Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Movie Star Page #10

lt was fascinating to play with them...

...because you knew how much

they hated each other...

...but they were trying to keep it

concealed as much as possible.

She would do a scene,

and Davis would say to her:

''ls that the way

you're gonna play it?''

And Joan, of course,

got the reading and she said, ''Why?''

She says, ''Nothing. lf you're happy

with the way you're doing it, just do it. ''

Joan would come off and start crying.

Oh, Bette was so mean to her.

While shooting this scene, Davis

actually kicked Crawford in the head...

...and later apologized for the accident

and the two stitches that resulted.

Davis did a lot of cruel things

when she was tied in the bed...

...with her hands up in the air.

Crawford said, ''That's too tight. ''

And Davis' remark was,

''Well, it has to look real. ''

And Davis would discuss the scene

while Joan was hanging there.

When Joan was untied,

Bette had to pull Joan out of the bed...

...and drag her across the floor.

She said to Joan,

''When you do this...

...don't be a dead weight

as l lift you off the bed...

...because l have a very bad back. ''

Well, you could see sort of an invisible

light going on over Joan's head...

...and Joan was a dead weight. Bette fell

on the floor, Joan fell on top of her...

...and Bette went

into the hospital for two days.

Joan got up with the attitude of,

''Well, that was done. ''

She envied Davis. She always

felt that Davis was superior to her.

Davis and Crawford

had many similarities...

...and yet Bette Davis certainly

didn't wanna see that...

...because she thought of herself

as the actress...

...and Crawford was the movie star.

But at the same time

they both had troubled children...

...and were women alone

fighting for a career.

Within 11 days

of its nationwide release...

...it recovered its entire

production cost of $825,000.

Then came the Academy Awards.

Bette was nominated. Joan was not.

She was in the wings

and so was Bette.

The presenter said, ''The winner is

Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker. ''

Joan had been designated to accept

the award for Anne Bancroft...

...who was in New York.

Joan pushed Bette and said:

''Step aside,''

and walked onto the stage.

Bette never forgot that.

Joan 's next film

was the psychological drama...

...The Caretakers for United Artists.

The public wanted another horror film

from Davis and Crawford...

...and they were cast in,

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

From the beginning,

Bette was very crusty and aloof.

She even installed a Coca-Cola machine

on the set, instead of a Pepsi.

She played such strong ladies in films.

You'd think she could defend herself

in any situation, but she could not.

Crawford went to a hospital

and claimed she had pneumonia.

And she stayed in the hospital

for about three or four weeks.

When l got to the hospital, she said,

''l just wanted get out of the picture. ''

Bette had been talking to the director,

cutting Crawford's part down...

...and building her part up.

And she said, ''l just didn't

wanna be in, and go through...

...another picture with Bette Davis. ''

And with that, she locked the door

and we went to bed.

Joan was replaced

by Olivia de Havilland.

That was the end of the costarring

of the two great queens.

Baby Jane was the last

important picture Joan did.

She did some horror pictures

with Bill Castle.

She became known

as the scream queen.

This is Joan Crawford.

I urge you to see my new motion picture,

Strait-Jacket, from the beginning.

Strait-Jacket makes her look kind of

like Mildred Pierce, but with a hatchet.

l was hired to do the part

of her daughter.

The original ending in the script was me

at the door, screaming and yelling:

''l hate you, l love you, l hate you,

l love you,'' and everybody's shocked.

l did the scene. The next thing l know,

Joan says to Bill Castle:

''We'll end on me,

because it should be my reaction...

...to my daughter going crazy. ''

She was so needy

to have the last word...

...that she wouldn't let me

be the last word in the movie.

Had to have her last shot.

lt isn't just Joan Crawford.

Every actor or actress today...

...with any control on a movie,

they would do the same thing.

Joan made a considerable profit

from the horror film...

...but her reputation in Hollywood

was suffering as a result...

...and the casting calls were few.

Crawford's suspense-horror films

of the '60s are interesting...

...because she is giving her all.

She is approaching it as if

it were still Mildred Pierce.

lt's becoming a nightmare. l keep

wondering and thinking, ''Who's next?''

Kill, kill, kill!

That's all l feel inside me!

l think that film was hard for her,

because it was a B movie.

She wasn't always easy, but there

was also something very likable.

When people do show

their vulnerability...

...it's hard not to forgive them

for other things.

When l was visiting her,

she opened this cupboard...

...and in it was a box of Corn Flakes...

...and a jug and a bowl.

Her husband used to like Corn Flakes

at night, and they were still there.

She just missed him so much.

She was lonely, she said she was.

And l could see it,

and l could feel it in her.

Crawford's identity

was inextricably bound to stardom...

...so she continued her career on

television when film offers were scarce.

Did Simon ever speak to you about

the process he was working on?

Why, certainly. He kept me up

night after night for weeks.

l hope you can remember some of it.

No.

After five marriages,

if a woman hasn't...

...well, learned to appear

to listen to a man...

...without actually

having heard one word...

...then she might just as well

turn in her wedding rings.

She did one with Steven Spielberg

when he was a very young director.

She was insulted that they assigned

such a young director...

...to direct the diva.

By that time, her alcoholism actually

was interfering with her ability to work...

...and she just was not able

to memorize lines.

But she really didn't work much.

Basically, the only place that they'd

seen her were a few talk shows.

l think Hollywood now is the most

depressing place in the entire world...

...and l am the most grateful

human being in the whole world...

...for what it has given me.

lt's given me my education.

lt's given me everything l've ever earned.

The power to adopt five children,

to raise them, to educate them.

l will never be ungrateful for that...

...but now they're snobbish little cliques,

they are, and you may have it.

l got sick when l was

under contract to CBS...

...and doing the soap opera

Secret Storm.

She talked the network into

''Standing in for me,'' quote-unquote...

...and she did.

l was sick and she took my job.

lt was a very sad thing to watch...

...a woman in her 60s trying

to play a woman in her 20s...

...extremely unsuccessfully.

She was a leading lady

till the end of her life.

And it's too bad

that in this business...

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