Bette and Marilyn

I loved Marilyn in this. She was so natural in her earliest roles, before trying to go method.

We used to find her in the Fox parking lot, sucking chrome of '49 Fords.

Allegedly, Marilyn was so nervous about her scenes with Bette that she would throw up in the ladies' room before being called to the set.

Man, I would have hated to stand next to Marilyn Monroe.

Supposedly, after filming a scene with Marilyn, Bette turned to co-stars and sneered, "That little blonde slut can't act her way out of a paper bag! She thinks if she wiggles her ass and coos away, she can carry her scene--well, she can't!"

But years after Marilyn's death, Bette reflected, "I felt a certain envy for what I assumed was Marilyn's more-than-obvious popularity. Here was a girl who did not know what it was like to be lonely. Then I noticed how shy she was, and I think now that she was as lonely as I was. Lonelier."

Monroe is perfection in this scene!

R5, that is a poignant comment by BD.

Anyone who realised how mentally ill Monroe was could never be jealous of her.

Didn’t Davis call Monroe the “original good time that was had by all”?

Davis later said that she regretted how she treated Monroe on the set of All About Eve and once referred to the film in print as "notable for an excellent early performance by Miss Monroe" (I paraphrase).

From Vanity Fair's 'Tales of Hollywood' - which can't be linked here:

[quote]A few years after All About Eve came out, Monroe told Joan Collins (who at the time was filming The Virgin Queen with Davis), "That woman hates every female who can walk. She made me feel so nervous. She didn't talk to me at all, just sort of swept around the set, nose and cigarette in the air. She's a mean old broad."

I out lived the slut by 30 years. Cheers!

Marilyn is one of my favorite actors. She was very good in this one. Sad life but glorious career.

R12 and I looked beeuteeful til the end

[quote]Allegedly, Marilyn was so nervous about her scenes with Bette that she would throw up in the ladies' room before being called to the set.

Most of Bette's lovers had a similar reaction.

God, Bette looked like she was 1000 years old in her dotage.

Is Bette Davis the epitome of the American bitch? Or would you give that title to others?

R17, I think Joan Crawford is right up there with Bette. Maybe that's why they aged badly – the bitchiness seeped out.

They aged badly because they were both chain-smoking alcoholics.

I drove an Eldergay actor to and from set and he knew Marilyn, and the most interesting thing he told me was that her speaking voice was not that breathy dingbat character she played. That was an act. She had a normal speaking voice. In every bio-pic that's been made, the actresses that portray Norma Jean, with the breathy dingbat voice, have it all wrong. She didn't speak that way off camera.!

Off camera she had a voice like James Earl Jones.

Yes, it’s probably a tie between Davis & Crawford. And their feud amplified it.

Like the Bacall vs Faye thread, Joan was mentally ill, Bette wasn't. Bette was a hard woman but she was fair and professional. Bette was an actress, Joan was a movie star. Bette wasn't a narcissist, she knew she was homely. Crawford and Dunaway were out of control. Bacall was tough, independent and insecure, her bark was worse than her bight and she would often back down when challenged. Bacall was a bitch until she couldn't get away with it. Dunaway is a good actress but mental illness has ruined her life and career.

#bite

[R23] Ironic that Faye would play Joan and Lauren (indirectly) Bette (in the character of Margo Channing in Applause). Evidently Bette approached Lauren after seeing the show and told her that she was the only actress who could have played the character. Lauren was a huge fan of Bette but admitted she thought the compliment had a double edge to it - one that Bette herself was well aware of.

I think Faye is a better actress than Lauren but Bette was a better actress than Joan. I'd rather deal with Lauren and Bette than Faye and Joan (who I think would have disliked each other in any case).

I don't think Faye ever got along with anybody she worked with. They all thought she was insane.

bump-y night

[R4] It wasn't easy standing next to Bette Davis, darling.

[quote]Man, I would have hated to stand next to Marilyn Monroe.

-- Said no straight man ever.

BD was severely hobbled late in life by cancer and other conditions, manifesting in a horrendous, debilitating stroke just after a double mastectomy. It’s a testament to her enormous will that she was able to survive, recover AND return to her profession.

[quote] Bacall was tough, independent and insecure, her bark was worse than her bight ....

Don't correct yourself, R24/R23. It's true that "bight" isn't a word, but it should be!

That stroke Bette suffered was caused by alcohol withdrawal, when she was still hospitalized from her mastectomy. The withdrawal easily could've been treated and the stroke never would've happened if the hospital staff had recognized what was going on.

R32 how do you know that to be factual? about her instance, I mean, not in general

Stroke can result from alcohol withdrawal, esp. in the elderly. Davis drank heavily every day.

Bight IS a word. A curve or recess in a coastline.

Maybe you shouldn't speak so definitively, r20, because in Norma Jean and Marilyn, Ashley Judd plays Norma Jean with a normal voice and Mira Sorvino played Marilyn with a breathy voice.

Didn't Michelle Williams play her that way in My Week with Marilyn?

Thanks, R35! I had no idea (even though I'm pretty sure I know everything) -- dictionary.com proves that you're right:

noun = the middle part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends; the loop or bent part of a rope, as distinguished from the ends; a bend or curve in the shore of a sea or river; a body of water bounded by such a bend; a bay or gulf.

verb (used with object) = to fasten with a bight of rope.

r38: Thanimus is a SECRET CODE NAME of my own invention...nah, really just thanatos, Greek for death, I think, and animus, an extreme dislike for someone, e.g., He had an extreme animus toward Macauley Culkin...just an example. In my case, a love for life, therefor, a hatred of death. Thanatos, btw, was also a Greek god of nonviolent death, portrayed as gentle...fuck that, death is death.

More to the point, I can't imagine Bette liking much about Marilyn, esp. in that particular scene, throughout which MM seems to radiate light, and is dressed in light colors, and looks positively dewy. Bette looks dark, jaded, glamourous in some decadent kind of sophisticated way, and I'll bet she gritted her teeth when she saw how effortlessly Marilyn stole the scene right away from her. At least, it seems so to me.