Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and the Oscar Crawford collected

In 1963 Bette Davis was nominated for Best Actress and her co-star and rival Joan Crawford was not. Crawford still ended up on stage holding the Oscar, on behalf of the winner.

Two legends, one film

Joan Crawford and Bette Davis were two of the biggest stars of Hollywood's studio era. Both won Best Actress Oscars in the 1940s, Crawford for Mildred Pierce and Davis twice before that. They were also famously not friends. Their rivalry was covered in gossip columns for decades, and each was quoted making sharp remarks about the other.

In 1962 they finally starred together, in the psychological thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Davis played a faded former child star, and Crawford played her sister. The film was a hit and revived both careers.

The nomination snub

When Oscar nominations were announced, Davis received a Best Actress nomination for the film. Crawford did not.

Crawford, by many accounts, was determined not to be left out of the night. She contacted the other nominated actresses and offered, as a courtesy, to accept the award on behalf of any of them who could not attend the ceremony. Several agreed.

The night itself

The 35th Academy Awards were held on April 8, 1963, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The Best Actress winner was Anne Bancroft, for playing teacher Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker. Bancroft was not there. She was performing on Broadway in New York.

So when Bancroft's name was read, Joan Crawford walked onto the stage and accepted the Oscar for her. Davis, who had been hoping to win a third Oscar, watched her rival collect the statuette. Davis later wrote and spoke about how much the moment stung. Crawford later delivered the award to Bancroft in New York.

The night is often called the last act of their long-running feud.

How the story has been retold

Year	Retelling
1960s onward	Both actresses gave interviews and wrote memoirs with their own versions
Decades later	Biographies and film histories examined the rivalry in detail
2017	A television drama series dramatized the making of the film and the Oscar night

Retellings often add invented dialogue for effect. When you read about the feud, it helps to separate what is documented (the nominations, the acceptance, the date) from the colorful quotes that may or may not have been said.

Why it still fascinates people

The story has everything: two stars who had each been on top, a film that brought them together, a snub, and a clever move that turned a snub into a spotlight. It also says something about the pressure on older actresses in Hollywood at the time, when good roles for women over forty were rare, and rivals were often pitted against each other by studios and the press.

What it teaches

There is more than one way to be in the room. Crawford was not nominated, but she still made the night hers.
Rivalries sell. Studios and columnists knew that a feud brought in audiences, and they encouraged it.
Check the dialogue. The structure of this story is well documented, but many famous lines attributed to the two stars are hard to verify.
The winner can be the quiet one. Anne Bancroft won the award, and she was not even in the building.

For a modern example of drama on Oscars night, read about the 2017 envelope mix-up.