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
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) from Blanche's bedroom, cutting her off from the outside world. Jane begins denying her food, until she serves Blanche's dead pet parakeet—and, at a later meal, a dead rat—to her on a dinner platter. Although Jane is well into middle age, she dresses like "Baby Jane" and wears caked-on layers of makeup and childlike curls and ribbons in her hair. Jane becomes obsessed with recapturing her childhood stardom and posts a newspaper advertisement for a pianist to accompany her vocal act. When Jane leaves the house, Blanche tries to get the attention of her neighbor, Mrs. Bates (Anna Lee), by