Obituary: Henry Farrell

Henry Farrell, author of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and other melodramatic thrillers that spurred a genre of psychological horror movies featuring female protagonists, has died. He was 85.

Baby Jane, which Farrell wrote in 1960, was the basis for the film two years later, which brought actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford together for the first time, late in their flagging careers. The two played once-famous sisters whose lives ended in disappointment and tragedy.

Farrell and director Robert Aldrich tried to bring the two together again in Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte, which was based on Farrell's 1964 campy short story. Crawford declined to act in the film, which ultimately starred Davis and Olivia de Havilland.