Bette Davis

Bette Davis

There have been some great Hollywood feuds over the years as some of the big screen's brightest stars have gone head to head.

We take a look at some of stars whose rivalries off screen were making all of the headlines.

- Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are two of the biggest stars to ever grace the big screen, by they also had the most famous Hollywood fall out.

Did they fall out over a role? Or who was the biggest film star? No, they fell out over a man.

In 1935 Davis starred alongside Franchot Tone in Dangerous - a man that she fell in love with whilst working with him.

At the time Crawford was newly divorced and invited Tone over to her home; only to greet him naked in her solarium. The pair soon became engaged.

Their professional rivalry was cranked up in 1942 when Crawford left MGM and signed with Warner Bros - the home of Davis.

But their rivalry did wonders for the film What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? Which was the first time that they starred together.

The movie saw them played a pair of bitter and resentful sisters in what is still a classic film.

And while the pair always played down their hatred of each other it was a rivalry that lasted thirty years and went with them to their graves.

- Olivia de Havilland vs. Joan Fontaine

Screen legends Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine both enjoyed successful career throughout the forties, both Oscar winners, but the sisters always had one problem... each other.

Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine were born a year apart and a jealous rivalry began from a very young age. Olivia was the first of the sisters to embark on an acting career, it was the early thirties when she took to the stage for the first time.

It was only a couple of years later that younger sister Joan followed in her footsteps, after changing her name to Fontaine. And the pair began to make a name for themselves in Hollywood.

But in 1941 the sisters found themselves going head to head in the Best Actress category, they were the first sister to be nominated in the same category in the same year. Olivia had been nominated for her role in Hold Back the Dawn while Joan got the nod for Suspicion, her second movie with Alfred Hitchcock.

The two sisters were sat together when Joan got one over on her older sibling winning the award.

And while the pair always played down their rivalry it was all to plain in 1946 when de Havilland found her self nominated again for her role in To Each His Own. At the time it was tradition for the previous year's winner to hand out the award but Joan Crawford decided not to appear at the ceremony.

- Marlene Dietrich vs Greta Garbo

Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo were another pair of actresses that were surrounded in tension.

The pair worked for rival studios and were in competition with each other as Dietrich worked for Paramount Pictures, while Garbo worked for MGM.

But their rivalry was taken up another notch in their personal lives when Dietrich had an affair with Garbo's lover.

Writer Mercedes de Acosta was at this centre of this personal feud and was a major cause of friction over the years.

Despite the fact that Garbo was with Acosta at the time of the affair, their relationship was always reported as less than rosy.

- Orson Welles vs William Randolph Hearst

The rivalry between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst was one that spanned decades.

Citizen Kane remains Orsen Welles' greatest film achievement; it was a movie that he co-wrote, starred in and directed.

But Hearst objected to the movie from the start as he believed that the central character of Kane was too similar to himself.

Hearst went as far as to even lobby against the film when it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars; it didn't go on to win the award.

- Tippi Hedren vs. Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the greatest actors of all time and he had a knack for turning actresses into stars.

In 1963 The Birds hit the big screen and Tippi Hedren too on the lead role of Melanie Daniels.

But Hedren did not become the huge Hollywood star that she should have done after she rejected Hitchcock's affections.

The actress revealed that he kept her under contract but she made no movies in a two year period.

In 1983 the actress spoke to author Donald Spoto for his book about Hitchcock The Dark Side of a Genius, where she talked about their working relationship.


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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