Top court won’t hear de Havilland’s case about TV miniseries

FILE – In this June 18, 2016, file photo, U.S. actress Olivia de Havilland poses during an Associated Press interview, in Paris. The Supreme Court is declining to revive a lawsuit by Olivia de Havilland over the FX Networks miniseries “Feud: Bette and Joan.” The high court on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, said it would not take the 102-year-old actress’s case. Image: AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File

WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court is declining to revive a lawsuit by Olivia de Havilland over the FX Networks miniseries “Feud: Bette and Joan,” which centered on the rivalry between actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

The high court on Monday said it would not take the actress’s case. That means a California appeals court’s decision throwing out the lawsuit stands. The appeals court unanimously ruled in 2018 that California law and the First Amendment required the lawsuit’s dismissal.

The 102-year-old de Havilland had objected to her depiction on the eight-part miniseries. She said her likeness was illegally used and her character, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, came across as a vulgar gossipmonger.

As is its usual practice, the Supreme Court did not say anything about the case in declining to hear it. MKH

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