Oscar-winner Faye Dunaway, known for her roles in classics like Chinatown and Network, as well as for camp movies like Supergirl and Mommie Dearest, received her walking papers this week after allegedly slapping a crew member on the set of the Broadway-bound Tea at Five.
Tea at Five, a one-woman show about Katherine Hepburn, would have marked Dunaway’s return to the stage after more than 35 years. The production however, while playing out-of-town rehearsals in Boston, had endured canceled performances and behind the scenes bickering, all reportedly due to Dunaway’s antics.
The final straw came June 10 when Dunaway repeatedly slapped a crew member just before a performance. She also threw objects at several others. The producers ultimately had to cancel the performance because Dunaway refused to cooperate with the crew.
Related: Hugh Jackman, Faye Dunaway, and ‘Beaches’ come to Broadway
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Dunaway also exhibited bizarre and abusive behavior prior to the slapping incident. Crew members reported her throwing mirrors, combs and hairpins at crew members. She also demanded they scrub her dressing room on their hands and knees, Mommie Dearest-style. Dunaway also quarreled with the playwright, Matthew Lombardo, and the production’s director, John Tillinger, reportedly demanding that the two not look at her during rehearsals. Dunaway also had trouble remembering her lines, and needed a prompter to feed her dialogue through an earpiece.
Despite the backstage drama, Tea at Five received positive reviews in Boston. The production will now move to London with the lead role recast.
This isn’t the first time Dunaway has been sacked from a stage show. Andrew Lloyd Webber fired Dunaway from a production of Sunset Boulevard in 1993, where the actress would have starred as crazed movie star Norma Desmond.
We now have to wonder if Dunaway has actually become Norma Desmond in the worst possible way…
stevieboy3362
Who the hell this bitch thinks she is?!?
WashDrySpin
my comment is awaiting moderation but above…
Someone named Faye would have been slapped HARD if she laid a hand on me or threw something at me…
she is a disgrace
jsmu
Faye is way, way, WAY past her expiration date. She’s now not only Mommie Dearest but a c*nty laughingstock. This was her swan song.
starkraver
Reads like she has a touch of the dementia.
Kieran
Bette Davis did say that Dunaway was the most unprofessional actress she ever worked with.
russellhm
And I witnessed Miss Davis’s performing in a made-for-TV biopic with Miss Dunaway in 1976 about the evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. A friend phoned me early on a Saturday morning and asked if I had clothes that would qualify for looking like someone out of the 1920s. I said YES! And then she told me about the filming going on at an old Denver church that was built in the 20a and they wanted extras to portray the congregation, fans and followers of the beautiful Aimee! We joined the crowd, my Flapper and I, awaiting approval from casting and once admitted had to sit near the rear of the church. We were later given a box lunch. Soon, Bette Davis appears and we were on our feet, clapping madly for her. She was wearing a gorgeous suit with a fur stole and looked fantastic! She threw the stole across one of the lovely highback chairs near the pulpit, and moved downstage center. She welcomed us and snidely said Miss Dunaway was in her trailer learning her lines. We roared. It was a summer’s day, warm, and no A/C in the old building; Better sheds the suit jacket, leaving a lovely white blouse and knee-length skirt. And she was kind enough to ask if she could entertain us. Someone cried out–a plant, perhaps, “Sing “I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy!” And we cheered and almost in unison hollered YES! Everyone there had seen “Baby Jane” a million times! And she became the faded child star before our eyes. It was beyond thrilling! Dunaway finally appears wearing the evangelist well-known robes. And no apology as the director is behind her and cameramen are scrambling. Davis is again wearing the jacket, takes a seat in the highback chair and Dunaway begins speaking. It didn’t take long for the scene to be captured on film and we exited, picked up our box lunches. Dunaway had already done “Bonnie & Clyde”, “Chinatown,” “Three Days of the Condor”; “Network” was filmed a few months after “The Disappearance of Aimee”; she had become the “Diva” long ago.
Kieran
@russellhm What a great story. Would have loved to have seen that. I’m sure she put on a memorable show.
brahbate
Well, everybody always likes to wait on Sherry.
avesraggiana
What? Again?!
There are several high end restaurants in West Hollywood and elsewhere in LA who will not allow her to dine, after suffering through some of her outrageous behaviour.
Cam
This type of behavior has been tolerated in Hollywood forever. If Dunaway was still a top billed star they would have let her get away with it.
smackenz
Back in ’95-96, I was dropping off a gown for an awards show, to her residence . A small bungalow off of Melrose. I arrived at the same time as a handyman/painter. He knocks on the door and it’s her, Fading Away. She says Come In. He walks in and then she says Not You and slams the door in my face. I wait about 5 minutes and then she opens the door with a barrage of questions. What size is it? Will it fit? Is it the right color?
On and on. I say, I have no idea. She snatches it out of my hands, and with an UGH!, slams the door in my face.
Metro135
I wonder who will play Faye when Dunaway Dearest is made a decade or so from now?
greybat
Madonna.
OzJosh
Poor Faye. In addition to getting fired from various projects, her film of Masterclass – which was to be her directorial debut – was shut down mid-way through production when she went over budget. She spent years trying to raise the money to complete it, but ultimately she lost the rights and Terrence McNally declined to renew them with her. It’s like the evil spirit of Joan Crawford entered her body during Mommie Dearest and refused to leave!
batesmotel
Faye Dunaway has lingered in Hollywood long after her expectation date. Sadly many that have worked with her or had run ins with her have never had anything great to say about her. It has nothing to do with her age or dementia. She’s always been like this. Bette Davis said she was unprofessional. James Woods has also said she wasn’t unprofessional. A friend of mine did an interview of her and escorted her to some awards show. Then she started hounding him. Leaving odd ranting voice mails on his machine in the middle of the night. He played one for me twenty years ago while smiling. It was definitely her ranting for a good five minutes about I don’t know what on this machine. He didn’t even know what. I said, “She’s a nut job.”
Miles
I saw her a few years ago in New York out and about and I did not understand her plastic surgery choices. It was enough to scare little children.
DuMaurier
Sad. Forty years ago I would’ve thought, “Yum, great gossip about this extravagant diva from Hell!” Now my first thought is, “Creeping dementia?”
Whatever. Dunaway is a legend but she’s gone over the falls. Fortunately, Celebrity Net Worth assures me she’ll be okay. I was actually kinda worried.
ShiningSex
SHE DESERVED TO BE FIRED, THE OLD HAG
jcoberkrom
No it’s not dementia it’s ego.
Bytemenow
I’ve always said that Faye Dunaway was Joan Crawford incarnate after Mommie Dearest. I truly think that’s the role in which she lost herself, the same way Heath Ledger lost himself in the role as The Joker. Neither one was quite “right” afterwards.
Regardless of fame and fortune, there’s no excuse for being an obnoxious, egotistical, demanding tyrant who mistreats others. You put your drawers on one leg at a time just like the rest of us……who actually wear underwear.
greybat
A deeply insecure woman, who has only become more so over time. It’s the real reason no one wants to work with her.
The fits, rages, and outbursts have obscured a genuine talent, that created some fascinating performances, and that is a shame, but what can you do?
grigsey
They should get Orange is the New Black star Kate Mulgrew to replace her. She’s starred in the show at the Pasadena Playhouse and was wonderful!
J W G
I’ve met Fay Dunaway, 20 years ago. Crazy bitch, If she wasn’t Fay Dunaway she’d be pushing a shopping cart down Hollywood Blvd and raging at the tourists.
BGinBigD
Bless her heart! I think she never heard the director of Mommie Dearest yell “Cut” and has been in character ever since.
Invader7
Crazy ass cow…. Cee You Next Tuesday, MIss Faded Away… I’d SLAP her ..Go full Pierre on her nasty, skanky unbalanced asss!!