Olivia de Havilland Sues "Feud"
Friday, June 30, 2017 at 6:00PM 
Photo by Damon Winter via LA TimesHere's a deliciously fitting coda to the first season of Ryan Murphy's Feud. Olivia de Havilland, who was played by Catherine Zeta-Jones (in a bewilderingly bad performance given CZJ's talent!), is suing Ryan Murphy and FX for the unauthorized use of her identity! She definitely did not like being portrayed on the bitchy side. Her lawyer says:
...the FX series puts words in the mouth of Miss de Havilland which are inaccurate and contrary to the reputation she has built over an 80-year professional life, specifically refusing to engage in gossip mongering about other actors in order to generate media attention for herself."
While Bette Davis's daughter B.D. (played by Kiernan Shipka) and one of Joan Crawford's twin girls Catherine (played by Chelsea Summer) are still alive, Olivia is the only celebrity portrayed in Feud: Bette vs Joan who is still living (aside from a couple of cameos like actors depicting Eva Marie Saint and Rip Torn if you want to get nitpicky). The two time Oscar winner, who we celebrated festively this time last year, turns 101 tomorrrow. Her birthday wish is apparently to stick one to FX. If she really wanted to do damage she might've announced this before Emmy voting closed, though.
Reader Comments (18)
Nat: I think the idea of influencing voting is exactly WHY she's doing this now. She wanted to speak her peace, but didn't want to be perceived as trying to influence the voting, because to do otherwise would arguably play into the character the show presented. Waiting until Emmy voting closed to announce this lawsuit: That's CLASS.
I applaude her grit and protection of her identity and legacy. No surprise really considering her tough fight against Warner's that broke the back of the star system with the de Havilland decision. Add into it the fact that CZJ was truly horrendous on the show and it's insult to injury. Hope she wins and an early Happy Birthday to a fine, classy and tough lady.
While I have some gripes with this series, the character of Olivia never pubically insulted anyone. She even says she purposefully tries to avoid reporters. She privately says some mean things (which the real Oliva probably did privately say something similar) which is still going with her image of pubically being above fueding for press. Oliva hardly ever speaks in public about her relationship with her sister or others she was percieved to be fighting with. The series portrayed her as a supportive friend who understood the pressures of Hollywood and the press. Her character imerges as the most innocent of behind the scenes bloodshed i would say. But then again it WAS her life. If she didn't like it, it is her right to sue. I do wish her a happy birthday and nothng but glorious more years to come.
Good for her. Feud stunk to high heaven. I hope she gets a large settlement or jury award.
She is bringing 100 Levels of shade.
When I saw her name trending assumed she left us. Thankfully she's alive to give us conformation bitch in her last days. They'll be a movie commissioned about her life once she's dead. Hoping they don't shy away at her disdain for losing Supporting Actress to Gone With The Wind costar Hattie McDaniel. Imagine being angry to lose in that category. Of course she had no way of knowing she'd become a two-time Best Actress winner and five-time nominee overall. At least Zeta-Jones was incredibly pretty while portraying Olivia.
Nat, as much as I respect you, you didn't completely explain why she is suing. Not being compensated for the use of her name and identity is one of the reasons why. She wasn't depicted in the show, so...
I meant she wasn't depicted negatively in the show. My bad.
I screamed when I read the headline.
LMAO Teach them how to do it Livvie!
Imagine what would The Queen do if they continue the "Fued" on Charles and Diana?
It's too bad that Joan Crawford can't sue Jessica Lange for her poor acting and inaccurate portrayal.
Tbh I hope this doesn't succeed. Creators should have license to portray celebrities as the creators see them, or else you'll have people shutting down shows like People versus OJ, which are important for societal critique.
3rtful: I don't think there was any disdain specifically because Hattie McDaniel had won. Olivia thought she was a lock and was terribly disappointed. And, unlike many others who feign they are happy for the winner, she was desolate and crying. I don't remember who (some friend I guess) had to literally drag her to go and congratulate McDaniel.
And nobody who was photographed brushing her sister aside when Joan was trying to congratulate her for winning her first Oscar can honestly claim that she was represented in a way "contrary to the reputation she has built over an 80-year professional life".
PS: She not only brushed Joan Fontaine aside, but she was heard saying "I don't know why she does this when she knows how I feel!"
It all began 5 years earlier when they were both nominated and Joan beat her sister to the Oscar.
This is actually refreshing. I also think it'd be great if Olivia de Havilland wins.
As for CZJ, why do you guys and gals think she gave a bad performance?
Interested in hearing specific examples from the actual performance (choices, accents, etc).
It's only been a month or so, and Feud is not aging well in my head.
Also, I think The Handmaid's Tale should've given us more than it did.
Big Little Lies and Twin Peaks (the 8 episodes we have) are my favorite made for TV productions this year.
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I am seriously concerned about the precedent this will set if Miss Olivia wins.
How will this effect future media depictions of actual living persons? ...or dead ones for that matter. Real people living and deceased have been represented in films and TV since the advent of the media. Will a victory stop this?
On another note, it seems that the overall consensus on FEUD and it's performances run across the entire spectrum. It will be very interesting to see what the Emmy voters think! I feel both ways, some of it was very good and some very trashy.
This just goes on adding up to the feelings i always had about Joan Fontaine being the nice sister and Miss De Havilland a wolf in sheep 's clothes, her sweet public persona an overtly fake construct
Good for her- they could have called the character Jane Doe
I don't see there's a case to be made. In the series, the only thing negative she said was a few
offhand comments about Joan F. Sorry, what's so slanderous about that. Absurd.