On the Fabulously Furious Diva

One of M’s favorite Hollywood characters is Margo Channing, that fabulously furious diva played by Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950). So respected is Margo that another fabulously furious diva, this one an animal in our home, was named for her, and presciently so, I might add . . .

Anyway, back when the film was released, gossips obsessed over the identity of Davis’s inspiration, and for a time, Tallulah Bankhead was their favorite guess. In his new biography of Davis, Ed Sikov recounts the reaction of that original FFD:

On her radio show, Tallu announced, “Don’t think I don’t know who’s been spreading gossip about me and my temperament out there in Hollywood, where the film was made—All About Eve. And after all the nice things I’ve said about that hag. When I get a hold of her I’ll tear every hair out of her mustache.” [. . .]

“Bette and I are very good friends,” Bankhead once said. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t say to her face—both of them.”

Oh dear. Would that the world had more Tallus and Bettes!

IMAGE: Tallulah Bankhead, sometime in the 1920s

Comments

[Tom Sutpen]

I remember reading that Tallulah Bankhead never completely got over the fact that Bette Davis played the lead in William Wyler's film of 'The Little Foxes' while she (who played it to universal acclaim on Broadway) was never seriously considered for it.

Makes a little bit of sense . . . I mean, she had to take it out on somebody, no?

(thanks for the link!)

[Brendan Wolfe]

Thanks, Tom. I'm all for Tallulah taking her frustrations out on the world; after all, she's so entertaining when she's angry. And I'm pretty sure Bette Davis could take care of herself!