What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller–horror film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, about an aging former actress who holds her paraplegic ex-movie star sister captive in an old Hollywood mansion. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the novel "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" by Henry Farrell. Upon the film's release, it was met with widespread critical and box office acclaim and was later nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design, Black and
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.