Gothic fiction whose best-known work was the 1960 Hollywood horror novel "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" Farrell's novels spawned a subgenre of "Grande Dame Guignol" in the cinema, represented by such films as the 1962 film based on Farrell's novel, which starred Bette Davis versus Joan Crawford; this subgenre of films was dubbed the "psycho-biddy" genre. Many modern writers of horror (or indeed other types of fiction) exhibit considerable Gothic sensibilities—examples include the works of Anne Rice, Stella Coulson, Susan Hill, Poppy Z. Brite and Neil Gaiman as well as some of the sensationalist works of Stephen King Thomas M. Disch's
Baby Jane Hudson they spot Blanche lying on the sand and rush to her aid. Jane is too caught up in her delusions to notice the policemen's presence. Among the film's most recognized images is Bette Davis as the aged Jane in blond Mary Pickford-like curls performing the syrupy song "I've Written a Letter to Daddy." Jane's final scene in the film is patterned on the final scene of "Sunset Boulevard", where Gloria Swanson's character descends the stairs for an imagined film scene after killing her lover. The success of the movie led the director to undertake a film using similar themes and