Under Hedda's Hat - May 1963

What did Joan Fontaine have in mind when she left town the day before Olivia de Havilland arrived from Paris to star in Lady in a Cage? But Livvy didn’t miss her. Luther Davis was at the airport with a cage full of flowers, and Bette Davis was at the hotel to take her to dinner. When the two gals walked in together, the orchestra struck up “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” One of Livvy’s friend-dates while here was Groucho Marx. One night as Groucho left the dining room of George Cukor’s beautiful home, he accidently put his napkin on the table, too close to a low candle. It caught fire, and could have been quite serious if a maid hadn’t discovered it.

via vivianrutledge

My congratulations to readers of Photoplay for electing Bette Davis as actress of the year. That Gold Medal will be mighty becoming to her. She’s proved her worth not only in acting but as a human being. The town was aghast when Bette came home and took an ad in trade papers announcing she needed a job. The response was a deluge of offers, and now she can pick and choose. Good for her!

Ray Milland’s sorry that his son Danny wants to be an actor. When I said I bet his father felt the same way about him, Ray admitted it. “He objected strenuously,” he grinned.

There’s miles of publicity about the Troy Donahue and Suzanne Pleshette marriage plans, but she claims it’s not about to happen. “He’s charming and I’m fond of him but we’re both too busy with our careers.” When an actress gives you a line like that you can usually expect anything—but I must say that I believe Suzanne.

Talk about missing the boat—Olivia de Havilland is a prize winner! During World War II a friend asked if he could bring three attractive Navy officers to her house for tea. Sure, said Livvy, who prepared cucumber and watercress sandwiches, gave them a lovely tea, was the perfect hostess. Half an hour after they left, one of the young men called to invite her to dinner. She was recovering from a ro-mance with a well-known director at the time and turned him down. But when her old friend Ludwig Bemelmans phoned to ask her to dinner, she went. First one she saw when they entered Romanoff’s was the young lieutenant. You guessed it—his name—John Fitzgerald Kennedy. “There’s a connection here somewhere but I don’t know what it is,” laughs Livvy. “My daughter’s governess is named Jacqueline Bouvier.”

What happens when two great beauties get together at the same European fete? Seme times one checks on the other. Here Gina Lollobrigida gives Grace Kelly the once-over, while Her Serene Highness seems serenely unaware of the inspection. By the way, TV proved it: Rainier hath charm.

Dolores Hart is still paying bills for the wedding she didn’t have. Invitations and the bridesmaids’ dresses had already been ordered. Edith Head put away the wedding dress she designed for Dolores—for future use.

You’ll love Tippi Hedren, the girl Alfred Hitchcock discovered on a TV commercial and cast as Rod Taylor’s leading lady in The Birds. Hitch took her on a three-week tour of cities throughout the country and introduced her personally to the press and TV. She’s very much a lovely lady and has been married and divorced and is the mother of a five-year-old daughter Melanie. She’s a self-sufficient girl—a few years ago she took a trip around the world all alone.

__

From the May 1963 issue of Photoplay