bette did an amazing job as fanny, but don't you think joan crawford would have been even better? bette seems quite miscast really, since she's not too convincing as a stunningly beautiful socialite, which is something crawford could do on her worst days.
"they should give nicole kidman an oscar for being able to show any emotion after THAT much botox".
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i love joan crawford more than bette davis but that isn't why i mentioned this.
i do think that bette davis was incredible in the role and at times it was convincing, until you thought back and realized that she wasn't all that beautiful at any point in the film. i refuse to believe she wasn't an attractive woman when she was younger, she looks extraordinary in "of human bondage" i thought.
also give her props for handling the shame of losing her beauty so well, since that wasn't important to bette as a person at all really.
she definitely convinced me, but it took so much acting to get to that level that she never became tremendous for me, whilst crawford could have taken it to perfection.
and as for her not playing these types, she actually DID play two rich, bored and beautiful women in the 40's with "possessed" (mid-film onwards) and "humoresque"...arguably two of her best performances.
"they should give nicole kidman an oscar for being able to show any emotion after THAT much botox".
First, I don't think Crawford was all that beautiful. Nor was she a
particularly good actress, so I don't agree. But the worst choice would've
been Hedy Lamarr who couldn't act to save her life. Lamarr also turned
down "Laura." And thank God for that, too, as she wouldn't have been
able to bring that off either. Lamarr was nice to look at. And that's
where it begins and ends.
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I love Joan Crawford, but for me, I don't think she would have been as convincing as a young, light-hearted flirt. I also can't picture her delivering the Janie Clarkson lines so cheekily and endearingly!
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"Crawford could play beautiful but not society...ever."
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As another has stated, I think Joan was an under-rated actress, and in my opinion she had the talent to play the part. But by 1944 I think she was too old to play the younger scenes convincingly. And I don't think she would have been at all willing to portray the old, ugly Fanny. She was very self-conscious about her image and appearance on film, and I don't think she would have wanted to draw attention to the fact that she was nearly 40 by having the audience speculate "Oh, so this what Joan will look like when she's older?"
shareI think Vivien Leigh would have been great in the role.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A. Einstein
Yes! I so agree.
Bette is more yankee than Vivian (and yankee is harder than southerner for Brits to manage) but Vivian trumps Bette in beauty. And like Bette, Vivian would have brought out the complexity and perversity of the character, in a way that all the other candidates suggested here (Hedy Lamarr, Merle Oberon, Joan Crawford) could not.
What an inspiration! I love BD, perfectly happy with her in this role, but a Leigh performance would be fun to watch.
I think her biggest challenge would be to strongly differentiate her characterization from Scarlett O'Hara, another beautiful, vain, emotionally immature woman.
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Nothing to see here, move along.