Hollywood’s Biggest Feuds
What is it about celebrity feuds that fascinate fans so much? The off-screen drama is sometimes more exciting than the movies or TV shows those celebrities are known for. Here are some of the entertainment businesses' biggest rivalries.
Bette Davis & Joan Crawford
Here’s a pairing with no certain winner. Both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were formidable women and could hold their own in any situation. Davis and Crawford were two of the biggest names in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s, but then both experienced a career decline.
Bette Davis & Joan Crawford
In 1962, they both had the opportunity to reclaim their former glory. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was a film about a former child star who torments her paraplegic sister, also a former star, in a classic old Hollywood mansion. The feuding and upstaging pretty much commenced on the first day of shooting, reaching petty lows on the set and in the press.
Warner Bros., Wikimedia Commons
Bette Davis & Joan Crawford
Bette Davis was nominated for Best Actress at the 1963 Academy Awards while Joan Crawford was not. When Anne Bancroft won for The Miracle Worker and could not attend the ceremony, Crawford took it upon herself to accept the award on Bancroft’s behalf (no one asked her to) and even posed with a group of that night’s Oscar winners.
Raquel Welch & MGM
Raquel Welch was a big star in the late 1960s and 1970s. Her breakthrough role was in the somewhat ludicrous One Million Years BC, set on pre-historic Earth and is now mostly famous for Welch’s revealing fur bikini and the poster from the movie serves as a major plot point in the film The Shawshank Redemption from 1994.
Raquel Welch & MGM
In 1970, Welch starred in the campy and notoriously bad movie Myra Breckinridge, but her on-set feud with co-star Mae West created headlines and marked Welch as “difficult”. Welch was originally cast in the 1981 film Cannery Row but was fired after five days for allegedly taking too long to get ready each day. Welch sued MGM Studio for wrongful termination and won a multi-million dollar settlement.
Twentieth Century, Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Raquel Welch & MGM
This unfortunately impacted Welch’s career as her successful lawsuit made producers reluctant to work with her. Welch later claimed that producers had used her to get financing for the movie and then fired her for Debra Winger.
John Mathew Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Debra Winger & Shirley MacLaine
Speaking of Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine once claimed that on the set of Terms of Endearment, Winger would regularly break wind at MacLaine, in an apparent retaliation for some on-set clashes between the two. MacLaine seems to have had the last laugh as both women were nominated for Best Actress and it was MacLaine who took home the Oscar, stating in her speech “I deserve this!” (Winger has been nominated three times for Best Actress but has never won).
Paramount, Terms of Endearment (1983)
Johnny Carson & Joan Rivers
Johnny Carson ruled the late-night airwaves for almost 30 years starting in 1962. His Tonight Show was the place for established stars to promote their latest project and for new talents to get their big break. Nobody was able to knock him out of first place.
NBC, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
Johnny Carson & Joan Rivers
Carson famously liked his time off and as the show moved into its second decade, it was common for guest hosts to take over. By the 1980s, he sought a permanent guest host who would possibly be his successor. Comedian Joan Rivers, famous for her sharp tongue, filled in for Carson on many occasions and she was chosen to be the permanent guest host.
NBC, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
Johnny Carson & Joan Rivers
Her success led to an offer for her own show, an offer she took without consulting Carson. Carson took this as a betrayal and she was banned from appearing on the Tonight Show. Her show was not a success and when Carson did finally retire in 1992, Rivers was not in consideration as his replacement.
NBC, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
David Letterman & Jay Leno
The fallout of Johnny Carson’s retirement was enormous. People lined up to offer competing programs on other networks and in syndication. With Joan Rivers out of the picture, comedian Jay Leno was chosen as the permanent guest host, but it was never a sure thing that he would take over the main hosting gig on Carson’s retirement.
NBC, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
David Letterman & Jay Leno
Leno was popular enough, but Carson’s hand-picked successor was David Letterman, the host of Late Show, which followed the Tonight Show at 12:30 am. Carson appreciated Letterman’s similar Midwest background and absurd wit, and Letterman was certainly considered much hipper and popular with a younger demographic.
NBC, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992)
David Letterman & Jay Leno
When Leno heard that he was being passed over for Letterman, he campaigned behind the scenes to undermine Letterman, even going as far as hiding in a closet and listening in on NBC executives discussing the plans for the Tonight Show. In the end, Leno’s maneuvering paid off and suddenly Letterman was out, who promptly left NBC to start his own show on CBS.
NBC, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992–2014)
Jay Leno & Conan O’Brien
Leno’s scheming didn’t sit well with many people and although his Tonight Show ratings were eventually strong, the reign of the Tonight Show as the top late-night talk show was over. When Leno himself was set to retire in 2009 (mainly against his will due to declining ratings), Letterman’s Late Show replacement, Conan O’Brien, took over as host of the Tonight Show. Ratings didn’t improve and Leno asked to come back a mere seven months later, something a panicked NBC agreed to. Leno’s reputation never recovered.
NBC, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009-2010)
Sean Young & James Woods
Sean Young and James Woods starred in the film The Boost in 1988. Their working relationship was strained and a year after production ended, Woods sued Young for harassment, claiming she was stalking him and his fiancé. Young ended up winning the suit and was awarded court costs but the situation damaged her career and she never really recovered the momentum she once had.
Delta Burke & Designing Women
Delta Burke was one of the stars of the late 1980s sitcom Designing Women. Unhappy with the show, Burke was increasingly difficult on set, eventually telling Barbara Walters in an interview that she wanted out of the show. The producers issued a statement saying that they were “mentally exhausted from the daily trials and tribulations of Delta Burke,” and Burke was soon let go from the series.
CBS, Designing Women (1986–1993)
Debbie Reynolds & Elizabeth Taylor
Debbie Reynolds was America’s Sweetheart in the 1950s. Her image was wholesome and when she started working at 17, she and Elizabeth Taylor, also 17, were classmates in the studio school. They were good friends although they had very little in common.
MGM, Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Debbie Reynolds & Elizabeth Taylor
By the mid-1950s, Reynolds had married singer Eddie Fisher (Carrie Fisher was their daughter) and Taylor was married to director Mike Todd, the third of her seven husbands. The two couples were inseparable in the Hollywood social scene. In 1958, Mike Todd died in a plane crash and Debbie was there for Liz, even sending Eddie over to support and comfort Liz.
Debbie Reynolds & Elizabeth Taylor
And support and comfort Liz he did. The press found out that grieving widow Elizabeth Taylor was carrying on with her best friend’s husband and it all blew up. Reynolds divorced Fisher who soon after became Taylor’s fourth husband.
Sunset Boulevard, Getty Images
Debbie Reynolds & Elizabeth Taylor
The public was 100% on Debbie Reynolds’ side and, secretly, Reynolds was relieved that Fisher was off her hands. A few years later on the set of Cleopatra, Taylor had eyes for her dashing Welsh co-star Richard Burton and Fisher was out. In the end, Reynolds and Taylor reconciled, agreeing that Eddie Fisher was hardly worth the drama.
Twentieth Century, Cleopatra (1963)
Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin
Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin were a nightclub act for 10 years, from 1946 to 1956. They were successful and ended up making 16 movies together, but singer Dean Martin soon tired of comedian Jerry Lewis’ controlling behavior. Martin told Lewis that he’d like to do some solo work as well, something that Lewis took as a betrayal.
CBS Television, Wikimedia Commons
Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin
After a final performance, the two broke up, Martin going on to star in films and record hit singles while being a member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. Lewis went on to have a successful film career as a performer, writer, and director. He also became known for hosting a telethon fundraiser for muscular dystrophy.
The Ettinger Company, Wikimedia Commons
Jerry Lewis & Dean Martin
It was on that telethon that Sinatra arranged for a surprise reunion of the two in 1976. After the loss of Martin’s son in 1987 in an airplane crash, Lewis attended the funeral, and the two permanently reconciled and kept in touch until Dean Martin’s passing in 1995.
Orson Welles & William Randolph Hearst
Orson Welles’s 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane, which he co-wrote, directed, produced, and starred in, is considered by many critics and film historians to be the greatest film of all time. It is the story of a media mogul, born rich, who went on to establish a powerful newspaper empire. The theme of the film is how power can corrupt. The problem was, as media mogul William Randolph Hearst saw it, that the film was directly inspired by his own life.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
Orson Welles & William Randolph Hearst
Welles was only 24 when he made Citizen Kane, and it was perhaps that wunderkind confidence that irked Hearst, but in any case, Orson Welles made himself an extremely powerful enemy. It started when gossip columnist Hedda Hopper attended an early screening of Citizen Kane and was aghast at such a “vicious and irresponsible attack” on a “great man”. It should be noted that Hopper worked for Hearst.
Orson Welles & William Randolph Hearst
A cabal of newspaper barons, in support of their peers, attempted to buy all copies of Citizen Kane in order to burn the negatives. They then tried to blackmail, run smear campaigns, and call in FBI investigations for anyone who tried to screen the movie in a theater.
Alexander Kahle, Wikimedia Commons
Orson Welles & William Randolph Hearst
Hearst threatened to expose Hollywood scandals he had helped cover up, labeled Welles a communist to get him blacklisted, and managed to get major theaters to not show the film. At the 1942 Academy Awards, Welles was booed and although it received nine nominations, Citizen Kane only won for Best Screenplay. The film was quietly shelved and only returned to the public consciousness 25 years later when it was revived.
Orson Welles & William Randolph Hearst
By then, Welles’ once-promising career had slowed down and his drinking and overeating habits would plague him his whole life. He eventually turned to infamously appearing in commercials for cheap wine brand Paul Masson in the 1970s just to make ends meet. What was it that Welles was suggesting in Citizen Kane again—that absolute power was corrupting?
Alexander Kahle, Wikimedia Commons
Vivian Vance & William Frawley
Vivian Vance and William Frawley were the co-stars of I Love Lucy from 1951-1957, playing Ethel and Fred Mertz, the landlords and best friends of series stars Lucille Ball’s and Desi Arnaz’s characters Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. Frawley was 64 when the show started and Vance was 42. She was annoyed that she had to pretend to be married “to that old coot”.
Vivian Vance & William Frawley
For his part, Frawley was not thrilled to be tied to a weekly series, but he needed the money. He also had a serious drinking problem, he was generally considered to be a miserable person to be around and had a bad temper. Vance said that Frawley was “a mean, rough man” who hated women and was known for his anti-social behavior.
Vivian Vance & William Frawley
Somehow, their pairing worked on-screen and despite their age difference, or perhaps because of it, their older childless couple was still relatable to audiences. After the run of I Love Lucy, Frawley appeared on My Three Sons before passing away in 1966 at age 79. Vance herself lived to be 70, passing away in 1979.
Marlon Brando & Frank Sinatra
It’s hard to be more iconic than Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, both dominating the entertainment industry for decades, and both considered the best at what they do. While Sinatra, nine years Brando’s senior, was most famous for his singing, by the 1950s, he was branching out to acting. In 1953, Sinatra won Best Supporting Actor for his role in From Here to Eternity.
Columbia, From Here to Eternity (1953)
Marlon Brando & Frank Sinatra
Sinatra was eager to keep a film career going and he had his sights set on the lead role for the 1954 movie On the Waterfront. Brando beat Sinatra for the part, something that Sinatra resented. In 1955, both starred in the musical Guys and Dolls, with Brando taking the lead and Sinatra as the second lead, despite Sinatra’s clear advantage as a professional singer.
Samuel Goldwyn Films, Guys and Dolls (1955)
Marlon Brando & Frank Sinatra
Brando won Best Actor for On the Waterfront, and this happened just as filming Guys and Dolls began. Although the feud to that point had been one-sided, Brando grew to loathe Sinatra due to Sinatra’s constant insults. When Sinatra separated from his wife Ava Gardner during the filming of Guys and Dolls, she took to hanging out in Brando’s dressing room.
Trailer screenshottrailer at IMDB, Wikimedia Commons
Marlon Brando & Frank Sinatra
One day, Brando was out on his motorcycle at a stoplight when “three goons” pulled a gun on him and forced him into another vehicle. After threatening Brando for undisclosed reasons, they dumped him in the Hollywood hills. Although he had no proof, Brando believed for the rest of his days that those “goons” worked for Sinatra and he was being warned away from Ava Gardner.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
Marilyn Monroe & Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield’s career was mainly an attempt to steal some of Marilyn Monroe’s hard-earned and hard-won thunder. Mansfield was younger, bustier, and willing to play the “dumb blonde” just as Monroe was seeking to be taken seriously. In one publicity stunt, Mansfield is shown putting her hands in Monroe’s handprints in the cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, something that did not amuse Monroe. That they both met tragic ends says something about fleeting glamor and the entertainment business.
Comet Photo AG, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Marilyn Monroe & Laurence Olivier
While starring together in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Laurence Olivier reportedly told Marilyn Monroe that all she had to do was “be sexy, dear Marilyn.” Monroe craved legitimacy and this sort of misogynistic dismissal was difficult for her to hear. She thought Olivier would be different than the “Hollywood flesh-mongers she thought she had escaped” and was deeply hurt by a serious artist she’d hoped to impress.
Warner Bros., The Prince and the Showgirl (1957)
Olivia De Havilland & Joan Fontaine
Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine were sisters (born Olivia and Joan de Havilland, Joan took her mother’s maiden name, “Fontaine”, as her stage name). They also had a tense relationship, starting in childhood. de Havilland was jealous of any of her younger sister’s success, fearing it would eclipse her career.
Warner Bros., Wikimedia Commons
Olivia De Havilland & Joan Fontaine
In an interview with People in 1978, Fontaine said “Olivia has always said I was first at everything—I got married first, got an Academy Award first, had a child first. If I die, she'll be furious, because again I'll have got there first!” When de Havilland did win her Oscar, she famously turned her back on Fontaine who had come backstage to congratulate her sister.
But that wasn't the first time de Havilland snubbed Fontaine. Let’s just say, the feud between the sisters goes way back. At the tender age of nine, de Havilland scrawled out a last will and testament for her sister—and she left Fontaine a disturbing “gift". In the “will", de Havilland wrote: "I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan, since she has none". OUCH, Olivia.
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