Henry Farrell passed away at 85

The author of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? died at 85 after a lingering illness.

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.

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Farrell died March 29 after a long illness at his home in Pacific Palisades, long-time friend Mary Bishop said.

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.

Crawford declined to act in the film, which ultimately starred Davis as a demented recluse and Olivia de Havilland as her scheming cousin who comes from Europe offering to help her. The film later won seven Academy award nominations. It and Baby Jane became standard bearers for the Grand Guignol film genre starring legendary female stars in grizzly roles. Farrell's other books included 1959's The Hostage, which he wrote under the name Charles Henry, and 1967's Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me, which French director Francois Truffaut used as a basis for a 1972 film. He wrote several screenplays for television movies, as well as a number of episodes of the series Perry Mason, Bishop said.

Farrell continued writing until his death and served as a mentor to members of a writing group he belonged to in Pacific Palisades. Farrell was born Charles Farrell Myers on Sept. 27, 1920 somewhere in California's Central Valley, and grew up in Coalinga, Bishop said. He was married to the actress Molly Dodd, who died in 1981. He is survived by his sister, Wanda Zey Michael.