All About Eve that formed the basis for the film. Bette Davis played three roles on film that had been originated by Tallulah Bankhead — "Dark Victory", "Jezebel" and "The Little Foxes", much to Bankhead's chagrin. Bankhead and Davis were considered to be somewhat similar in style. Several decades later Davis called Channing "the essence of a Tallulah Bankhead kind of actress" in an interview with Barbara Walters. The production is notable in that Mary Orr, of "The Wisdom of Eve," played the role of Karen Richards. The cast also featured Alan Hewitt as Addison DeWitt (who narrated), Beatrice Pearson as Eve Harrington,
All About Eve Great Movies", says Eve Harrington is "a universal type," and focuses on the aging actress plot line, comparing the film to "Sunset Boulevard." Similarly, Marc Lee's 2006 review of the film for "The Daily Telegraph" describes a subtext "into the darker corners of show business, exposing its inherent ageism, especially when it comes to female stars." Kathleen Woodward's 1999 book, "Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations (Theories of Contemporary Culture)", also discusses themes that appeared in many of the "aging actress" films of the 1950s and 1960s, including "All About Eve." She reasons that Margo has three options: "To continue to