By Kellie Freeze, ReMIND Magazine
Whether rooted in competition, misunderstandings or simple animosity, celebrity feuds have long fascinated the public. We look back at a few of Hollywood’s most legendary feuds — a few so well-hidden that the public never knew the truth!
Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland
For these famous acting sisters, sibling rivalry caused a lifelong rift. The pair competed over parts (Fontaine snagged the lead role in Alfred Hitchcock’s screen adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca) and Oscars (Fontaine bested her sister by winning Best Actress for Suspicion over De Havilland’s Hold Back the Dawn). The feud culminated in 1975 when the women stopped speaking to each other.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
The rivalry between two of Hollywood’s loveliest leading ladies became ugly on the set of the 1962 movie What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, but the tiff began decades earlier when both screen sirens were smitten with actor Franchot Tone. Crawford stole the dapper gent’s heart (they were married for several years), and Davis never forgave … or forgot.
Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor
Once upon a time, Reynolds and Taylor were close friends, but Taylor’s scandalous affair with Reynold’s husband Eddie Fisher caused a rift that lasted decades. After the tragic 1958 passing of Taylor’s third husband, Mike Todd, Fisher moved into Taylor’s home to help the grieving widow while Reynolds cared for Taylor’s children. Not long after, news of an affair between Fisher and Taylor broke, and the scandal branded Taylor a homewrecker. After Reynolds and Fisher divorced, Fisher married Taylor — a union that lasted from 1959-1964. Reynolds forgave Taylor eventually, and the two women rekindled their friendship. When she died in 2011, a grateful Taylor left Reynolds a sapphire bracelet, necklace and earrings in her will, proving that forgiveness — and friendship — are life’s greatest treasures.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Although the legendary dancers appeared in 10 films together, most often as each other’s dance and romantic partners, the real-life relationship between Astaire and Rogers was far less cordial. Both were tireless perfectionists, and while they battled for control, their relationship was always professional, and nothing more. When once asked about a rumored tension between the duo, Astaire answered, “We worked together. That’s all.”
Vivian Vance and William Frawley
It’s hard to believe it, but the actors who played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s BFFs on I Love Lucy loathed each other in real life. Tensions between Vance and Frawley began when the actress objected to having a TV husband old enough to be her father, offending the 64-year-old Frawley. Frawley did little to make life on set bearable for Vance and for the classic series’ nine-year run was as curmudgeonly as his onscreen persona.
Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando
The rivalry between Sinatra and Brando came to a head while both men were shooting the 1955 film adaptation of the musical Guys and Dolls. Sinatra was dismissive of Brando’s “method acting,” and Brando got under Ol’ Blue Eyes’ skin by requesting multiple takes of scene after scene. The men finally refused to speak to each other, which divided the set and made the cast and crew pick sides. Supposedly, toward the end of filming, Brando was attacked by a pair of mysterious thugs; he blamed Sinatra and his Mafia connections, and never spoke of Sinatra again.
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Martin and Lewis were a popular and prolific comedy duo who worked together in nightclubs, on TV and in 16 movies in a partnership that lasted a decade. But jealousy and disapproval forced them apart, and in his book Dean & Me (A Love Story), Lewis recounts that Martin once told him that he was “nothing to me but a %@#$ing dollar sign.” After the pair acrimoniously parted ways in 1956, both men enjoyed successful solo careers, but it took over 20 years for the men to make up, and they never worked as Martin and Lewis again.
Brought to you by the publishers of ReMIND magazine, a monthly magazine filled with over 95 puzzles, retro features, trivia and comics. Get ReMIND magazine at 70% off the cover price, call 1-855-322-8784 or visit remindmagazine.com
