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 The justices let stand a lower court ruling throwing out the
lawsuit filed by de Havilland, a Hollywood star whose career
began in the 1930s. She had claimed that "Feud: Bette and Joan,"
a FX Networks miniseries about the long-running hostility
between de Havilland's fellow screen legends Bette Davis and
Joan Crawford damaged her reputation by portraying her as a
gossip and hypocrite.
De Havilland's lawyers said in a statement that she was "very
disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court passed on this
opportunity to confirm that the First Amendment does not protect
the publication of intentional lies in any medium, including
so-called docudramas."
"Feud," which aired in 2017, explored the bad blood between
Crawford and Davis in the later years of their lives. The
miniseries was created by producer Ryan Murphy, known for the
series "American Horror Story" and "Glee."
In February 2018, Murphy agreed to create exclusive series and
films for Netflix Inc as part of a five-year deal expected to be
worth up to $300 million.
De Havilland was portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Feud,"
which starred Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford and Susan Sarandon
as Bette Davis. De Havilland objected to scenes in which she was
portrayed as using a vulgar term to refer to her sister, actress
Joan Fontaine, and joking about Frank Sinatra's drinking.
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A state appeals court in California threw out the case in March
2018, ruling that allowing the litigation to proceed would interfere
with the rights of authors and filmmakers to make creative works
that dramatize historical events.
The court found that the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment
guarantee of free speech protected the show's creators from her
claims that "Feud" portrayed her in a "false light" and used her
likeness without her permission. The court also said the portrayal
of de Havilland was overwhelmingly positive.
De Havilland, known for films including "Gone With the Wind" (1939)
and "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938), won best actress Oscars
for the 1949 film "The Heiress" and the 1946 film "To Each His Own"
in a career spanning 50 movies. De Havilland moved to Paris in the
1950s and has made rare public appearances since retiring.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Will Dunham)
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