Betty Davis vs Joan Crawford
In the golden age of Hollywood, the mutual tearing of two pairs of "drama" queens has attracted the attention of countless people.
One is the centennial feud between Joan Fontaine and her sister Olivia de Haviran, which is mixed with family feuds, award-winning storms and other dog-blood family ethics dramas, which has aroused the melon-eating masses.
The other pair is our protagonist today: Betty Davis and Joan Crawford's Thirty Years' War. They talk and talk to each other, tripping each other up, and the war burns from private life to career, and its excitement is not weaker than that of another pair of actresses.
Betty Davis vs Joan Crawford
Betty Davis
Born: 1908, Massachusetts, USA;
Died: 1989, Paris, France;
Cause of death: breast cancer;
Husbands: 4;
Children: 3, 1 biological daughter, 1 other son and 1 daughter for adoption;
Works Quantity: 87;
Oscar: 2 wins, 11 nominations.
Joan Crawford
Born: 1904, Texas, USA;
Died: 1977, New York, USA;
Cause of death: pancreatic cancer;
Husbands: 4;
Children: 4, all adopted;
Works Quantity: 86;
Academy Awards: 1 win, 2 nominations.
Born into a single-parent family, her father a businessman and her mother a photographer, Betty Davis did not pursue a systematic theatre education until she graduated from high school. She then attended John Murray Anderson's drama school, where she took to broadway and then hollywood. In today's terminology, girls from the class are ordinary in appearance, and their glory depends on their acting skills.
Joan Crawford also came from a single-parent family, but her situation was even worse, and she didn't even know who her biological father really was. Joan, who is at the bottom of society, works in a laundromat and works as a cleaner to pay for her tuition. Even so, 14-year-old Joan dropped out of school to make a living by dancing. Joan's career was simple, starting with a stripper, and then relying on "showing sexy underwear" to gain the favor of MGM executives.
Joan Crawford
Betty Davis
Betty's contempt for Joan seems to be a matter of course, and in Betty's view, Joan is completely "sleeping" to get into power. And Joan doesn't necessarily look up to Betty, a woman with extremely low emotional intelligence and an arrogant and eccentric temperament. But the friendship between the two of them is not as simple as temperament.
01 Headline controversy
Betty Davis
Hollywood in the 30s was not as information-rich as it is in today's Internet age. As long as you are willing to operate, there are ways to expose. In that era, all actresses were proud to be in the headlines of newspapers, and this mood was probably as crazy as the stars competing for the first place in the Weibo hot search list now.
Betty Davis was a huge success on Broadway because of her superb acting skills, and although she was a pure newcomer, she was invited to Hollywood by the film company, so the film company prepared a grand welcome party for her. This party naturally invited a lot of media to the scene, and Betty dressed herself beautifully and intended to make a perfect appearance in front of the media. Unexpectedly, Joan Crawford and her husband Douglas van punk jr. suddenly came to the party scene, and the celebrity couple immediately stole all the limelight, and the media all turned the gun and aimed their long guns at the couple. The flash kept flashing and the shutter clicking and clicking, but none belonged to Betty. Her own welcome party became a stage for other people's performances, and Betty secretly wrote a note in her small ledger.
Joan Crawford with husband Douglas van Punk Jr
In 1932, Betty Davis, who had jumped to Warner, participated in the filming of the film "Ex-Wife" for the first time as a star. In this film, Betty plays an anti-traditional avant-garde woman. To this end, Warner spent a lot of effort to plan a "negative propaganda", and they even hired a group of people to pretend to be protesters in front of the theater to protest the release of the film.
Headlines have been bought, because a movie has caused a sensational social topic, what a great plan. As the lead actor, Betty can't help but start fantasizing about what happened after she became popular, she imagined countless times in her mind what kind of feedback people will have after watching the film, what will they say, will they like it? The next day, however, the headline turned out to be news of The divorce of Joan Crawford and Little Douglas van Punk. Warner carefully planned a wonderful publicity case was beaten to death by random punches... Betty's anger is probably similar to Wang Feng, who always can't make headlines!
Joan Crawford
Once I could take it as a coincidence, however, it was her again! Betty was not a gentle and stoic person, and she put her displeasure on the surface. In this regard, the thirty-year war between the two officially began.
02 Men's Scramble
Joan Crawford
Henry Fonda, a very polite and bookish male star, this genre happens to be Betty's favorite. At that time, Betty was not famous, but the hot Betty still boldly confessed to Fonda, who was already a big star. Unfortunately, Fonda did not like Betty's type, and he gently declined Betty's overtures. Betty doesn't want to die, she still secretly likes the handsome Fonda. After Joan learned about it, she simply showed her love to Henry Fonda on the set of "Daisy" and warmly invited him out for a drink. Although Fonda still refused, Betty was so angry that she almost didn't fight Joan.
Henry Fonda
Then, during the filming of "Woman woman" between French Towne and Betty, Betty develops a crush on Frankie, and she takes Frankie into her makeup room, intending to conquer the handsome man with a water mill. But at this time, French was in a relationship with Joan. When Joan discovers that her boyfriend is ambiguous with Betty, she feels that Betty is deliberately seducing her boyfriend and that she is taking revenge on herself. So Joan immediately agreed to Frankie's marriage proposal, and the two entered the wedding hall. It wasn't long before Frankie even sent out a rather vicious comment: "Admittedly, Betty Davis is a good actress, but I have never been able to treat her as a woman." ”
French Towne
Whether this sentence is true or false is now unverifiable, but it undoubtedly completely detonated the Shuluo Field. Betty laughs at Joan on the show, saying her tear glands must be as developed as her bladder. It was even said that she had slept with the entire MGM man, except for MGM's dog named Lacey.
Joan, on the other hand, countered in the interview: I really don't know how Betty's pretentious acting skills can be awarded. What else would she do besides staring at dead fish eyes, playing with smoke, and poor mouths?
Betty Davis
Later, the two even began to compare with their daughters. Betty had a beautiful daughter, but Joan was unable to have children because of the absurdity of the first half of her life. Seeing betty with her daughter, Joan went to adopt a daughter and named christina. Two years later, when the media praised Betty's daughter as very beautiful, Joan went to adopt a pair of very beautiful twin daughters and returned.
Joan Crawford with twins
Hearing the news, Betty sneered, "Oh, she's going to 'buy' the baby again." ”
03 Warner's sister dispute
Joan Crawford
If all of the above is still a small fight, it is just a war of lips and tongues between women. Then next, the face-to-face mutual pinch is about to open the curtain.
In 1943, Joan Crawford jumped from MGM to Warner.
At that time, the MGM stars were twinkling, and among the actresses, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, and Heidi Rama were all beautiful people in every world. Although Joan is also beautiful, in the place where the beauties gather, the beauty is not so prominent. So Joan decided to switch to Warner, which has more male stars, in order to seek more room for development. As a result, he sent himself into Betty Davis' turf.
Joan Crawford and Betty Davis
At first, Joan made a gesture of making a small prostration and personally sent a small gift to Betty's dressing room, but it was not long before she was returned. "Don't you think she's a little weird?" Betty nagged to her assistant, "Am I the kind of person who will be bribed by small favors?" She did it as if she were gay. ”
Betty Davis
The next day, Betty was going to give Joan some color to see. At this time, it was World War II, Betty was a partner in the Hollywood canteen, and all the stars had to come to the Hollywood canteen as volunteers to show their patriotism. When Joan came to hollywood cafeteria as a volunteer, she was surrounded by fans who loved her. As she affectionately posed with fans to sign autographs, Betty showed up. "Hi Joan, the kitchen below is very much in need of you, there are a lot of plates to wash, thank you!" It was the first thing Betty had said to joan since she came to Warner.
Joan Crawford
Since then, within Warner, the two women have begun a battle for resources. Scripts, directors, cinematographers, stylists, nanny cars... As long as they can compete, both people have to compete. Healthy competition promotes development, vicious competition makes people's heads bigger, and Warner boss Jack Warner begins to live in pain and happiness. Betty pointed out Joan's resources, criticized Joan's acting skills, and finally suggested to the boss that he cut the promotional funds for the film starring Joan, anyway, the performance was so bad, don't let the boss lose money. Joan, on the other hand, is better at using her own strengths, using her good popularity to help her promote new films, and on the other hand, she cries in front of Jack and tells her grievances...
Betty Davis
The two have never seen the king, never talk directly with each other, and talk to each other through the boss Jack or the media.
Joan wiped her tears and said, "I don't understand why Betty Davis hates me so much, I've never offended her." ”
Betty, on the other hand, smoked a cigarette and replied in her usual proud tone: "I hate Miss Joan Crawford?" How is this possible, I don't know her very well. ”
At first, Joan was suppressed because Betty won two Oscars for Best Actress, and Joan always played a beautiful vase in the film because of her appearance. But in 1945, Joan leaked Betty's unwanted script "Sea Of Love", and then won her first Oscar with this film.
Joan Crawford won the Oscar for Best Actress
The clever Joan declared herself unwell before the Oscars, and then changed her bright makeup, made her face pale, wore a silk pajama, and lay weakly on the bed of the hotel to receive the little golden man handed over by the organizing committee. There is no doubt that the show made headlines the next day.
Betty saw it and publicly taunted, She's taking luck. People who really love acting are aiming to be a good actor, not a gorgeous actress. ”
Not to be outdone, Joan, who won the award, replied: "No amount of cosmetics can hide the ugly appearance of some women!" ”
Betty Davis
Joan Crawford was proud not long ago, and a few months later, Betty returned to the battlefield with "Comet Beauty", a war without smoke, Betty was reluctant to concede defeat.
04 The horn of the new campaign
Betty Davis
After Joan won the award for "Desire for the Sea Demon", she once thanked her predecessor Betty in the newspaper, saying that she hoped to have the opportunity to work together. Betty responded directly: "On the day hell freezes, let's cooperate." ”
Will hell freeze? No!
Are the two of them going to work together? Yes!
The opportunity for the two to work together was simple and had a lot of time.
Joan Crawford and Betty Davis
At this time, Hollywood had an unwritten rule that even a beautiful actress was over forty years old to be tofu dregs. What looks are still not old, the acting skills are more exquisite, it is useless, and the company will no longer spend a lot of resources on these old actors. Joan and Betty are only 4 years apart, and they are going to be eliminated.
In order to regain their declining popularity, the two former goddesses had to work together to shoot a new film " Lan Boudoir " .
Joan Crawford and Betty Davis co-starred in "The Blue Girl"
Although they gritted their teeth and joined forces with their old enemies, the two still created countless "accidents" on the shooting scene. When casting, Joan took a step back and chose the role of her sister, who had less room to play, while Betty played the more powerful sister. When the media came to interview, Betty secretly walked to the C position with the best shooting angle, but Joan won unanimous praise from the staff by giving small gifts and a gentle attitude. A disgruntled Betty mocks Joan for being a fool, playing an old woman who doesn't have enough to eat every day and wears a corset with care. And Joan simply retaliated with tit-for-tat, in a scene that required Betty to drag her on the ground, she installed ten pounds of stones on her waist, and in the process of filming, she also made Betty, who already had a waist injury, more injured, and could not stand up straight for a week after filming this scene.
"Lan Boudoir Shock"
An enraged Betty fights an eye for an eye in a hand-to-hand fight scene that follows. The scene goes like this: the sister needs to slap her sister to the ground and then kick her. Joan was afraid that Betty would be cruel to her, so she asked for a stand-in. But a lot of close-up scenes can't be used as a substitute, and then Betty slaps Joan in the face, and Joan immediately screams loudly, but Betty just shrugged: "I haven't touched her yet." ”
Joan Crawford and Betty Davis
Whether there was a real fight, or what kind of fight it was, is now unknown. I only know that in the later interview, Qiongmei was tearful, but she didn't say anything, which caused her fans to be very compassionate to her. Just because of the tearing of the two people's "true feelings", this B-grade film received countless attention at that time, and with the release of the film, the career of the two returned to the peak. Joan, who tasted the taste of red, was not happy for a few days, and suddenly the news that Betty had nominated for the Oscar heroine again arrived. It is true that the two have the same role, but Betty's role has more room to play and the performance is more eye-catching. So Betty triumphantly arrived at the Oscars and waited to meet her third Oscar queen.
Joan Crawford and Betty Davis co-starred in "The Blue Girl"
How could Joan be willing? She used her good popularity to visit two other actors who were nominated for Best Actress. These two are Broadway celebrities, and they are just here to play tickets in Hollywood movies. So they gladly agreed to Joan's request to accept the award, so Joan dressed up in a suit and beautiful jewelry and walked into the Oscars.
When the host on the stage announced the attribution of the Oscar for Best Actress, Betty was shocked, it was not herself? She also confiscated the emotions, and the radiant Joan, who was the acting recipient of "Helen Keller" actress Annie Bancroft, had already passed her. She smiled at Betty and said, "You didn't win? That's great! Let me, I'm going to collect that award. ”
Joan Crawford took the Oscar in place of Annie BanCrawford
After the Oscars, Betty was not shocked to die: "Miss Joan's chest is fake, hard enough to hurt her head." ”
And Joan also unceremoniously hit back: "I found out that Betty is older than my mother." ”
The two's sprays spread throughout the 70s. Although they are a lot older, their poisonous tongue skills are not reduced in that year. The feud lasted until 1977, when Joan Crawford died of pancreatic cancer. Watching the hilarious media run to Betty to ask betty what she thinks, Betty is silent.
Elderly Joan Crawford
After Joan's death, her adopted daughter Christina wrote the book Dear Mommy, which portrayed Joan as an evil person who abused her adopted daughter. The media asked Betty what she thought, and Betty replied this time: "Joan Crawford is dead, you shouldn't say bad things about dead people, you should say something good." ”
Elderly Betty Davis
Both people are hot-tempered Aries goddesses, dare to think and dare to make love and hate. In fact, in addition to their career success, the two have failed in emotional management, betty has been married 4 times, leaving only one daughter. And Joan has been married 5 times, and even when people reach old age, they still need to make a comeback for their husbands to pay off their debts. The success of both of them is due to their own persistence and hard work, every time they are hit hard by life, they can wipe away the blood and get up strong to fight again.
Joan Crawford and Betty Davis
Although some personalities are similar and their experiences are almost the same, the two people who come out of the bottom and climb up without any background are doomed to be friends. In Hollywood, where everything needs to be fought, they can only be enemies for a lifetime, until they die.