12 Best Old School Hollywood Feuds

Golden Age Hollywood legends Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead were alike in a lot of ways. Both renowned for their sex appeal, witty put-downs and forceful personalities it’s probably not too surprising the pair came into a bit of conflict.

A stage actress first and foremost, Bankhead had a hard time making the transition to the silver screen and was understandably miffed when Davis got the leading role in not one, not two but three film adaptations – Dark Victory, Jezebel and The Little Foxes – of stage plays she’d previously starred in.

As Davis’ career flourished, Bankhead’s star faded and the rivalry came to head with the release of the Oscar-winning All About Eve in which Davis played fading Broadway star Margo Channing – a portrayal Bankhead insisted she’d based on her, later remarking “After all the nice things I've said about that hag. When I get hold of her, I'll tear out every hair of her moustache!” Ouch.

Davis got her own back though when she appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and after being offered $10,000 to do an impersonation of Bankhead, bitchily remarked “Miss Bankhead isn’t well enough known nationally to warrant my imitating her”. Meow.

With such calculatedly catty repartees being swapped back and forth, it’s difficult to say who was the victor in this feud but as we’ll soon see Bankhead wasn’t the only Hollywood star Davis had beef with …