In her 1987 memoir This ’N That, Bette Davis described the production of the 1976 television film The Disappearance of Aimee as a particularly unpleasant professional experience because of Faye Dunaway’s alleged conduct. Davis claimed that Dunaway routinely arrived hours late, was not prepared with her lines, and created repeated delays for the cast and crew. The most humiliating episode reportedly occurred during a scene filmed inside an un-air-conditioned tabernacle, where more than 1,800 unpaid local extras had been promised a box lunch and the chance to appear in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production. As the crowd waited for Dunaway, many extras began abandoning the overheated location. Davis then reportedly stepped to the pulpit and sang “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy,” her signature number from the 1962 hit What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, drawing enough attention to persuade some of the departing extras to return to their pews. The anecdote became an especially pointed piece of Hollywood irony because Dunaway would later portray Davis’s own professional nemesis, Joan Crawford, in the 1981 cult film Mommie Dearest. Davis’s account is a memoir-based allegation rather than an independently documented production finding, but it remains one of the best-known behind-the-scenes stories attached to The Disappearance of Aimee.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
Bette Davis Revives Baby Jane to Rescue a Delayed Faye Dunaway Shoot
The Disappearance of Aimee / 1970s
In her 1987 memoir This ’N That, Bette Davis described the production of the 1976 television film The Disappearance of Aimee as a particularly unpleasant professional experience because of Faye Dunaway’s alleged conduct. Davis claimed that Dunaway routinely arrived hours late, was not prepared with her lines, and created repeated delays for the cast and crew. The most humiliating episode reportedly occurred during a scene filmed inside an un-air-conditioned tabernacle, where more than 1,800 unpaid local extras had been promised a box lunch and the chance to appear in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production. As the crowd waited for Dunaway, many extras began abandoning the overheated location. Davis then reportedly stepped to the pulpit and sang “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy,” her signature number from the 1962 hit What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, drawing enough attention to persuade some of the departing extras to return to their pews. The anecdote became an especially pointed piece of Hollywood irony because Dunaway would later portray Davis’s own professional nemesis, Joan Crawford, in the 1981 cult film Mommie Dearest. Davis’s account is a memoir-based allegation rather than an independently documented production finding, but it remains one of the best-known behind-the-scenes stories attached to The Disappearance of Aimee.
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