Robert Aldrich Hudson, made for Douglas' company at Universal. Aldrich tried to make "Cross of Iron" with John Mills but could not get finance. Aldrich then went back to Italy where he directed a Biblical spectacular, "Sodom and Gomorrah" (1962) for Joseph E. Levine. Aldrich disparaged the final film, which ended up costing $6 million. Aldrich rejuvenated his career by optioning the novel "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) for the Associates and Aldrich Company. He signed Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as stars, got Lukas Heller to write the script, and raised finance through Warner Bros. The film was a
Say Hello to Yesterday them.' Jean Simmons returned to London after a five-year absence to star in the film and shared the star billing with Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo, Leonard Whiting. The original title was to have been "Whatever Happened to Happy Endings?" but Cinerama didn't want to use this title, partly because Jean Simmons had just starred in, and been Academy award nominated for, the similarly titled "The Happy Ending", and partly because Cinerama feared that because "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" was a film of the era and there was a series of 'Whatever Happened...' films, they might be sued by other companies.