Bette Davis won a second Academy Award for her performance as a spoiled southern belle in Jezebel in 1938 and it is said that Miriam Hopkins cried. The southern born Hopkins had played the plum role of Julie on Broadway and had hoped to play it in the film version at Warner Brothers. Losing the part to Davis was only the tip of the iceberg.
The same year that Jezebel was released, Davis made The Sisters with Errol Flynn. The director was Anatole Litvak and he and leading lady Bette were reportedly having an affair. Mrs. Litvak at the time was none other than Miriam Hopkins. Never a shrinking violet, Hopkins was livid.
The following year the two rivals were cast together in The Old Maid, a story about, what else, two women in love with the same man. Hopkins, a notorious scene stealer, was constantly trying to upstage Davis. Warners played on the star studded cat fight to build publicity for the film. Four years later they would do it all again in Old Acquaintance, where they played professional and yet again romantic rivals. Talk about life imitating art.
