What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) films "Parachute Jumper" and "Ex-Lady" (both 1933) and the Joan Crawford film "Sadie McKee" (1934) was used to represent the film acting of Jane and Blanche respectively. The character of Liza, Mrs. Bates' daughter, was played by Davis' real-life daughter B. D. Merrill. After Joan Crawford's daughter Christina wrote the best-selling tell-all book "Mommie Dearest", Merrill published a memoir that depicted her mother in an unfavorable light. Crawford was scheduled to appear alongside Davis on a publicity tour of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" but cancelled at the last minute. Davis claimed that Crawford backed out because she did
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) "cult classic". In 2003 the character of Baby Jane Hudson was ranked No. 44 on the American Film Institute's list of the "50 Best Villains of American Cinema". In 1917, "Baby Jane" Hudson is a well-known vaudevillian child star while her older sister Blanche lives in her shadow. By 1935, their fortunes have reversed: Blanche is a successful film actress and Jane lives in obscurity, her films having failed. One night, Jane, able to imitate Blanche's voice perfectly, mocks her at a party. That same night, Blanche is paralyzed from the waist down in a mysterious car accident that is