Hollywood’s most vicious feuds included Joan Crawford vs. Bette Davis and Lucille Ball vs. everyone in showbiz. Cloris Leachman and Joan Collins, however, kept the tradition going into the 21st century! The long-running hatred began in 1958 — when Joan was a young sex symbol and Cloris was pregnant with her first child from her marriage to producer George Englund. “He was devastatingly good-looking,” Joan later recalled. “He was everything I ever wanted in a man — except for the fact that he was married…”
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That didn't stop Joan from beginning an affair with Cloris' husband — and the future "Dynasty" star was determined to break up his marriage. Cloris revealed in 2007 that she only learned of the affair when Joan called her at home in the middle of the night, saying: "Cloris, this is Joan. George just left here."
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Cloris says Joan then asked her: "I'm in love with him. What do you want to do about that?" The jilted wife responded: "Do you think you two can make a go of it?" Shockingly, Joan then admitted that she didn't think so — because George was still in love with Cloris!
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The phone call then abruptly ended when Cloris said she heard Joan throwing up: "I guess the poor girl had been drinking!" But the angry actress soon learned that George was still seeing Joan, with the British beauty recounting how she was caught in bed with her married man.
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"One dreadful afternoon when George was in my apartment," Joan recalled, "Cloris arrived and started banging on the door and screaming that she knew he was there with me...'Tell her I'm not here,' hissed the coward. I went hesitantly to the door and said: 'George isn't here, Cloris.' 'I know he's in there,' she screamed."
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The affair didn't end until struggling actor
Warren Beatty, then 22, spied 26-year-old Joan at a club and moved in with her. The vixen admitted that she "wasn't madly in love with Warren," and even complained to an actress pal that she "needed a break because the endless bonking was exhausting me."
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Joan ultimately broke up with Warren after she caught him cheating with
Natalie Wood. Cloris and George remained married until 1978 — finally splitting up after 25 years of marriage, during which Cloris had gone on to fame on
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and films like
"Young Frankenstein" and "The Last Picture Show."
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Joan was still a few years away from finding new fame alongside
Linda Evans on "Dynasty," and admitted that she only regretted her time with George because he never left Cloris! "I can tell you from experience that I do not advise any young girl to have an affair with a married man, ever,"said Joan — adding:"I vowed I would never become involved with one again, and I never did."
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Divorce didn't lead to forgiveness from Cloris, though. A shocked audience in San Francisco learned that in 1984, during a production of the hit play "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You." Cloris starred as the nun with a list of sinners that included
Roman Polanski,
Brooke Shields,
Billie Jean King — and, unexpectedly, Joan Collins!
Photo credit: Getty Images
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Cloris abruptly broke character while listing the celebrities "going straight to hell," and ranted about Joan to the shocked audience: "I was 7 months pregnant. How could I compete with her? I remember Joan saying once, 'Oh, Cloris, you must hate me.' I said, 'Just get off my husband's lap!'"
Photo credit: Getty Images
That didn't stop Joan from beginning an affair with Cloris' husband — and the future "Dynasty" star was determined to break up his marriage. Cloris revealed in 2007 that she only learned of the affair when Joan called her at home in the middle of the night, saying: "Cloris, this is Joan. George just left here."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Cloris says Joan then asked her: "I'm in love with him. What do you want to do about that?" The jilted wife responded: "Do you think you two can make a go of it?" Shockingly, Joan then admitted that she didn't think so — because George was still in love with Cloris!
Photo credit: Getty Images
The phone call then abruptly ended when Cloris said she heard Joan throwing up: "I guess the poor girl had been drinking!" But the angry actress soon learned that George was still seeing Joan, with the British beauty recounting how she was caught in bed with her married man.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"One dreadful afternoon when George was in my apartment," Joan recalled, "Cloris arrived and started banging on the door and screaming that she knew he was there with me...'Tell her I'm not here,' hissed the coward. I went hesitantly to the door and said: 'George isn't here, Cloris.' 'I know he's in there,' she screamed."
Photo credit: Getty Images
The affair didn't end until struggling actor
Warren Beatty, then 22, spied 26-year-old Joan at a club and moved in with her. The vixen admitted that she "wasn't madly in love with Warren," and even complained to an actress pal that she "needed a break because the endless bonking was exhausting me."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Joan ultimately broke up with Warren after she caught him cheating with
Natalie Wood. Cloris and George remained married until 1978 — finally splitting up after 25 years of marriage, during which Cloris had gone on to fame on
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and films like
"Young Frankenstein" and "The Last Picture Show."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Joan was still a few years away from finding new fame alongside
Linda Evans on "Dynasty," and admitted that she only regretted her time with George because he never left Cloris! "I can tell you from experience that I do not advise any young girl to have an affair with a married man, ever,"said Joan — adding:"I vowed I would never become involved with one again, and I never did."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Divorce didn't lead to forgiveness from Cloris, though. A shocked audience in San Francisco learned that in 1984, during a production of the hit play "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You." Cloris starred as the nun with a list of sinners that included
Roman Polanski,
Brooke Shields,
Billie Jean King — and, unexpectedly, Joan Collins!
Photo credit: Getty Images
Cloris abruptly broke character while listing the celebrities "going straight to hell," and ranted about Joan to the shocked audience: "I was 7 months pregnant. How could I compete with her? I remember Joan saying once, 'Oh, Cloris, you must hate me.' I said, 'Just get off my husband's lap!'"
Photo credit: Getty Images
