3

By 1962, Hollywood had already written Joan Crawford’s obituary. She was over fifty, box office poison, and reduced to reading scripts nobody else wanted. Then a horror film about two washed-up sisters landed on her desk — and so did her old rival, Bette Davis. The press called it hatred. Reporters camped outside the set … Read more

Joan Crawford walked down the aisle four times, and Hollywood swooned every time. The press called them love matches. Insiders called them something else entirely. Each husband arrived at a strategic moment in her career — and vanished once he’d served his purpose. So did Joan Crawford ever actually love any of them, or was … Read more

By the early 1990s, Audrey Hepburn had already given the world two lifetimes worth of grace. One as the most luminous star of Hollywood’s golden age. Another, which she considered far more important, as a barefoot ambassador walking through refugee camps and famine zones for UNICEF. Few people around her noticed how tired she had … Read more

In September 1954, on a small terrace overlooking Lake Lucerne, Audrey Hepburn married the man she believed would be her partner for life. She was twenty-five, fresh off an Oscar win for Roman Holiday, and utterly certain she had found her happy ending. Mel Ferrer, actor, director, and eight years her senior, seemed to complete … Read more

In March 1961, Elizabeth Taylor was one of the biggest stars in the world, but she was also one of its sickest. A severe case of pneumonia had left her fighting for her life in a London hospital, and for a few terrifying seconds, doctors believed they had lost her. Less than a year later, … Read more

Elizabeth Taylor married eight times. Most people can barely name half the husbands. But there is one name every fan of Old Hollywood knows by heart, because she married him twice: Richard Burton. Their romance was so explosive the Vatican publicly condemned it, so passionate it produced two of the most legendary screen pairings in … Read more

In 1985, most of Hollywood was too afraid to even say the word AIDS out loud. Elizabeth Taylor, one of the most famous women on the planet, decided to make it the fight of her life. It began with the death of her close friend and former co-star Rock Hudson, and it ended with Taylor … Read more

In the 1950s, Paul Newman had everything a rising star was supposed to want: a beautiful wife, three young children, and a career on the verge of exploding. Then he met Joanne Woodward on a film set, and everything he thought he wanted quietly fell apart. What followed was one of the biggest scandals of … Read more

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is remembered as one of the defining Paul Newman films, the role that cemented his easy, roguish charm for a new generation. What almost no one remembers is that the studio didn’t want him for it at all. Newman wasn’t even their first choice for the part. He was … Read more

In 1982, Paul Newman started bottling his own salad dressing as a joke gift for friends and neighbors. He never expected it to become a business. He certainly never expected it to become one of the most quietly radical acts of generosity in Hollywood history. Behind the folksy label and the twinkling blue eyes on … Read more