Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte although some are complimentary and sympathetic toward her. Willis hands her an envelope from the now-dead Jewel Mayhew, who had a stroke after hearing of the incident the previous night. The envelope contains Jewel's confession to the murder of her husband. As the authorities drive Charlotte away, she looks back at her beloved plantation. Following the unexpected box-office success of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962), director Robert Aldrich wanted to make a film on similar themes that reunited stars Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Writer Henry Farrell, on whose novel the film had been based, had written an
Bette Davis an English teacher who saves a young Welsh miner (John Dall) from a life in the coal pits, by offering him education. The part had been played in the theatre by Ethel Barrymore, but Warner Bros. felt that the film version should depict the character as a younger woman. Davis disagreed, and insisted on playing the part as written, and wore a gray wig and padding under her clothes, to create a dowdy appearance. The film was well received by critics, and made a profit of $2.2 million. The critic E. Arnot Robertson observed: Only Bette Davis...could have combated so