Mike Nichols on Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, and FAG Shampoo

 

Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Joe Mankiewicz, and Celeste Holm on the set of  All About Eve.

Interview with Mike Nichols

Conducted by James Grissom

NYC

2000

There was this dream--always--to work with her [Bette Davis], but never the right property or the right time. The stars never aligned. Of course, she never recuperated from not being in the film of [Who's Afraid of] Virginia Woolf? That was her part, you understand, and she felt she was handling her rejection well, even though she was merciless about Elizabeth [Taylor] and the film until I would remind her that it also my film.

She loathed people openly. Her honesty was admirable, although it never occurred to her that she could keep her hatreds silent. I never knew she loathed Celeste Holm until the three of us found ourselves together a party in New York. Celeste always struck me as very actressy, bubbly, a font of endless cheer and chatter, but Bette hissed at her. Do spray your joy, Celeste, and leave us alone, she said. Celeste turned from bisque to rugged stone, and moved away, held head high, chin quivering.

Bette explained herself: She hated phonies, and to her Celeste was the epitome of a phony. Celeste had the effrontery to upbraid Bette on the set of All About Eve because she failed to believe that Davis was actually nervous about her performance, about all of her performances. Celeste had a theory that actors--good actors--were not shy, were not afraid of anything: This is why they were good. Celeste offered Davis some exercises to boost her self-esteem and to get her, if I remember correctly "on the right track."

Bette told me she had to go and trash a quarter of her trailer, after which she and Gary Merrill sent her on a fruitless, you should pardon the term, search for a shampoo called FAG, which was touted to be the best in the world, and available at only the finest salons. Celeste had a hair obsession, apparently, and she returned furious, no doubt because of the reactions she received asking for FAG shampoo.

I later asked Joe Mankiewicz about some of this, and he rolled his eyes and said he'd rather not relive the bitchery on the set of All About Eve.

Self-esteem is almost always possessed by the wrong people, and everyone from whom greatness has excreted has had sleepless nights and performance anxiety, and Bette felt that Celeste was a skilled bubble of cheer who, in fifty years or so, would simply be a footnote in things written about Bette Davis. We shall see.

© 2020 James Grissom