Bette Davis feud with Joan Crawford lost her elusive third Oscar
As chronicled in Ryan Murphy's upcoming FX series "Feud: Bette and Joan," Bette Davis was ever determined to be the first actress to win three Oscars. After all, she claimed credit for giving Oscar his nickname and had even served as the academy's president for a stormy few months in 1941. However, while she had prevailed with each of her first two official nominations – "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938) – that third win forever eluded her. Even four more bids in a row (1939-1942) and then another in 1944 did not produce another Oscar.
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By 1950, the one-time queen of Warner Bros. was without a contract. As luck would have it, Claudette Colbert, who had beaten write-in candidate Davis to the Oscar in 1934, had to withdraw from playing the part of an aging actress in "All About Eve." Davis leaped at the last-minute offer and gave one of her truly great screen performances as Margot Channing. Though she won best actress from the New York Film Critics Circle, her hopes for that elusive third Oscar were derailed when her on-screen nemesis, Anne Baxter, insisted on competing in the lead category.
Subsequent vote-splitting allowed Judy Holliday ("Born Yesterday") to pull off a surprise win. The screen newcomer also bested Eleanor Parker ("Caged") and sentimental favorite Gloria Swanson ("Sunset Boulevard"). At age 53, Swanson thought this might be her last big shot at academy gold (she was right) and was devastated when she lost. Upon hearing the sad news, she whispered to a stunned Holliday, "Darling, why couldn't you have waited till next year?"
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By contrast, disappointed Davis gave another Oscar-worthy performance, exclaiming, "Good! A newcomer won, I couldn't be more pleased." Six months later, Davis claimed the consolation prize of best actress at Cannes.
Two years later in Davis contended again, this time for playing a washed-up Oscar winner in "The Star." In one of the campier scenes in a mediocre movie, she drives drunk while one of her real pair of Oscars sits on the dashboard keeping her company. Alas, her over-the-top performance did not bring her a third trophy.
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It would be a full decade before Davis was nominated again, this time for her bravura performance opposite Joan Crawford in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?". However, just as her costar's maneuverings had kept Davis out of the winner's circle for "Eve," so too was it to be with "Baby Jane."
Crawford was crushed that she wasn't nominated. Though she had won an Oscar for "Mildred Pierce" in 1945 and would reap two more bids – including one for "Sudden Fear" in 1952 when both she and Davis lost to Shirley Booth for "Come Back, Little Sheba" – she had never been a critics darling like Davis. However, she was popular with the mainstream press and she worked her not inconsiderable charms on a less-than-stealth campaign against her costar.
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And come Oscar night, Crawford would be the one holding the Academy Award, having engineered to accept should absentee nominee Anne Bancroft prevail, as she did, for "The Miracle Worker." The savvy star milked this moment for all it was worth, and kept printers' ink flowing when she flew to Gotham to present the gold to the winner working on Broadway.
One of the other losers in 1962 was Katharine Hepburn, who had received her ninth nom for "Long Day's Journey into Night." The Yankee original had won an Academy Award with her first nomination back in 1933 for "Morning Glory," but been an Oscar bridesmaid ever since. All that would change in the coming years as she'd win an Oscar for each of her next three nominations – "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967), "The Lion in Winter" (1968), and "On Golden Pond" (1981) – thereby setting the record of four lead wins.
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It was spelled Margo not Margot.
I think Geraldine Page was 2nd in 1962 and not Davis. I’d also doubt that Anne Baxter did cost Davis anything. If vote-splitting happened, it was between Davis and Swanson.
I disagree on both counts. Davis was the heavy favorite in 1962. Page’s performance in “Sweet Bird…” was not as revered in ’62 as it is now (as are almost all of her performances). Davis was a slight favorite over Swanson in 1952, any votes for Anne Baxter for Best Actress instead of the more appropriate BestSupportingActress (Baxter was excellent, and already had a BestSupportingActress win under her belt) would have probably gone to Davis, which in theory would have edged her past Judy Holliday.
JOAN CRAWFORD should have been nominated for “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE” for wisely under playing … Perfectly …
BETTE DAVIS ‘
campy performance but MISS CRAWFORD was never a favorite as “POSSESSED”
1947 proves when LORETTA YOUNG … better liked won. for. “THE FATMERS DAUGHTER”
What’s wrong beside misspelling Farmers. Is the truth unacceptable?
What a shame that Kate Hepburn (who gave the same irritating performance in every movie she made) has 4 Oscars to her credit. Bette Davis should have won for both “All About Eve” and “Baby Jane”, and the suspicious “tie” Hepburn shared with Barbra Streisand should have gone solely to Barbra. My best friend co-starred with Hepburn in a TV-movie (he replaced John Shea whom Hepburn had fired). Hepburn was such a beast to my friend that he finally told the old dragon off, much to the crew’s delight. But his actress wife, who accompanied him to the Toronto shoot so she could meet her idol, Hepburn, was horrified at how unprofessional and downright mean the old crone behaved. I wish the people who made “Feud” would follow it with “Tracy & Hepburn: The True Story”. Tracy was a nasty, racist alcoholic, and Kate was one tough lesbian.
Bette Davis was the greatest Hollywood actress ever as most critics agree. No other actress had such range or power and she never cared about her appearance in a role, only about her craft. Crawford was a great star and a very disturbed woman but she did give some very good performances. Bette Davis was unfairly robbed of the Oscar in 1950 and 1962 without any doubt.
Katherine Hepburn is very overrated in my opinion. She tended to play the same part throughout her career, a bossy masculine woman. She never had anything like the range or natural quality of Bette Davis. And by the way Gloria Swanson was not even nominated in 1950! Hollywood was definitely a very tough place for middle aged women then, much worse than now.. After the huge success of Baby Jane, Davis and Crawford continued to struggle to find good parts.
What planet are you from? Here are the nominees from 1950:
Nominee
Nominated Work
Anne Baxter All About Eve
Role: Eve Harrington
Bette Davis All About Eve
Role: Margo Channing
Eleanor Parker Caged
Role: Marie Allen
Gloria Swanson Sunset Boulevard
Role: Norma Desmond
Judy Holliday Born Yesterday
Role: Billie Dawn