Why Infamous 'Feud' Between Hollywood Icons Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on Set of 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' Was a Showbiz Myth

Joan Crawford never understood why the story of her so-called "feud" with Bette Davis refused to die. "There was never a feud," the Oscar winner said years after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, adding: "Because it takes two to tango and I refuse to fight."

A new biography, Joan Crawford: A Woman's Face by Scott Eyman, argues the decades-old legend of bitterness and backstabbing on the film's set was largely a Hollywood myth.

Both Davis, who died from b---- cancer in 1989 aged 81, and Crawford, 69, who was killed by a heart attack in 1977, were facing career droughts when the cameras rolled on the now-iconic Baby Jane movie in the summer of 1962. Producers were struggling to find financing for their macabre Gothic drama about two decaying sisters locked in psychological warfare.

But studio hesitation was less about the script and more about its stars – two middle-aged actresses considered box-office poison. Every major studio turned the picture down, but financing was eventually found from producer Eliot Hyman's Seven Arts company.

The film was shot at breakneck speed – just six weeks – leaving little room for the sabotage and tantrums endlessly reported in gossip magazines.

Even before shooting began, negotiations proved tense. Davis initially secured a higher salary – $60,000 against Crawford's $40,000 – but less percentage of profits. After hardball bargaining, Crawford signed on May 9, 1962, for $30,000 and 15 percent of the take, with Davis granted top billing and consultation rights.

The contract's original "equal costar" clause was literally crossed out to reflect Davis' dominant placement. But on set, the supposed animosity between the stars was more a cold détente than open warfare.

Director Robert Aldrich later said: "I think it's proper to say that they really detested each other, but they behaved absolutely perfectly. No upstaging, not an abrasive word in public."

Davis herself grudgingly admitted about her costar: "Joan was a pro. She was always punctual, always knew her lines. She had a deep and gnawing need to be liked... she brought gifts for me to the set and presented them in front of the crew."

Not that tensions were non-existent.

One source said "tension was palpable" on set. Davis was known to thrive on aggravation, while Crawford avoided confrontation.

Aldrich once cooled tempers after Davis snapped when Crawford requested a short break.

"You'd think by now we'd all be troupers," Davis quipped.

The two actresses also differed fundamentally in their working styles.

Crawford admitted: "I never give until the camera's turned. Why give it anyway, for God's sakes, it's not being recorded."

Davis, by contrast, acted full-throttle even in rehearsal. Otherwise, the set ran smoothly – and the pace left no time for grudge matches.

The legend of enmity only exploded after the fact, fanned by publicity agents and later dramatized in a television miniseries. But the real flashpoint came months later at the 1963 Academy Awards.

Davis was nominated for Best Actress for Baby Jane; Crawford was not. When Crawford volunteered to accept the Oscar on behalf of any absent winner, Davis took it as a malicious dig. When Anne Bancroft won for The Miracle Worker while performing on Broadway, Crawford strode onstage to accept on Bancroft's behalf – smiling as a stunned Davis looked on from the audience.

"All h--- has broken loose in the Davis camp," Warner Bros. lawyer Wolfe Cohen wrote in a memo at the time. The fallout split loyalties on the studio lot. Yet Crawford maintained her serenity, telling a friend: "Their bitterness can only hurt them. It couldn't possibly hurt the one whom their bitterness is towards."

In truth, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? became the triumphant comeback both women had hoped for, earning over $9 million in rentals and critical acclaim for its daring performances. "I will always thank her for giving me the opportunity to play the part of Baby Jane Hudson," Davis later said of Crawford.

Whatever the headlines claimed, what endured was not hatred, but history – and two actresses who refused to surrender their spotlight.