucky she didn't wind up with a coat hanger up her butt!
ReplyDeleteAh, so Bette slept with them, but according to Bette they were stolen from her. This started with the advance made by Joan, and escalated from there. They were both diva's and seemed to share the same taste in men, in these two instances, Joan married them, Bette bed them.
ReplyDeleteFairbanks JR was Joans first hubs, he was never married to Bette. The excuse for the divorce I believe was just they married young & had busy schedules.
ReplyDeleteTone was Joan's second hubs, he was never married to Bette either. The excuse for the divorce was he & his friends were all in the theater & looked down on her. I read a bio about Bette, which stated he was her great love, even though they never married.
They were so perfectly casted in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane.
ReplyDelete^5 Lux Luthor!!! Nice one!
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd already heard this? Not here, but just in general. I think I also thought that Joan was the one who was bi, not Bette, but hell, it's probably both.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I'm all about the peace-and-love myownself, but this old Hollywood grande-dame feud never gets old, does it?! Heheheheh. What a couple of bad-ass broads.
Obviously I'm on Team Bette.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Joan stole Franchot away from Bette.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr was kind of gorgeous back when they were married.
I am of the opinion that Joan was way more of a slut than Bette, but I could be wrong.
she sure did Ari. Joan had an itch...
ReplyDeleteAll this screwing around: what, were there only 20 men and 20 women in the whole town??!! You cldnt choose a stranger?
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteHow whore-ible. ;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, even in the book Mommie Dearest Christina said she saw her mother with another woman.
ReplyDeleteBette slept with any dude she could find. In fact, when she was at Warners in the 30s she notoriously basically had power to cast whatever guy was currently her favorite. Usually it was George Brent. Leslie Howard, Fonda, Bogart, Reagan, Henreid, Lukas, Boyer other well-known examples. Directors & producers too, Wyler, Litvak.
ReplyDeleteJoan & Franchot were primarily gay. Fairbanks wasn't bi-sexual by my estimation, he was one of the types who had an irrepressible sex drive and was exceptionally promiscuous. It was likely more the chick was there and available and that's all he needed to go. Franchot woulda been interested in the extra man tho.
It's actually kinda sad with him, his psychological turmoil from unsuccessfully trying to repress his homosexuality caused him to get caught up with several toxic woman, Joan for one, Barbara Payton another, most infamously. They were predators, and he was naive & easy prey in his mental state & desperate to over-compensate. It even led to him once being beat into a coma by one of Payton's affairs, actor Tom Neal.
Very interesting NXNW. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteJoan was 4 years older than Bette...according to the search I did...so Bette was the one sleeping with the husbands of Joan Crawford.
ReplyDelete