he Heartwarming Joan Crawford Friendship Behind Ryan Murphy's Feud

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Before tuning into Ryan Murphy’s latest anthology series Feud, many audience members likely had preconceptions about the over-the-top Old Hollywood stars at its center: Joan Crawford (played by Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon)—particularly Crawford, who was villainized in her daughter’s notorious tell-all, Mommie Dearest. But with Feud, which airs its third episode on FX this Sunday, Murphy hopes to do more than reframe this famous Hollywood rivalry—he wants to soften Crawford’s image while he’s at it Exercise & Fitness.

“Joan Crawford has gotten a really bad rap through the years Sun Protection Swimwear, because of that Mommie Dearest film, which froze her as this wire hangers Thermal Underwear, monstrous archetype,” Murphy explained by phone on Wednesday. “I’m not going to try and dispute Christina Crawford or her book, because that’s her personal recollection Shoes. But Joan Crawford was more than what her daughter wrote Novelty. She was also a really good person and a really good friend.”

Case in point: Crawford’s fierce loyalty to actor Williams Haines (Little Annie Rooney, Show People), even after his movie career fizzled because he refused to hide his homosexuality—or his boyfriend Jimmie Shields—from the public, unlike other gay movie stars of the era. Crawford did not only stand by him, though. She also enlisted him and Shields to give her Los Angeles home an overhaul—and helped launch his career as Hollywood’s go-to interior designer.