Dueling Divas: Jane Wyman and Lana Turner in FALCON CREST
Move over, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis: there’s a new feud in town.
One of the juiciest, gossip-iest, soap opera-iest primetime soaps of the 1980s has a new home: Falcon Crest. And Warner Archive is excited to announce that the iconic ‘80s soap is streaming now on Warner Archive: join now and receive a *free* Roku stick with your annual subscription!
Admit it. There’s nothing like a good slice of primetime soap opera. The drama. The clothes. The HAIR. And along with iconic shows like Dallas and Knots Landing, Falcon Crest had everything you wanted when settling in on a Friday night after a long week: drama, deceit, and lots and lots of resting bitch face.
Falcon Crest, like the best primetime soaps, is all about rich people dealing with rich people drama in rich people clothes. The setting here isn’t Dallas, but rather Northern California’s idyllic Wine Country. Classic film veteran and Academy Award-winning actress Jane Wyman stars as Angela Channing, an iron-fisted matriarch who will let nothing stop her quest for power and goes head-to-head with anyone (and there are plenty, rest assured) trying to gain control of the coveted Falcon Crest Vineyards.
One of the many people with a deep-rooted hatred for Angela Channing, is a fellow classic movie icon: Lana Turner. The two legends duel something fierce during seasons 1 and 2 (1982–1983), climaxing to exactly the sort of melodrama you want from primetime soaps.
But were they actually acting?
Those close to the show, reported that star Wyman was just as iron-fisted over her stake in the show as her character Channing was over her winery. And while there will always be disagreements between stars and supporting characters, the story goes that things really got heated when Lana Turner came on board. There were rumors of a bitter feud between the two women, hating each other so much that they rarely spoke a word to each other. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to watch their interactions together and realize that there’s something more than acting going on:
Lana Turner [impassioned]: “I won’t let you destroy my son!”
Jane Wyman [cold and flat]: “Did you come all the way here just to tell me that?”
When Turner left the show at the end of Season 2, she discussed the rift with the press and, perhaps in an unsportsmanlike move, said that Wyman’s bitter behavior was probably due to her inability to cope with the fact that her ex hubby, Ronald Reagan, was now President of the United States.
To her credit, Wyman refused to discuss the matter, saying only this: “It’s not because I’m bitter or because I don’t agree with him politically. I’ve always been a registered Republican. But it’s bad taste to talk about ex-husbands and ex-wives, that’s all. Also, I don’t know a damn thing about politics.”
Watch Jane Wyman and Lana Turner duke it out on Falcon Crest, now streaming on the newly revamped Warner Archive! Available on desktop as well as Roku, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and Android, Warner Archive is the perfect streaming service for anyone who loves classic movies and TV. Explore the archive and get a *free* Roku Streaming Stick with your annual subscription:
