Joan Crawford been left near-penniless following Alfred Steele's death, accepted a small role in "The Best of Everything" (1959). Although she was not the star of the film, she received positive reviews. Crawford would later name the role as being one of her personal favorites. By 1961 Joan Crawford was once again her own publicity machine with a new script, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", sent by Robert Aldrich. Crawford starred as Blanche Hudson, an elderly, disabled former A-list movie star who lives in fear of her psychotic sister Jane, in the highly successful psychological thriller "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (novel) managed to crawl out of the car to the gates, while Jane, frightened, hid inside the house, where she passed out. When the police arrived, they assumed Jane had been driving. Jane had been too drunk to know what had happened and could not refute the accusations. Blanche later realized that the event had driven her sister insane, but refused to allow her to seek psychiatric help for fear that Jane might recover enough to remember what really happened. Blanche accepts responsibility for Jane's psychosis and blames herself for Edna's death. Realizing that all the years of hatred, guilt, and