FAQ

Edith "Edie" Phillips (Bette Davis) has never forgiven her twin sister Margaret "Maggie" de Lorca (also played by Bette Davis) from stealing her boyfriend by claiming to be pregnant with his child. When the well-to-do Francesco "Frank" de Lorca dies 18 years later of a heart attack and Edie learns that there never was a baby, something in her snaps. She murders Maggie and assumes her identity, and "Edie" is pronounced a suicide. However, things become complicated by Maggie's golf pro boyfriend Tony Collins (Peter Lawford), who is the first to figure out the switch, and by Los Angeles detective Jim Hobbson (Karl Malden), who was in love with the "dead" Edie.

Dead Ringer was based on the story "La Otra" ["The Other"] by American screenwriter Rian James. The story had previously been made into a Mexican film in 1946 as Double destinée (1946) and was adapted for Dead Ringer by Albert Beich and Oscar Millard. Dead Ringer was remade in 1986 as the made-for-TV movie L'assassin avait un double (1986).

She wrote: Forgive me Maggie. Thanks for offering to help, but somehow it's not worth the effort anymore. Edie

When arsenic is found in Frank's body, "Maggie" is accused of poisoning him, stands trial, is convicted, and is sentenced to die in the gas chamber. As she is being transferred to San Quentin, Jim asks whether she was telling the truth when she told him that she was really Edie. She replies, "I'm Margaret de Lorca, Sergeant. As you said, Edie would never have hurt a fly." In the final scene, she gets in the police car, and Sergeant Hobbson watches as "Maggie" is driven away.