I saw a great movie over the weekend starring Bette Davis and Mary Astor called “The Great Lie.”

I loved it so much that I researched and found out that everyone at the time was amazed that Bette Davis agreed to take the “nice” role and let Mary Astor have the villainess. Davis wanted the role mainly because she had starred in a long line of mean roles.

A fan once wrote to her and asked “Why don’t you ever play nice people? You are always so mean.” So she played nice in THE GREAT LIE and, soon after, the nice secretary in THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER. It was at this point that Davis would begin alternating roles between playing nice and playing mean. See this movie – a great pick for classic movie lovers.