When the film, All About Eve was produced in 1950, its female star, Bette Davis, was forty-two years of age. Davis herself in a 1983 interview admitted that Joseph Mankiewicz by casting her in this role saved her career from oblivion after a series of unsuccessful movies. In her own words, “he resurrected me from the dead.” Claudette Colbert was originally cast as Margot Channing, but she was forced to withdraw due to a ruptured disc suffered during the filming of another movie earlier that year.
The film marked a period of many personal changes for Bette Davis who was on the brink of divorce from her husband, William Grant Sherry, and fell in love with her costar, Gary Merrill, during the shooting of the movie. The two married in July of 1950 just a few weeks after the filming was completed.
Davis’s raspy voice during the film was the result of a burst blood vessel in her throat caused by screaming so much at her soon to be ex-husband during one of their many rows. The producer liked the croaky quality and it was kept throughout the movie.
Ann Baxter was brilliant as the young manipulative ingenue, and in a true art imitating life gesture, she not only wooed audiences with her stunning performance, but also managed to pressure the powers that be to get herself nominated for best actress instead of best supporting actress. This split the vote between herself and Davis, thereby blocking Bette’s chance to win. In the end, the award went to neither of two; Judy Holiday claiming it for her role in “Born Yesterday.”
Also featuring George Saunders, Celeste Holm and the very first performance by an unknown blonde named Marilyn Monroe, the film was nominated for 14 Academy awards. The film also holds the record for the movie with the greatest number of female acting Oscar nominations.
What are some of YOUR favorite moments from the film?