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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) began as a deliberate pairing of two aging Hollywood stars, not as a gothic thriller looking for famous names. Joan Crawford pushed for a film with Bette Davis, Robert Aldrich found Henry Farrell’s novel to make that pairing work, Seven Arts financed the picture, and Warner Bros. distributed it. The film’s reputation for camp horror and its well-known feud story grew out of that production history, and the sources differ on how much of the feud was real.
How the project came together
The production paper trail starts in March 1960, when the American Film Institute Catalog dates the announcement of Henry Farrell’s novel for film. The project then drifted. According to AFI, producer Richard Rush first negotiated for the rights with a different proposed cast, and the property stayed unsettled until 1961, when Robert Aldrich was attached to direct.
Crawford’s proposal and Aldrich’s answer
AFI records that Joan Crawford had suggested a film with Bette Davis years before the project took shape. Crawford met with Aldrich in October 1961. Aldrich rejected Crawford’s original proposed story but liked the idea of the two actresses sharing a picture. The pair then searched for a property that could carry them, and they settled on Farrell’s novel. In January 1962, columnist Hedda Hopper announced that Crawford would co-star with Davis, the first time the two had worked together on screen.
Screenplay and creative control
Aldrich commissioned Lukas Heller to write the screenplay, and Davis approved the script. Aldrich also directed and produced. The result is a credit structure that makes the film Aldrich’s project as much as a star vehicle: he selected the source, hired the writer, and ran the set.
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Financing, studio entities, and location
AFI lists Associates & Aldrich Co., Inc. and Seven Arts Productions as production entities. Financing came through Seven Arts Productions, and Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film. Shooting took place at Producers Studio, later known as Raleigh Studios, in Los Angeles. AFI’s chronology also says that other studios had reportedly declined the project, a claim it presents as reporting rather than documented fact.
Budget and schedule
The production figures in the historical record come from different points in time and should not be merged.
| Figure | Amount | Source and date | What it measures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planned production budget | $600,000 over thirty days | AFI Catalog, citing contemporary reporting, 1962 | The original plan, before filming ran long |
| Later production-budget estimate | $800,000 | AFI Catalog, citing Variety, 1963 | A trade-paper estimate of the finished cost |
AFI’s chronology says filming fell behind schedule, and Warner Bros. still moved the planned release from December to November 1962. The gap between the $600,000 plan and the $800,000 estimate is therefore the gap between a plan and a later trade-paper figure, not a verified audit.
Rank #2
- film canister
What happens in the film
Jane Hudson was a child vaudeville star whose fame faded while her sister Blanche became a successful film star. A car accident leaves Blanche using a wheelchair, and the sisters end up living together in a Hollywood mansion, with Blanche dependent on Jane. Jane grows erratic and resentful, torments Blanche, and fantasizes about reviving her childhood act. Turner Classic Movies and the British Board of Film Classification both give this basic outline.
The horror is domestic and psychological. The confined house, the sisters’ dependence on each other, the uncertainty around the accident, and Jane’s slipping grip on reality carry most of the tension. The grotesque set pieces are the part of the film most often remembered as camp, but they sit inside that story rather than replacing it.
The Davis-Crawford rivalry: what is documented and what is disputed
The feud is part of the film’s public story, and that is well documented. Turner Classic Movies describes the two as fading stars with notorious public tension, and it recounts reports that they argued over salary and billing and clashed over acting style. Those reports are not uniform, and the sources do not settle them.
The public account
AFI’s Catalog records that Crawford denied feud rumors during production. It also records that Davis later said the two had “too much pride to quarrel,” a remark the source gives as reported speech. AFI additionally reports an account of a friendly set atmosphere.
The memoir account
Davis’s autobiography, The Lonely Life, claims: “Joan Crawford and I got along famously much to the huge disappointment of the Hollywood press.” TCM quotes this line and sets it against other eyewitness accounts. A memoir written decades later by one of the two principals is a single testimony with its own motives, so it is best presented as Davis’s version rather than as neutral evidence.
Marketing value
The pairing was a publicity premise from the start. TCM describes it as a chance to revive both careers with a story that would generate attention. Davis later said the film “completely resuscitated” her film career, a remark the Los Angeles Times reported on December 19, 1962 and AFI records. That is Davis’s own assessment, given in an interview, rather than a measurable result.
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AFI describes mostly positive opening notices. It also records criticism from the Los Angeles Times, which objected to grotesque characterizations and to the film’s attempts to shock. The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther, as AFI reports him, read the film as a warning about forcing children into show business. TCM characterizes the press response as mixed.
Revenue figures also come from different sources and measure different things.
| Figure | Source and date | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| About $4 million gross | Variety estimate, recorded by AFI, 1963 | A dated trade-paper gross estimate |
| About $9 million gross | Turner Classic Movies, 2006 | A later retrospective gross |
| Costs recovered in eleven days | Variety, recorded by AFI, 1963 | The claim that Seven Arts recovered production costs from the initial New York City opening, not a total-run figure |
Because the $4 million and $9 million numbers come from different publications, years apart, and measure different things, they should not be combined into one box-office total. The eleven-day cost-recovery claim is a trade report about an opening, not a finished accounting.
Best Value
Awards
The film received Academy Award nominations, and Norma Koch won for black-and-white costume design. The sources disagree on the number of nominations. AFI’s history entry lists four, while TCM says five. If you need a single figure, the AFI count is the one to use, and the discrepancy is worth noting when you cite it.
UK classification and cut history
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) records a November 1962 request that the distributor cut three scenes to secure an X certificate. Two requested cuts were made. The dead-rat shot stayed in after Warner Bros. argued that it was needed to make the plot clear.
For the film’s 1984 video release, the BBFC says the removed material was reinstated, and the release received an 18 certificate. Later submissions brought other UK ratings: a 12A in 2004 and a 12 for a new DVD release in 2006. These are classifications from those dates, not universal ratings and not current guidance.
Legacy
The film’s continuing reputation rests partly on institutional recognition. AFI’s Movie Club entry of October 8, 2025 says the film was included on AFI lists that recognize great thrills and diabolical villains. That places it among the genre pictures AFI treats as lasting reference points, rather than as a camp curiosity alone.
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