This joint biography of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford follows Hollywood's most epic rivalry throughout their careers. They only worked together once, in the classic spine-chiller "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" and their violent hatred of each other as rival sisters was no act. In real life they fought over as many man as they did film roles. The story of these two dueling divas is hilarious, monstrous, and tragic, and Shaun Considine’s account of it is exhaustive, explosive, and unsparing. “Rip-roaring. A definite ten.” - New York Magazine.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford: two of the deadliest arch-rivals of all time. Born in the same year (though Davis swore 'Crawford is five years older than me if she's a day'), the two fought bitterly throughout their long and brilliant Hollywood careers. Joan became a star first, which always irked her rival, who suggested her success had come via the casting couch. 'It sure as hell beats the hard cold floor' was Crawford's scathing response. According to Davis, Crawford was not only a nymphomaniac but also 'vain, jealous and about as stable and trustworthy as a basket of snakes'. Crawford, in turn, accused Davis of stealing her glory and planning to destroy her. The two rivals fought over as many men as they did parts - when Bette fell in love with her co-star in Dangerous, Franchot Tone, Joan stepped in and married him. The women worked together only once, in the classic thriller Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, in which their violent hatred of each other as rival sisters was no act.
From “Grand Hotel” to “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?,” Joan Crawford played some of the finest parts Hollywood had to offer, establishing a reputation as the most spectacular diva on the silver screen. Even when the cameras quit rolling, her life never stopped being over-the-top. In My Way of Life, a cult classic since it was first published in the early 1970’s, Crawford shares her secrets. Part memoir, part self-help book, part guide to being fabulous, My Way of Life advises the reader on everything from throwing a small dinner party for eighteen to getting the most out of a marriage. Featuring tips on fashion, makeup, etiquette and everything in between, it is an irresistible look at a bygone era, when movie stars were pure class, and Crawford was at the top of the heap.
Originally published in 1987, a collection of anecdotes as well as opinions pro and con on a wide range of subjects by legendary actress Bette Davis--now in ebook for the first time! A woman of strong appetites and opinions, Bette Davis minces no words. In frank, no nonsense terms she talks about the stroke that nearly killed her, and inspires us with the story of her subsequent recovery from cancer--a lively and encouraging account shot through with the star's unique blend of spunk and wit. Davis was famous for being as unsparing of herself as she was of others. Among the "others" of this book are President Ronald Reagan, who was a contract player at Warner Bros. when she was; Joan Crawford, her costar in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?; Humphrey Bogart; Marilyn Monroe; Elizabeth Taylor; and Helen Hayes, Bette's costar in her first film after her illness, Murder with Mirrors. She also talks about her deep friendship with her longtime assistant, Kathryn Sermak, who nursed Davis back to health after her stroke and ushered her back into acting when Davis's doctors thought all hope was lost. As Davis says, "If everyone likes you, you're doing your job wrong." This is a unique and controversial book by one of the most incandescent and unconventional acting talents of all time, as magnetic and supremely talented as the lady herself.
The legendary Hollywood star blazes a fiery trail in this enthralling portrait of a brilliant actress and the movies her talent elevated to greatness She was magnificent and exasperating in equal measure. Jack Warner called her "an explosive little broad with a sharp left." Humphrey Bogart once remarked, "Unless you're very big she can knock you down." Bette Davis was a force of nature—an idiosyncratic talent who nevertheless defined the words "movie star" for more than half a century and who created an extraordinary body of work filled with unforgettable performances. In Dark Victory, the noted film critic and biographer Ed Sikov paints the most detailed picture ever delivered of this intelligent, opinionated, and unusual woman who was—in the words of a close friend—"one of the major events of the twentieth century." Drawing on new interviews with friends, directors, and admirers, as well as archival research and a fresh look at the films, this stylish, intimate biography reveals Davis's personal as well as professional life in a way that is both revealing and sympathetic. With his wise and well-informed take on the production and accomplishments of such movie milestones as Jezebel, All About Eve, and Now, Voyager, as well as the turbulent life and complicated personality of the actress who made them, Sikov's Dark Victory brings to life the two-time Academy Award–winning actress's unmistakable screen style, and shows the reader how Davis's art was her own dark victory.
One of Hollywood’s greatest stars recalls her fabulous life: at nine, scrubbing floors in a Kansas City school; at twenty, motion picture stardom and marriage to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; in 1945, the Academy Award for her sensational comeback-triumph in Mildred Pierce; and today, a glamorous “double life” as Hollywood star and corporation executive. Richly illustrated with photographs throughout.
"Sixty years later, Jaffe’s classic still strikes a chord, this time eerily prescient regarding so many of the circumstances surrounding sexual harassment that paved the way toward the #MeToo movement." -Buzzfeed When Rona Jaffe’s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. Almost sixty years later, The Best of Everything remains touchingly—and sometimes hilariously—true to the personal and professional struggles women face in the city. There’s Ivy League Caroline, who dreams of graduating from the typing pool to an editor’s office; naïve country girl April, who within months of hitting town reinvents herself as the woman every man wants on his arm; and Gregg, the free-spirited actress with a secret yearning for domesticity. Jaffe follows their adventures with intelligence, sympathy, and prose as sharp as a paper cut.
Of Human Bondage, Jezebel, All About Eve, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Just this short list of Bette Davis' films gives an unmistakable sense of the role she played in twentieth-century cinema as one of the finest performers in Hollywood history. Drawing on an extensive series of conversations that took place during the last decade of Bette Davis' life, this biography draws heavily on the actresses own words. Looking back over the decades, from her teenage decision to become an actress to the pain and outrage over her daughter's bitter portrayal of her, Davis speaks with extraordinary candour. She explains how her father's abandonment of her a child reverberated through her four marriages, and discusses the persistent Hollywood legend that she was difficult to work with. Immersing readers in the drama and glamour of movie-making's golden age, The Girl Who Walked Home Alone is a startling portrait of an enduring icon.
Originally published in 1962, The Lonely Life is legendary silver screen actress Bette Davis's lively and riveting account of her life, loves, and marriages--now in ebook for the first time, and updated with an afterword she wrote just before her death. As Davis says in the opening lines of her classic memoir: "I have always been driven by some distant music--a battle hymn, no doubt--for I have been at war from the beginning. I rode into the field with sword gleaming and standard flying. I was going to conquer the world." A bold, unapologetic book by a unique and formidable woman, The Lonely Life details the first fifty-plus years of Davis's life--her Yankee childhood, her rise to stardom in Hollywood, the birth of her beloved children, and the uncompromising choices she made along the way to succeed. The book was updated with new material in the 1980s, bringing the story up to the end of Davis's life--all the heartbreak, all the drama, and all the love she experienced at every stage of her extraordinary life. The Lonely Life proves conclusively that the legendary image of Bette Davis is not a fable but a marvelous reality.
