# Who was the biggest bitch (male or female) in Hollywood history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108 "2004-01-26T04:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![MyLiliMarlene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@MyLiliMarlene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyLiliMarlene)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/81 "2014-05-26T00:17:13Z")
I have been told by a few people that worked production on Raquel Welch’s films that she was the biggest bitch that ever lived. Just nasty, rude and demanding. One person in particular told me about the revenge the crew took out on her while filming on a Yacht. Apparently she had a scene where she was supposed to be scuba diving along side the boat/ship whatever ya call bigggg boats. They let go of the sewage port on the ship so she was swimming in shit, poop and all that. Boy she must have been a piece of evil crap to deserve that!!! Bing Crosby: He was so cruel to his kids that two of his son’s committed suicide! Lucy: She was terrible! She had a rule that no one on the set was to look at her, or in other words, be caught staring at her or DARE to talk to her. I met Vivian Vance when she came to my young adult acting school in San Francisco. Vivian’s sister ran the school (Young Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.) She said that Lucy was really jealous of any woman that looked what she perceived as better than her. Even tho Vivian Vance (this is Ethel) had a really good figure, she was forced to look super frumpy because Lucy was jealous. So, that’s all I got! ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/82 "2014-05-26T00:43:46Z")
Anne Coulter has made a career of being a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/83 "2014-05-26T01:37:01Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > But the worst sons-of-bitches of all time are reputed to be two men from vaudeville days almost forgotten by anyone this side of Eve: Eddie Cantor and Frank Fay. Never heard of Fay, but I have heard of Cantor (I’ve enjoyed several YouTube vids of his song-and-dance numbers [here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O4vJ7MFSd4) an old vaudeville act combining song and dance with standup) – what’s his dark side? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/84 "2014-05-26T01:38:36Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Anne Coulter has made a career of being a bitch. But not a **Hollywood** bitch. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/85 "2014-05-26T01:47:21Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Alfred Hitchcock had a reputation of being a royal bastard. “Actors are cattle and should be treated as such.” – Alfred Hitchcock ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/86 "2014-05-26T01:51:18Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Chico was an extremely charming and gregarious man, a seducer in every sense of the word. Chico, I have read, got his name because he was a “chicken-chaser,” a womanizer. Groucho got his from his habit of keeping all his valuables in a “grouch bag,” a pouch hung from his neck. (Not an unreasonable precaution, many vaudeville performers were not above petty theft from other performers.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/87 "2014-05-26T01:53:21Z")
I don’t know if he was a bitch to co-workers, but Errol Flynn was an even bigger womanizer than you might think. One San Francisco madam said of him, “He was the only customer I ever had who sampled all the talent, including both shifts, twice.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/88 "2014-05-26T01:56:33Z")
Apparently [even Danny Kaye had a dark side](http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-671-86494-1). Not abusive, just cold and distant. (He probably did **not** have an affair with Laurence Olivier, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/89 "2014-05-26T02:09:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Never heard of Fay, but I have heard of Cantor (I’ve enjoyed several YouTube vids of his song-and-dance numbers [here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O4vJ7MFSd4) an old vaudeville act combining song and dance with standup) – what’s his dark side? Frank Fay was Barbara Stanwyck’s first husband, and he reputedly beat and otherwise abused her. Apparently par for his course. Eddie Cantor was the most raging narcissist in a profession of raging narcissists. Supposedly the worst boss of them all. There’s a fascinating portrait of him in an old book by one of his writers, Arnold Auerbach, called _Funny Men Don’t Laugh_. Cantor and his head writer, David Freedman, are given pseudonyms because they’re so badly maligned in the book. The book appeared in 1965 and Cantor died in late 1964, so he might still have been alive during the writing and naming him right after his death would have looked bad. I wouldn’t go by one memoir but I’ve read similar accounts elsewhere, enough to convince me there was a lot of truth in that portrayal. As for Groucho, RTFT. Which is now ten years old, for those who don’t look at dates. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/90 "2014-05-26T03:34:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Of course, anyone who calls himself Exapno Mapcase has no problem recommending _Harpo Speaks_. Just dawned on me…Exapno Mapcase = Harpo Marx written in Cyrillic? (Харпо Маркс) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/91 "2014-05-26T03:42:36Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Just dawned on me…Exapno Mapcase = Harpo Marx written in Cyrillic? (Харпо Маркс) That sounds (or not) in keeping with the man who gave rise to the [Harpo Does Something Funny](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HarpoDoesSomethingFunny) trope. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/92 "2014-05-26T04:29:29Z")
When my dad was ten or so, a blond kid with a square face, he was up for a part in a movie playing Richard Widmark’s son. My grandmother, herself a bit player, took him to the set for some tests. Somebody asked them to move a cable as he came through with some equipment. Within minutes they were thrown off the set by the electricians union. Who _wasn’t_ a bitch in Hollywood? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/93 "2014-05-26T05:37:44Z")
So we’re all just going to ignore the ten-year time-skip? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/94 "2014-05-26T09:25:17Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Gabe Kaplan, of _Welcome Back Kotter_ fame destroyed the show, got his fellow cast members to hate him, threw gigantic tantrums, delayed production with ego-driven walkouts, & put himself out of work more or less permanently. > > After that show was over, he was waiting tables again. AFAIK he went back to doing standup; and then had a second career as a world class professional poker player. When did he have time to wait tables as well? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/95 "2014-05-26T10:43:48Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > So we’re all just going to ignore the ten-year time-skip? I glanced at the dates and saw 2??4 and figured it was current. So then I’m reading along and then all of a sudden I notice that Ilsa\_Lund posted. Ha! Ilsa hasn’t been on the dope for a decade. Steven Segal was mentioned several times, which reminds me of the greatest apocryphal Hollywood story ever: Steven Segal comes out of his trailer and tells a nearby PA “I just read the greatest script ever written.” The PA answers “Really? Who wrote it?” “Me.” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/96 "2014-05-26T11:02:25Z")
> [@MyLiliMarlene](#): > > I have been told by a few people that worked production on Raquel Welch’s films that she was the biggest bitch that ever lived. Just nasty, rude and demanding. One person in particular told me about the revenge the crew took out on her while filming on a Yacht. > > Apparently she had a scene where she was supposed to be scuba diving along side the boat/ship whatever ya call bigggg boats. They let go of the sewage port on the ship so she was swimming in shit, poop and all that. Boy she must have been a piece of evil crap to deserve that!!! I’m surprised she could scuba dive at all, with her copious buoyancy. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/97 "2014-05-26T13:20:33Z")
n/m, zombie… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/98 "2014-05-26T13:55:53Z")
Of course, the biggest bitch in Hollywood history is [Kyle’s Mom!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9AT3jjAP0Y) ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/99 "2014-05-26T14:27:37Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Steven Segal comes out of his trailer and tells a nearby PA “I just read the greatest script ever written.” The PA answers “Really? Who wrote it?” > > “Me.” Zombie thread or not, Segal fodder here: [Segal and Arpaio BFF](http://www.abc15.com/news/state/actor-martial-arts-expert-steven-seagal-teams-up-with-sheriff-joe-arpaio-in-new-reality-show) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108/100 "2014-05-26T14:46:24Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > When my dad was ten or so, a blond kid with a square face, he was up for a part in a movie playing Richard Widmark’s son. My grandmother, herself a bit player, took him to the set for some tests. Somebody asked them to move a cable as he came through with some equipment. Within minutes they were thrown off the set by the electricians union. > > Who _wasn’t_ a bitch in Hollywood? Was it your dad who was asked to ‘move a cable’? From what I’ve gleaned over the years, there are extremely strict union rules in show biz. For example, if you are onstage doing a play and knock over a prop, you as an actor are not supposed to touch that prop at all. If you shooting a scene on a soundstage and you have to go do a scene on another soundstage, you have to be driven there. Even if it’s 100 feet away, you have to get in a vehicle and be driven to the next location. (this was years ago, maybe things are different now.) I also will nominate Bing Crosby as monstrous. That book made him out to be so hideously cold and cruel that his admirable work in movies and music has been forever tainted for me. I don’t KNOW if it’s ‘all true’, or some is made up, or some is a fantasy of a diseased mind, but I think there’s a basis for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-biggest-bitch-male-or-female-in-hollywood-history/226108.md?page=6)