Bette Davis film, "Lady for a Day"), based on a story by Damon Runyon. She accepted her next role, in the Grand Guignol horror film "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962), after reading the script and believing it could appeal to the same audience that had recently made Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) a success. She negotiated a deal that would pay her 10% of the worldwide gross profits in addition to her salary. The film became one of the year's biggest successes. Davis and Joan Crawford played two aging sisters, former actresses forced by circumstance to share a decaying Hollywood mansion.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) more dollars to our film if I had won. Joan was thrilled I hadn't." As both Davis and Crawford had accepted lower salaries in exchange for a share of the film's profits, Davis considered it foolish of Crawford to have worked against their common interests, especially at a time when roles for actresses their age were scarce. During the filming of "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (1964), Crawford acknowledged to visiting reporter/author Lawrence J. Quirk the difficulty she was having with Davis because of the Oscar incident, but added, "She acted like "Baby Jane" was a one-woman show after they nominated her.