What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Still brilliantly shocking at 60
Featuring one of cinema’s most famous villains and two grand dames of Hollywood – Bette Davis and Joan Crawford – going toe to toe, this 1962 film packs a punch
September 2021
Notebook
My summer cultural highlight? An old film where I got lost in Bette Davis’s eyes
Rachel Cooke
A 1943 melodrama offers one of the best portraits of a single woman Hollywood ever drew
A wealthy young woman escapes her tyrannical mother to fall hopelessly in love in this magnificent Hollywood melodrama
July 2021
Ranked
Bette Davis’s 20 greatest performances – ranked!
To mark the release of a restored version of the classic melodrama Now, Voyager, here is the best of Hollywood’s queen of mean, from screwball romps to wild-eyed chillers
October 2020
My streaming gem
My streaming gem: why you should watch The Little Foxes
The latest in our series of writers highlighting underappreciated films is a captivating and prescient drama with a never-better Bette Davis
August 2020
Ranked
Actresses playing actresses in film – ranked!
On the 70th anniversary of Sunset Boulevard, in which Gloria Swanson plays terrifying silver screen star Norma Desmond, we look at the greatest interpretations of actresses by actresses
May 2020
Warhol in black, Bowie in the nude: Victor Skrebneski shoots the stars – in pictures
The American fashion photographer, who died last month aged 90, was known for his stylised black-and white-portraits of celebrities. Here are some of his most striking shots
May 2019
This much I know
Rosanna Arquette: ‘I’ve got a reputation as a trouble maker’
The actor and activist, 59, on Harvey Weinstein, Bette Davis and being married four times
February 2019
All About Eve is a perfect feminist film – how did the play get it so wrong?
The barbed 1950 film about complex, ambitious women is as fresh as ever, and the model for The Favourite. But the play’s depiction of the central character is utterly flaccid
October 2018
Double trouble: the hard life of the movie doppelganger
From the poor man’s Tom Hardy to a ‘king-sized’ Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood can’t resist cloning its stars. It rarely ends well …
September 2018
Gillian Anderson to star in West End version of All About Eve
Ivo van Hove directs adaptation of Bette Davis-propelled Hollywood classic
February 2018
My week as Bette Davis: 'My fierce brows are begging to be raised'
I’m done with being a people-pleaser. What could I learn from whiskey-swigging, kick-ass broad Bette?
January 2018
‘Hagsploitation’: horror’s obsession with older women returns
Hollywood horror was once replete with meaty roles for older women. Now the Insidious franchise is resurrecting the tradition – but is this really something to celebrate?
December 2017
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Feud: Bette and Joan; Shamed; The League of Gentlemen and more
Feud brilliantly revives the famed enmity between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, Shamed pokes at fresher wounds, and it’s farewell Royston Vasey
April 2017
Lost in showbiz
Frankly, my dear: why Hollywood legend Olivia De Havilland won’t feud over Feud
The 100-year-actor wasn’t overly forthcoming when asked about the accuracy of Ryan Murphy’s series about the tensions between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
March 2017
Feud: Bette and Joan review – dueling Hollywood dames make for frothy drama
Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange star in Ryan Murphy’s lightweight yet breezily entertaining retelling of Hollywood sexism and egos in the 60s
February 2017
‘I wouldn’t sit on her toilet …’ Screen revival of Davis and Crawford feud sparks sexism debate
Discrimination that stoked bitter rivalry between stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford is explored in TV series
June 2016
Stanley Kubrick ruined my childhood: my mum, the Hollywood publicist
Simon Booker recalls his unconventional upbringing with his mother who was a glamorous film publicist in the Mad Men era
February 2016
The 10 best ...
The 10 best Oscars snubs
Ahead of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, we look at the most infamous Oscars oversights
July 2014
Other lives
Nick FitzGerald obituary
Other lives: Advertising agency founder whose clients included Mary Quant and Christian Dior
