Yahoo Lifestyle "He's Liable To Kill Me": 11 Costars Who Allegedly Hated Each Other In Old Hollywood
Costar feuds are as old as Hollywood itself. Just like today, Golden Age actors often pretended to love each other onscreen while allegedly hating each other off camera.
Here are 11 Old Hollywood costars who allegedly didn't get along:
1.Frank Sinatra originally wanted the role of Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, but he was cast as Nathan Detroit instead. He reportedly experienced dislike at first sight with Marlon Brando, who landed the leading role.
The singer reportedly used the nickname "Mumbles" to refer to his costar, who had no musical experience.
Marlon allegedly wasted an entire day filming the scene where Sky and Nathan, who's eating cheesecake, meet for the first time by intentionally ruining takes to force Frank to eat so much cheesecake that he felt sick.
Their contention reportedly reached the point that they'd only communicate through intermediaries.
Their costar Regis Toomey reportedly said, "Sinatra was snotty and very difficult, as he really didn't want to do the role."
2.After Marlon Brando put his hands on Sophia Loren without her consent on the set of A Countess From Hong Kong, she "turned in all tranquility and blew [in] his face, like a cat stroked the wrong way, and said, ‘Don’t you ever dare to do that again. Never again!’”
She told the Independent, "As I pulverized him with my eyes, he seemed small, defenseless, almost a victim of his own notoriety. He never did it again, but it was very difficult working with him after that.”
3.After costarring with Veronica Lake in Sullivan's Travels, Joel McCrea reportedly said he wouldn't work with her again.
He reportedly said, "Life’s too short for two films with Veronica Lake."
4.In her 1969 memoir Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, Veronica Lake wrote that she felt belittled by her I Married a Witch costar Fredric March, so she got revenge by pranking him.
For example, she allegedly got a camera operator to help her attach a 40-pound weight beneath her dress for a scene where Fredric had to carry her.
She wrote, "I could hear March grunt under his breath as he valiantly carried out the script’s directions. He put me down for the final time and scowled at me. ‘Big bones,’ I said and walked away."
5.Humphrey Bogart allegedly accused William Holden of trying to kill him while filming a motorcycle stunt for Invisible Stripes.
In 1972, William told The Dick Cavett Show, "I think I almost killed him, but it was accidentally. The motorcycle had a shimmy in the wheel, and I couldn't control it. And I had motorcycles, and I was riding motorcycles at the time, but this just happened to be a bad machine.
So, Bogart got out of the sidecar. He said, 'I'm not riding with that crazy so-and-so. He's liable to kill me.' So a stuntman got in, and sure enough, we turned the corner and went right through a brick wall. The whole gear in the front broke. Then he said, 'Ya see, he was gonna try to kill me.' And I said, 'Bogey, I'm not trying to kill you. I had to go through the brick wall. You think I'm immune to bricks, and you're gonna get away with it?'"
He also confirmed that the stunt performer wasn't injured in the accident.
6.According to the biography Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart, Humphrey Bogart felt like "an outsider" on the Sabrina set because his costars, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, were cliquish with director Billy Wilder, whom they'd worked with before.
Not only did Humphrey dislike William already, but he was also reportedly annoyed by William and Audrey's persistent PDA.
7.Patricia Neal was reportedly originally "thrilled" to work with George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's. However, she soon saw that, since the last time she'd seen him, "he had grown so cold and conceited." Eventually, she "hated" him.
In Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson, she said, "On one occasion, Blake [Edwards, the director] and George almost had a fistfight. We were trying to block a scene, and George wanted to change everything that Blake had planned, and George got so terrible that Blake almost hit him. I got them to stop, but I think George got his way. I hated him from that moment on."
8.Per the BBC, Joan Fontaine reportedly said her Rebecca costar Laurence Olivier disliked her because he wanted her part to go to Vivian Leigh, his wife.
She reportedly said, "I was treated rather as though I had leprosy."
9.In her 2013 memoir Unsinkable, Debbie Reynolds wrote that her Singin' in the Rain costar/director Gene Kelly was a "cruel taskmaster." She said, "He came to rehearsals and criticized everything I did and never gave me a word of encouragement."
She also alleged that he made unwanted sexual advances towards her during their first kiss scene, writing, "The camera closed in. Gene took me tightly in his arms...and shoved his tongue down my throat. 'Eeew! What was that? I screeched, breaking free of his grasp and spitting. I ran around frantic, yelling for some Coca-Cola to cleanse my mouth. It was the early 1950s, and I was an innocent kid who had never been French-kissed. It felt like an assault. I was stunned that this 39-year-old man would do this to me."
Gene reportedly once said, "I wasn't very nice to Debbie. I'm surprised she still speaks to me."
10.In her 1982 memoir This 'N That, Bette Davis wrote, "In all my years as an actress, I have only criticized two actresses with whom I have worked. The first is [my The Old Maid and Old Acquaintance costar] Miriam Hopkins."
In her 1963 memoir The Lonely Life, Bette recounted her first time working with Miriam when they costarred in the play Excess Baggage in 1928. She wrote, "Miriam was the prettiest golden-haired blonde I had ever seen. She was the envy of us all."
According to Vanity Fair, Bette allegedly had an affair with Miriam's husband, director Anatole Litvak.
In 1939, the women costarred in The Old Man. In The Lonely Life, Bette said, "In the first place, she never looked at me. Her restless little spirit was impatiently awaiting her next line, her golden curls quivering with expectancy. Once, in a two-shot, favoring both of us, her attempts to upstage me almost collapsed the couch we were sitting on."
11.And finally, per Harper's Bazaar, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's infamous feud began in 1933, when news of Joan's divorce from Douglas Fairbanks Jr. overshadowed Betty's Ex-Lady publicity campaign. After three decades of drama, their conflict came to a head on the set of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, the only movie they ever made together. Their dislike of each other reportedly led to physical altercations on camera.
For example, Joan got a body double for a scene where Bette's character was supposed to beat hers because she worried her rival might actually harm her. However, when Joan had to film a close-up, Bette reportedly hit her so hard on the head that she had to get stitches. Bette said she "barely touched her."
Then, for a scene where Bette had to drag her out of bed, Joan reportedly weighed herself down with a weightlifter's belt and rocks and ruined multiple takes on purpose.
Additionally, in a less physical but nonetheless petty move, Bette reportedly put a Coke machine in her dressing room to aggravate Joan, who sat on Pepsi's board of directors.
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