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?"
Ernest Haller received his fourth nomination for "Mildred Pierce", and Crawford won the award for Best Actress. With this as a start, Haller continued to photograph Crawford in several other films, including "Humoresque" (1946) and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Although Haller terminated his contract with the Warner Brothers in 1951, he was the best choice to photograph Bette Davis and Joan Crawford— two of the closest actresses that Haller has worked with and the ex-Warner stars. He was brought back to photograph the only film the two would appear together. In "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", Davis made the