Celeste Holm, Grade A Cunt

On her first day, on the set of “All About Eve”, she said “Good morning, Miss Davis. Bette responded: “Oh shit! Good manners!” It seems Bette read her beads and thought she was phony. Celeste refused to talk to Bette off the set, during the entire film.

The Backstory video of All About Eve is a great, short doc with a lot of fun commentary from Celeste Holm.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^***

You know, not for nothing, but if that story is true, then fuck Betty Davis right up her ass. How snarky and rude. Davis is clearly the cunt for creating this unnecessary scene....

R3, what's it like not being able to attend your Altar Guild functions because of the pandemic? Does your work at the library fill your time enough?

We're a little worried.

Grade A Cunts have a way of hiding their cuntry so that clear sighted truth tellers get blamed for calling a spade a spade.

Is it “cuntry” or “cuntery”?

I'm on Team Bette is this bitch fight.

Celeste thought her shit didn't stink because she was raised as the only child in a wealthy New York home. Hard-scrabble Bette tested her with the wisecrack, and instead of laughing it off Celeste took offense. And it lasted her entire lifetime.

At 87, Celeste married a 41-year-old opera singer. They sued her son to break a trust fund so they could have access to the cash. She lived to be 95.

It just sounds like Bette didn't get along with anyone, except Livvie and Livvie was faker than fake.

R3 this unnecessary scene....

Davis made 120 movies full of unnecessary scenes

R6 Yes!

R7 You are so right. Some of those East Coast debutantes who made their way to Hollywood had a rude awakening.

R6 Cuntery has a better flow to it.

Read “All About ‘All About Eve’ “ by Sam Staggs. Therein you will find good tea about Celeste and all the other players.

I saw a few comments on social media by some eldergheys that worked for Celeste and the cuntery is CONFIRMED.

She was an amateur.

I agree, Bar. She doesn't even register on the Richter scale of cuntery.

She was friendly with Jane Wyman, who gave her a role on Falcon Crest.

She was the ORIGINAL Karen.

R6, I think it's generally spelled 'cuntery' except when Aretha sang about her own Grand Canyon and the album song listing had it as "My Cunt-ry 'Tis Of Thee".

And people thought *I* was a cunt ! Trust me, that bitch Celeste definitely earned her rep. She made me look like fuckin Mother Teresa.

Maybe Celeste should have just said "Good morning, Bette".

Bette feuded with everyone, regardless. Maureen Stapleton was disgusted by the way Bette treated Angela Lansbury when they all did a movie together. She was also awful to Lillian Gish on Whales of August.

And to think Bette wanted to star opposite Lucy in Mame. The woman who managed to reduce Crawford to a sobbing mess in her dressing room? They would have been wiping the blood off the walls of those sets every day.

So....Celeste was a çunt?

thanks for starting this thread. long overdue.

Jealous, bitches?

[quote]And to think Bette wanted to star opposite Lucy in Mame. The woman who managed to reduce Crawford to a sobbing mess in her dressing room? They would have been wiping the blood off the walls of those sets every day.

Lucy would have sliced and diced Bette, blamed Gary for it, and kept on going.

I met her a couple of times, had lunches with her. She was lovely to me.

Qui etait cette cunt?

"Maureen Stapleton was disgusted by the way Bette treated Angela Lansbury when they all did a movie together."

What movie was that?

R21 are you thinking Death on the Nile? Maureen Stapleton wasn’t in that. Bette Davis was quoted as saying how much she enjoyed working with Angela Lansbury, perhaps the feeling wasn’t mutual?

Angela speaks highly of Bette here

[quote]She was also awful to Lillian Gish on Whales of August.

Pardon me. Someone around since the time of Georges Méliès should know how to act. My God, the ice floe from Way Down East emoted more.

Here's a fun article in Page 6 you might enjoy. Holm's & DiCaprio's paths cross in the Russian Tea Room, circa 1994. Neither have heard of the other. Both being cunts.

[quote] She asks: “What’s he do?” Leo is sitting right. Staring. I whisper: “He’s nominated for an Oscar.” “As what?” “Supporting Supporting Actor. For ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.’ ” “Lord, I wouldn’t see that. Sounds like a pie-eating contest.”

[quote] Leo, still staring, wonders who’s this old bird. He asks who she is. Told, “Celeste Holm. Famous actress.” Silence. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Then I quietly offer: ‘All About Eve’ with Bette Davis, ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ with Gregory Peck.” ... Celeste snaps: “Learn your industry’s history.” Leo: “I won’t lie to you. I never saw you, either.”

It's true. Never "meet" your favorite stars. I wish I hadn't read this thread.

I adore Holm as the Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella".

Well, regardless. She has her place in show biz history.

Stapleton, Davis, and Lansbury were all in the mini-series "Little Gloria ... Happy at Last".

According to director Lindsay Anderson, one day while filming The Whales of August he said to Lillian Gish, "Miss Gish, you have just given me a perfect close-up." Bette Davis remarked: "She should. She invented 'em."

Not much evidence of cuntery on this thread. What is Celeste supposed to have done?

So sad when you’re a complete cunt but no one remembers who the hell you are

[quote] It just sounds like Bette didn't get along with anyone,

I’m very suspicious of people who get along with other people.

In Bette's defense her cuntery with Hayes and Gish happened at the end of her life when she was seriously ill, felt like complete shit and her daughter had deserted her. She was not pleasant to be around in her final years, but before that her disposition was better.

She hit me in the head with a fondue pot, r37.

Holmes behavior at the end of her life was sad. Bette was in pain and cranky at the end but she wasn’t conned or so narcissistic to believe a man in his early forties wanted a woman nearing 90.

It’s so delusional. It reminds me of our dear Olivia de Havilland saying that she should’ve won best actress for gone with the wind since many people preferred Melanie to Scarlet and they were practically Co-leads.

She admits she didn’t raise her children because it interfered with her career. I would say there was bad blood long before that piano player showed up.

She kicked me in the cunt bone.

She stepped in when Gertie died.

Celeste/MAME opted for pink!

[quote] According to director Lindsay Anderson, one day while filming The Whales of August he said to Lillian Gish, "Miss Gish, you have just given me a perfect close-up." Bette Davis remarked: "She should. She invented 'em."

Sounds more complimentary than cunty. Was it a way of saying Gish was old?

She was a cunt who cain't say no.

Maybe it was intended, Holmes' and Anne Baxter's characters (and portrayals) were so blah. Possibly, that was the ideal woman's personality at the time. Similar to Melanie in "Gone with the Wind." Blah & boring.

The cunty story about meeting Bette on the set the first day was never mentioned until Bette died. Nobody had a problem with Bette on that movie. As Anne Baxter (someone who would have been an obvious choice for Bette's rage but instead became fast friends) said, everyone kenw how lucky they were to be filming that amazing script and Bette and her leading man fell in love... it was a very happy set. So yes, Celeste was a cunt.

I seem to remember seeing Bette saying something to apologize to Lillian Gish (who wasn't present) on The Tonight Show, I think.

A crew member on one of her later TV movies, "Skyward", said Davis's fridge was well-stocked with Belle vodka and Bell's scotch and that she was either "gracious or terrifying", as many alcoholics are...

At least Joan always remained a elegant and a lady.

[quote] At least Joan always remained a elegant and a lady.

Except when she was beating her kids and sucking strange cock in her foyer.

This was posted on a DL thread (2012/R198):

I'm the guy who posted earlier and knew Maureen Stapleton. Like I said in an earlier post - Maureen knew Joan Crawford socially, and liked her. She never believed the rumors about Crawford regarding alleged child abuse, and told me me that she strongly believed that Christina Crawford was "doing it for the money."

She didn't know Bette Davis socially, but worked with her in a made for television film based on the life of Gloria Vanderbilt called "Little Gloria - Happy At Last." She said her experience with Davis was not pleasant. Maureen was close to Angela Lansbury, who also starred in the film, and she said that Davis was "mean - a real bitch" to Lansbury - which she was not happy about, since she really liked Lansbury. She was ready to pick a fight with Davis over her behavior - that's how upset she was about Davis's treatment of Lansbury. Lansbury stepped in though, and told Maureen to not let it bother her since Davis is "just that way - a bitch - and don't pay attention to her..." Something like that.

Maureen was a loudmouth drunk, so she has no room to talk. She was also a fucking nutjob- terrified of everything from airplanes to elevators. And an overrated actress who gave the same shanty irish performance in everything.

Celeste manages to make that pink version of the Mame costume look matronly.

[quote]A crew member on one of her later TV movies, "Skyward", said Davis's fridge was well-stocked with Belle vodka and Bell's scotch and that she was either "gracious or terrifying", as many alcoholics are...

I was not a crew member, I had a SPEAKING ROLE in that film!

But she sure could cut a rug (at 14:40), r55!

"Maureen was a loudmouth drunk, so she has no room to talk."

Maureen was not only a drunk and a drunken slob, but she was proud of her alcoholism and has no intention of ever stopping - HER words.

Celeste wasn't a cunt!

Bette was the Cuntress of Cuntery! Never was a CUNT more cuntastic!

Celeste was divine on the soap Loving opposite her real life husband Wesley Addy. She even got a daytime Emmy nomination. Where's the daytime nomination that Bette ever got?

I have a real Emmy! Not that daytime crap. Fuck you!

[quote] Celeste was divine on the soap Loving opposite her real life husband Wesley Addy.

I hated the cunt, too.

The other All About Eve Celeste vs Bette story has not been mentioned. The one about the teapot that Celeste tells on the DVD audio commentary.

She would have been perfectly cast as Lillian Farmer in Frances but knucklehead Graham Clifford chose Kim Stanley. Lillian Farmer was a health nut and slim but Stanley was much too fat to play her.

There is a great story about a young woman approaching her at a party and asking her if she knew the apartment and where the powder room was..She replied "I am Celeste Holm" The person replied. "I am a great admirer of your work, Miss Holm, but you see I am pregnant and need to pee." Miss Holm just walked away. The host witnessing this ran over and tried to salvage the situation and called Celeste back over and introduced them. "Celeste, this is Mrs. so and so. Her husband might be backing your new play." The pregnant woman replied ."Probably not"

Celeste had a very educated and "to the manor born" look and air about her, which a more working class looking woman like Bette probably resented.

No Bette just didn't like anyone. Whether it was to the manor born or fake to the manor born or whatever. She was just a miserable cunt.

Bette also knew Celeste didn't deserve the Oscar she won.

So whom did Bette loathe most? Celeste, Crawford, Gish or Miriam Hopkins? Who else was on her shit list?

Sorry to be cunty, but it's "to the manner born," comes from Hamlet.

Wouldn't you be a cunt if you looked 50 through your 20's, 30's and 40's?

During the filming of The Whales of August, director Lindsay Anderson was talking Gish through the filming of Gish's big close ups. Bette, who was on set, interrupted to tell him that Miss Gish didn't need direction on her close ups, that she had invented them. Neither Anderson nor Gish appreciated the interruption.

I'm curious, does anyone know if Lillian Gish invented close ups?

Gish's frequent collaborator and director D. W. Griffith didn't invent invent them but he was the first to use them effectively and extensively and so is often credited with having invented them.

The only thing remember about Celeste Holm was some commercial or PSA she did in the 70s that ran on local nyc television. It’s telling that on her thread half the posts are about Bette, Joan & Lillian fucking Gish. Celeste is a big yawn.

Celeste became very friendly with George Sanders. They were allies on the AAE set.

[quote]So whom did Bette loathe most? Celeste, Crawford, Gish or Miriam Hopkins? Who else was on her shit list?

Faye Dunaway, Susan Hayward, Glenn Ford, Marilyn Monroe, Olivia Hussey, Helen Hayes, Oliver Reed, and Alec Guinness.

She didn't hate Katharine Hepburn, but admitted to being jealous of her. She told Tallullah Bankhead that she copied her style, to which Bankhead replied that she did and did it better than Davis.

Girls of a feather flock together, r77.

R74 - Lillian was the first real star of the first silent films that were feature length and made use of cinematic techniques that built the language of filmic storytelling that is largely still used today. And for her era she was a performer who was subtle and know how to use the power of the close up effectively.

R74 - Lillian was the first real star of the first silent films that were feature length and made use of cinematic techniques that built the language of filmic storytelling that is largely still used today. And for her era she was a performer who was subtle and know how to use the power of the close up effectively.

I saw her in The Irregular Verb to Love with Mr. Addy in Central City. Also in the cast, a certain Mr. Christopher Reeve.

At 82 posts, I still don’t see any examples of her actual cuntiness. I think maybe it is more of her manner and roles rather than any actual conduct. She was kind of an Mrs Howell type onscreen but not as likable.

I also have a signed photo of Lillian Gish. Jealous, bitches?

[quote]Celeste had a very educated and "to the manor born" look and air about her, which a more working class looking woman like Bette probably resented.

Bette Davis was not from a working class background. She was from an old New England family that was upper middle-class and she was educated in private schools.

[quote] I also have a signed photo of Lillian Gish. Jealous, bitches?

No.

So whom did Bette loathe most? Celeste, Crawford, Gish or Miriam Hopkins? Who else was on her shit list?

R70 Faye.

She campaigned to play Ado Annie in the B'way revival of Oklahoma!.

In 1979.

She was 62 years old.

R69 - re her Oscar. Gentlemen's Agreement is one of those preachy message films that Hollywood made for a while but I think Celeste is good in it. She is certainly better than the lead actress Dorothy McGuire whom I find sexless and dull dull dull. Celeste plays a likeable society woman who reveals her true feelings of being in love with Gregory Peck, knowing he wants Dorothy. And it helps that her character is not as prejudiced as Dorothy is revealed to be.

[quote] So whom did Bette loathe most? Celeste, Crawford, Gish or Miriam Hopkins? Who else was on her shit list?

That husband she shoved down the stairs and died a couple of weeks later from a brain injury?

r90 Davis's husband was a raging alcoholic and had several falls before the fatal one.

But Davis never drank and never had drunken brawls with any of her other husbands?

Bette was a drunken bitch. And I loved her. Hepburn was too, but so phony people only remember her as "real." Barf.

The Tender Trap

[quote]But Davis never drank and never had drunken brawls with any of her other husbands?

Of course she was and of course she did. That doesn't mean she was responsible for her husband's death. He was walking down the street in Hollywood and collapsed.

High Society

She was just a girl who couldn't say no.

But she could say "No, you cunt, no you asshole, NO, NO, NO! Get the fuck away from me!"

R75, Griffith is often credited as inventing the close-up with a shot of Pickford. But that is BS. Griffith and Pickford were tireless self-promoters, so they told the story of how they invented the close up and met with resistance. ("We're paying for the whole girl and your're only filming a part of her.")

[quote]He was walking down the street in Hollywood and collapsed.

And the Coroner testified it was from a skull fracture suffered at least two weeks earlier. Davis testified tearfully at the inquest she had NO IDEA what could have caused it.

From what I've read, they weren't even together when he had the previous fall.

Agnes tried hard to get Celeste to repeat her role in the film of Oklahoma! but she was already considered too old by Dick and Oscar in 1955.

Gloria is very wonderful in it.

Thanks R2...really interesting video

Read more.

Celeste was suffering from dementia when she was with that 41 year old guy. I saw them together and he pretty much had to respond for her she was so out of it.

Too old to be convincing as a teenager after Gentlemen's Agreement and All About Eve?

How heartless!

Leo doesn't sound cunty in that r32 anecdote at all. They weren't both being cunty.

Honestly, Celeste!

[quote] Too old to be convincing as a teenager after Gentlemen's Agreement and All About Eve?

Not all of us can be as fresh and dewy as the day our careers started!

R73 here. I've reread the thread and I swear that half the posts before mine weren't there before I posted my comment about Davis, Gish, Anderson and the Whales in August close ups. It they had been, I wouldn't wouldn't have posted mine since the subject had already been mentioned.

I blame DL. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

RF87 I recall Bette said the only actress she thought was a real bitch that she worked with was Faye Dunaway, who was very unprofessional and kept Bette waiting for hours when she was late, etc. A good story about Bette: she was the ingenue in George Cukor's stock company in Rochester, NY, which starred Laura Hope Crews (Aunt Pittypat in GWTW). When LHC was cast in The Man Who Came To Dinner, and their situations were reversed, apparently Bette was very kind and respectful (her scenes were cut so don't look for her in it).

Who is Joan, r110?

Another Davis-Holm story was that Bette and Gary Merrill convinced Celeste there was a wonderful shampoo called F. A. G. and apparently Celeste went around to drug stores asking for it.

Turn in your gay card, r112.

R24 No, I'm not jealous, I have a photo of Bette Davis signed to me.

I don’t care about her cuntery. She gave terrific support in every movie she appeared in.

Bette wasn't fond of Miriam, r111.

R117, that wasn't acting.

Bette on Faye Dunaway

Well, have to tell ya, r115, that's one I regret not getting. I do have a Joan, however. Plus....I was an extra in The Disappearance of Aimee. I can attest to everything Bette said about Faye.

My uncle was also an extra on Aimee, and he said Faye was horrid - shockingly so.

I read that on the Aimee tv movie, a whole churchful of extras were sweltering in the heat because Faye was nowhere to be found, so Bette got up on the pulpit and sang "I've Written A Letter To Daddy" for them while they were all waiting.

The Temple scene was shot in a Masonic Temple in Denver. It was sweltering hot and Faye took FOREVER to come out of her trailer, r122. And yes, Bette came out in pin curls and spoke to us and then sang Daddy. She was wonderful.

Nevah.

HRT wrote about how Celeste came in for the Dukakis role in "Steel Magnolias" (to meet, not to read) and Herbert Ross refused to consider her because she sat there and bitched about how bad the Oscars ceremony had treated her the night before and then trashed every director she had ever worked with. Herbert didn't want to be next on the list. His quote was "Life's too short for Celeste Holm". (That was the Oscar year young Leo did not know who she was when they met and she scolded him to learn his film history).

Oh, oh! And we had to come up with our own costumes that were hopefully somewhat period. They probably had costumed SAG extras in the first couple of rows, but they wanted the Temple to be filled. I went for Bette, not the box lunch.

Who's HRT?

R122 That's why I posted the clip of Bette saying that.

At about 17:45, Carol Kane talks about meeting and becoming friends with Bette Davis, I think around 1980.

Davis was completely uncunty to a much younger actress.

I think Celeste Holm had it coming.

OK, cue Misfit Girl and her tales about Marilyn and Clark.

Kathy Bates once told me a story of Celeste auditioning for Dolores Claiborne and whining so much to Taylor Hackford, she lost the jrole to Judy Parfitt. Thank god!

Judy Parfitt was fantastic in that film and should've won the Oscar.

I read that Celeste campaigned for the lead in Norma Rae and the Cher role in Silkwood.

[quote] HRT wrote about how Celeste came in for the Dukakis role in "Steel Magnolias" (to meet, not to read) and Herbert Ross refused to consider her because she sat there and bitched about how bad the Oscars ceremony had treated her the night before and then trashed every director she had ever worked with. Herbert didn't want to be next on the list. His quote was "Life's too short for Celeste Holm". (That was the Oscar year young Leo did not know who she was when they met and she scolded him to learn his film history).

No it wasn't. Steel Magnolias filmed right after the ceremony for the 1988 Oscars and released in late 1989. Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't nominated until early 1994.

WTF is HRT??

Celeste became nearly impossible to listen to later in life because something happened with her voice and it was pitched so high, every time she asked for another cup of coffee, every dog in the neighborhood would be in her front yard. And Joni Mitchell.

Ya gotta be tough, baby. So what if she wasn't Miss Congeniality?

The Herbert Ross Troll, FFS! Calm your tits, R135

All of them bitches, including Anderson Cooper.

Getting back to the Bette killing her husband story I thought the version was that they had a shoving match on a train and he hit his head which caused the problem he would later die of. I think that's what she told Vincent Sherman who recalled the story.

Ok, since we apparently have to pry every little bit out of you stupid bitches, who the fuck is the Herbert Ross Troll, FFS! We aren't all 1,000 years old, and haven't been here since you had to chisel on stone tablets to post.

Is the husband Bette killed the same husband she named the Oscar for?

Bette Davis liked Carol Kane because CK resembled Bette Davis, physically. CK's voice was all wrong, though (to play Davis).

I still think it's weird that Susan Sarandon didn't even try to get Davis's voice.

[quote] Faye was nowhere to be found, so Bette got up on the pulpit and sang "I've Written A Letter To Daddy" for them while they were all waiting.

Ten times she sang it. TEN FUCKING TIMES.

Celeste once again performing the song she introduced:

The one and only woman I ever slept with was also an extra in that DOA temple scene. She told me that Bette/Faye story thirty years ago.

Bette auditioned for Magnolia in the original production of Showboat. She had to sleep with Oscar Hammerstein to get an audition. When she saw the naked statue she said it had Oscar's ass. If she had slept with Ziegfeld it would have been called the Florenzzzz.

I had the same thing happen to me yesterday r109, I thought I made a keen observation on a thread and when it reloaded 25 comments showed up, all making the observation hours before me!

[quote]I still don’t see any examples of her actual cuntiness.

Refusing to tell a pregnant woman where the powder room is surely counts as cuntiness.

Bette's husband Arthur Farnsworth died after they had been seen fighting in a club one night, which started rumors. I know it makes a good story but I doubt that Bette was the cause of his death.

I thought Bette pushed Farney down some steps in their farmhouse, Butternut, in New Hampshire.

Another bit of trivia, Celeste lost the role of Milo Roberts, suntan oil heiress, to Nina Foch, in An American In Paris. CH was an Oscar winner and had just been nominated again for All About Eve, vs Nina, who wasn't especially well known, but everyone agreed Nina was better.

Bette said Farnsworth had fallen down the stairs at Butternut two months earlier when he went to answer a phone call.

[quote]A rumor persisted that his wife, in a rage, had pushed him down the stairs. It probably isn't true. Farnsworth had other head injuries and collapses that were symptomatic of a neurological problem that eventually caused his untimely death.

Damn so much of these posts are 100% made up. Some are funny, but totally false.

[quote]It's true. Never "meet" your favorite stars. I wish I hadn't read this thread

If Thelma Ritter was a “Grade A Cunt” keep it to yourselves because I don’t want to know.

Don’t fret R154, Thelma Ritter was Jesus with a Brooklyn accent.

She used to come stay with Helen Hayes at her home Pretty Penny in Nyack, I met them bot several times. She could not have been nicer. Two lovely ladies.

The story on Twitter is that Celeste was a grade A cunt to everyone when she appeared at a Princess Grace tribute years ago (after Grace's death). Jimmy Stewart was pleasant but apparently Celeste was a total cunt to everyone, and looked at the people riding the elevator with her as if they stank. How dare they ride with HER!

From that thread: "I was *Celeste’s* usher and was to escort her to the stage when her tribute came. I walked to her aisle seat as rehearsed, spotlight firmly on us, when she flailed her arms, shoved me aside and ran down to the stage while I was still in the spotlight. What a bitch."

[quote] It's true. Never "meet" your favorite stars.

One of the artists I love, and who is a very big part of my life, is Joni Mitchell.

But I *already* know from interviews that she is, let's say, not the warmest person in the world. Meeting her would wreck me. I'd also probably slap that old cunt in the face. So yes, I have no desire to meet her. Never witness how the sausages are made.

R156, I am not sure if this is a joke, but Helen Hayes seems to have been universally despised (in NYC at least). Read memoirs of the period and you can see the bitter feelings toward her even when masked with period propriety.

Helen Hayes was unpleasant? I didn't know that. She seemed like such a nice old lady.

The whole "First Lady of American Theater" thing really rubbed her peers the wrong way. And she started playing grande dame at a young age around people who knew her too well.

How in the world did they think of Gloria Grahame for the film of Oklahoma?

Listen, this thread is fine. But there will absolutely be no dragging of the great Gloria Grahame in this thread.

Who?

How dare you R164.

[quote]she flailed her arms, shoved me aside and ran down to the stage while I was still in the spotlight.

No cartwheels? She always did cartwheels at the Golden Globes. Before the show, she'd be at the Beverly Hilton tumbling up and down the red carpet in her rehearsal sweats. Then about about fifteen minutes before the press arrived, she'd go into her RV parked in the Robinson's May parking lot and change into her outfit.

What was her first name, r146?

[quote] I had the same thing happen to me yesterday [R109], I thought I made a keen observation on a thread and when it reloaded 25 comments showed up, all making the observation hours before me!

Same here, too. A couple weeks ago I posted about the death of someone in the Theatre Gossip thread, shocked no one had beaten me to it, and then it refreshed and there had been a two hour long discussion on it.

This happens all the time on DL. It's happened to me, too. Like I respond to the comment above me without quoting it and by the time it goes online there's six comments between mine and it, and mine sounds like I'm the lonely ninety-something DL schizophrenic.

Celeste Holm on Fresh Air:

So I - we were all sitting there, and I said: Did you know that the man who made the wonderful glass teapot, Pyrex, when he found out they were using it to make martinis, he stopped making them?

And Bette drank more than she should, I thought. And so she looked at me and she said: I don't know how I've lived this long without knowing that.

(lol)

More! This is a great thread. Thanks OP!

I met Celeste Holm at a backer’s audition for a musical that never got produced. She told us she was going to recreate her role of Ado Annie in a revival of Oklahoma. In fact, the producers offered her the role of Aunt Eller, and she turned it down. She was in her early 70s.

I forgot until just now I saw her in a play, Habeas Corpus. I was a little kid, it was the first play I went to, my parents took me, I have the program, and she was in it though I don't remember her. I remember Rachel Roberts (though I had no idea who she was, then) because she was hilarious.

It's a shame Celeste never played Aunt Eller in an OKLAHOMA revival on Broadway. What a casting coup and she could have been brilliant.

R174 How? She was totally wrong for it.

Honestly, Celeste!

Her auction is today!

R32 well maybe he’s straight after all.

If she really was still desperately trying to play Ado Annie into her 70s, I feel sorry for her. Even Norma Desmond was only 50 when she thought she could still play that sort of role. When you make Norma Desmond seem relatively same and reasonable, well...

It's telling that much of a thread about Celeste Holm turned into a thread about Bette Davis.

And that's the sort of thing that would have driven Holm crazy and made Davis laugh.

Speaking of Bankhead...

Sorry Bea but Tallulah was right.

r181 Taloo was correct about bone structure, but Bea became a bigger star than Bankhead, so she had the last laugh.

Bea may have had a longer career but Bankhead is truly legendary and was a movie and stage star. An icon for sure.

R6...I like cuntry. Getting a little off topic, I'll use that when I feel disgusted with the US. My cuntry...

I’m so glad the election is over so we can get back to Celeste Holmes and her enemies. This thread made me laugh for the first time since Nov 5.

LOVE that Bea Arthur clip at r180!! Truly DL at its best.

I think Celeste was the kind of celebrity with whom it would be fun to share a meal....but not one with whom to work (sorry, is that grammar horrible?).

Lots of actors can be like that from my decades of experience.

I remember seeing Celeste Holm on some talk show back in the day. She lost favor with me then because she claimed that she had been sent a script for Golden Girls and they invited her to be one of the four leads. She thought that a show about women in their late 50s or mid 60s still interested in men and sex was very tacky and tasteless and she didn't want to be associated with anything like that.

That’s why she married a 40 year old when she was 40+ years older than him…

All I know is from interviews I’ve seen over the decades and found several to be contradictory-come on Karen you’re being a Karen.

[quote] On her first day, on the set of “All About Eve”, she said “Good morning, Miss Davis. Bette responded: “Oh shit! Good manners!” It seems Bette read her beads and thought she was phony. Celeste refused to talk to Bette off the set, during the entire film.

If I were Celeste, I would find that legitimately funny. Bette was breaking the ice to see if Celeste would loosen up.

Bankhead couldn't hack it in Hollywood, despite making multiple attempts. The public wouldn't go to the cinema to look at her.

At least when they were in public, Celeste's last husband appeared to have a kind of genuine love and affection for her. It's also well known that he took excellent care of her, they were constantly out and about together seeing shows and enjoying things. She was mentally competent when they first began seeing each other, though the memory loss treatment started soon after. She married him so he'd have legal protection as her spouse in the settling of her estate. The complication came when she lived far longer than expected. Her kids were in their 60s/70s when Celeste finally died, past retirement age themselves, but still haggling over mama's money and apartment.

In what had to have been one of her last public performances, Celeste appeared at an open mic at Birdland with him. She sang "I Cain't Say No" and together they did "Millionaire."

Also saw Celeste singing in the Town Hall cabaret festival, she led an audience singalong to "True Love." It was surprising she didn't revisit some of her "Bloomer Girl" hits.

Can't remember if anyone linked this article, it's from about a year before Holm went home. Wonder what has become of the husband.

A real oddity: a very lipsticky Celeste as a guest player on the syndicated game show Pay Cards!

She enters and says with a passive-aggressive lilting laugh that she wasn't sure the host remembered her name.

[quote]She was mentally competent when they first began seeing each other, though the memory loss treatment started soon after.

I bet it did.

I loved Celeste Holm. She was always one of my favorite actresses.

Celeste

Celeste dragged out the anecdote, at every opportunity, about Bette rebuffing her chipper greeting at the start of filming for All About Eve. Not everyone is into becoming fast friends, especially at work. Maybe she came on strong and Bette was wary of this kind of behavior.

Reminds me of Patti Lupone and her inability to let go of past slights.

If you talk about it once or twice, that's fair, and nobody minds hearing your side of the story. If you harp on it for 30+ years it makes you wonder who the problematic party really was.