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Bette Davis

August 27, 2023

For other people with similar names, see Betty Davis.

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (/ˈbɛti/; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater successes were in romantic dramas.[1] A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations.

Bette Davis
Davis in 1935
Born
Ruth Elizabeth Davis

(1908-04-05)April 5, 1908
Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedOctober 6, 1989(1989-10-06) (aged 81)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park
OccupationActress
Years active1929–1989
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
  • Harmon Oscar Nelson
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1932; div. 1938)​
  • Arthur Farnsworth
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1940; died 1943)​
  • William Grant Sherry
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1945; div. 1950)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1950; div. 1960)​
Children3, including B. D. Hyman
Signature

After appearing on stage in New York for a short period, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in Of Human Bondage (1934), although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, Davis received her first Best Actress nomination, and she won for her performance in Dangerous (1935). In 1937, she starred in Marked Woman, a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career. Davis's portrayal of a strong-willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel (1938) won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress,[2] and was the first of five consecutive years in which she received a Best Actress nomination; the others were for Dark Victory (1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), and Now, Voyager (1942).

Davis was known for her forceful and intense style of acting. She could be combative and confrontational with studio executives and film directors, as well as with her co-stars. Her forthright manner, idiosyncratic speech, and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona that has been often imitated.[3]

She played a Broadway star in All About Eve (1950), which earned her another Oscar nomination and won her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. Her last Oscar nomination was for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which also starred Joan Crawford. In the latter stage of her career, her most successful films were Death on the Nile (1978) and The Whales of August (1987). Her career went through several periods of eclipse, but despite a long period of ill health, she continued acting in film and on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in 1989.[4] She admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. She married four times, divorcing three and widowed once when her second husband died unexpectedly. She raised her children largely as a single parent. Her daughter, B. D. Hyman, wrote a controversial memoir about her childhood, 1985's My Mother's Keeper.[4]

Life and career Edit

1908–1929: Childhood and early acting career Edit

 
Bette Davis and Donald Meek in Broken Dishes (1929). "I was now a bona fide Broadway actress—in a hit," Davis wrote.[5]

Ruth Elizabeth Davis, known from early childhood as "Betty", was born on April 5, 1908,[6] in Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Harlow Morrell Davis (1885–1938), a law student from Augusta, Maine, and subsequently a patent attorney, and Ruth Augusta (née Favór; 1885–1961), from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.[7] Davis's younger sister was Barbara Harriet.[8] In 1915, after Davis's parents separated, Davis and her sister Barbara attended a spartan boarding school named Crestalban in Lanesborough, Massachusetts for three years.[9] In the fall of 1921, her mother, Ruth Davis, moved to New York City, using her children's tuition money to enroll in the Clarence White School of Photography, with an apartment on 144th Street at Broadway. She then worked as a portrait photographer.

The young Bette Davis later changed the spelling of her first name to Bette after Bette Fischer, a character in Honoré de Balzac's La Cousine Bette.[10] During their time in New York, Davis became a Girl Scout where she became a patrol leader.[11][12] Her patrol won a competitive dress parade for Lou Hoover at Madison Square Garden.[13]

Davis attended Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, where she met her future husband, Harmon O. Nelson, known as Ham. In 1926, a then 18-year-old Davis saw a production of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck with Blanche Yurka and Peg Entwistle. Davis later recalled, "The reason I wanted to go into theater was because of an actress named Peg Entwistle."[14] Bette Davis interviewed with Eva Le Gallienne to be a student at her 14th Street theatre. Eva Le Gallienne felt Davis was not serious enough to attend her school,[15] and described her attitude as "insincere" and "frivolous".[16]

Davis auditioned for George Cukor's stock theater company in Rochester, New York; although he was not very impressed, he gave Davis her first paid acting assignment – a one-week stint playing the part of a chorus girl in the play Broadway. Ed Sikov sources Davis's first professional role to a 1929 production by the Provincetown Players of Virgil Geddes' play The Earth Between; however, the production was postponed by a year.[17] In 1929, Davis was chosen by Blanche Yurka to play Hedwig, the character she had seen Entwistle play in The Wild Duck.[18] After performing in Philadelphia, Washington, and Boston, she made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Broken Dishes and followed it with Solid South.[19]

1930–1936: Early years in Hollywood Edit

 
Bette Davis in Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)

After appearing on Broadway in New York, the 22-year-old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930 to screen test for Universal Studios. She had been inspired to pursue a career as a film actress after seeing Mary Pickford in Little Lord Fauntleroy. Davis and her mother travelled by train to Hollywood. She later recounted her surprise that nobody from the studio was there to meet her. In fact, a studio employee had waited for her, but left because he saw nobody who "looked like an actress". She failed her first screen test, but was used in several screen tests for other actors. In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett, she related the experience with the observation, "I was the most Yankee-est, most modest virgin who ever walked the earth. They laid me on a couch, and I tested fifteen men ... They all had to lie on top of me and give me a passionate kiss. Oh, I thought I would die. Just thought I would die."[20] A second test was arranged for Davis, for the 1931 film A House Divided. Hastily dressed in an ill-fitting costume with a low neckline, she was rebuffed by the film director William Wyler, who loudly commented to the assembled crew, "What do you think of these dames who show their chests and think they can get jobs?".[21]

Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios, considered terminating Davis's employment, but cinematographer Karl Freund told him she had "lovely eyes" and would be suitable for Bad Sister (1931), in which she subsequently made her film debut.[22] Her nervousness was compounded when she overheard the chief of production, Carl Laemmle, Jr., comment to another executive that she had "about as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville", one of the film's co-stars.[23] The film was not a success, and her next role in Seed (1931) was too brief to attract attention.[citation needed]

Universal Studios renewed her contract for three months, and she appeared in a small role in Waterloo Bridge (1931), before being lent to Columbia Pictures for The Menace, and to Capital Films for Hell's House (all 1932). After one year, and six unsuccessful films, Laemmle elected not to renew her contract.[24]

Davis was preparing to return to New York when actor George Arliss chose Davis for the lead female role in the Warner Bros. picture The Man Who Played God (1932), and for the rest of her life, Davis credited him with helping her achieve her "break" in Hollywood. The Saturday Evening Post wrote, "She is not only beautiful, but she bubbles with charm", and compared her to Constance Bennett and Olive Borden.[25] Warner Bros. signed her to a five-year contract, and she remained with the studio for the next 18 years.[citation needed]

Davis's first marriage was to Harmon Oscar Nelson[26] on August 18, 1932, in Yuma, Arizona.[27][better source needed] Their marriage was scrutinized by the press; his $100 a week earnings ($1,885 in 2020 dollars)[citation needed] compared unfavourably with Davis's reported $1,000 a week income ($18,850). Davis addressed the issue in an interview, pointing out that many Hollywood wives earned more than their husbands, but the situation proved difficult for Nelson, who refused to allow Davis to purchase a house until he could afford to pay for it himself.[28] Davis had several abortions during the marriage.[29]

 
Davis in Of Human Bondage (1934)

After more than 20 film roles, she had her critical breakthrough playing the role of the vicious and slatternly Mildred Rogers in the RKO Radio production of Of Human Bondage (1934), a film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel. It earned Davis her first major critical acclaim, although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. Many actresses feared playing unsympathetic characters, and several had refused the role, but Davis viewed it as an opportunity to show the range of her acting skills. Her co-star, Leslie Howard, was initially dismissive of her, but as filming progressed, his attitude changed, and he subsequently spoke highly of her abilities. The director John Cromwell allowed her relative freedom: "I let Bette have her head. I trusted her instincts." She insisted that she be portrayed realistically in her death scene, and said: "The last stages of consumption, poverty, and neglect are not pretty, and I intended to be convincing-looking."[30]

The film was a success, and Davis's characterization earned praise from critics, with Life writing that she gave "probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress".[31] Davis anticipated that her reception would encourage Warner Bros. to cast her in more important roles, and was disappointed when Jack L. Warner refused to lend her to Columbia Studios to appear in It Happened One Night, and instead cast her in the melodrama Housewife.[32] When Davis was not nominated for an Academy Award for Of Human Bondage, The Hollywood Citizen News questioned the omission, and Norma Shearer, herself a nominee, joined a campaign to have Davis nominated. This prompted an announcement from the Academy president, Howard Estabrook, who said that under the circumstances, "any voter ... may write on the ballot his or her personal choice for the winners", thus allowing, for the only time in the Academy's history, the consideration of a candidate not officially nominated for an award.[33] The uproar led, however, to a change in academy voting procedures the following year, wherein nominations were determined by votes from all eligible members of a particular branch, rather than by a smaller committee,[34] with results independently tabulated by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse.[35] Next year, A Midsummer Night's Dream became the only film to win a write-in Oscar, for Best Cinematography.[36]

The next year, her performance as a down-and-out troubled actress in Dangerous (1935) received very good reviews, and landed Davis her first Best Actress nomination and win. E. Arnot Robertson wrote in Picture Post that, "I think Bette Davis would probably have been burned as a witch if she had lived two or three hundred years ago. She gives the curious feeling of being charged with power which can find no ordinary outlet".[37] The New York Times hailed her as "becoming one of the most interesting of our screen actresses".[38] She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role, but commented that it was belated recognition for Of Human Bondage, calling the award a "consolation prize".[39] For the rest of her life, Davis maintained that she gave the statue its familiar name of "Oscar" because its posterior resembled that of her husband, whose middle name was Oscar,[40][41] although, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially makes reference to another story.[42]

In her next film, The Petrified Forest (1936), Davis co-starred with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart.

Warners' legal case against Bette Davis Edit

In the spring of 1936, Davis asked Warners to loan her out to RKO to make Mary of Scotland (film). Warners refused, and assigned Davis to two films that were written specifically for her: "God’s Country and The Woman", and "Mountain Justice". However, as "God's Country and The Woman" was going into production, Davis refused to work, and demanded a salary increase on her contract with Warners.[43][44] At the time, Davis was earning $1,250 per week. Jack Warner offered Davis an increased salary of $2,250 per week, which Davis refused. Davis's agent, Mike Levee, said: "She's a very stubborn young lady. I asked her how much she wanted, and she said $3,500 a week, plus all radio rights and permission to make outside pictures. I told her, 'Whoa, that's too much!'" [45]

Meanwhile, due to Davis's refusal to continue with "God's County and The Woman", Warners was incurring excessive production costs because the film was being made in technicolor, and the technicolor cameras were on loan-out.[46] In late June, Warners put Davis on suspension for refusal to work, and replaced her in the film with Beverly Roberts.[47][48]

During negotiations with Warners regarding her salary and signing Davis for the female lead in "Danton", Davis abruptly traveled to England with her husband, Harmon Nelson, on a "vacation". However, in England, Davis signed a contract with British film production company Toplitz, to make the film "I'll Take the Low Road" for a $50,000 salary in England with Maurice Chevalier.[49][50][51][52]

On September 9, 1936, Warner Brothers filed a legal injunction against Davis in England which forbade her from appearing in film productions without their consent.[53] While on a shopping spree in Paris, Davis publicly declared to the press that she intended to defy Warner's legal injunction and make the film in England.[54] On October 14, 1936, the British court held a hearing regarding Warner's injunction against Davis. Justice Sir George Branson issued his decision on October 19, ruling in favor of Warner Bros. Justice Branson dismissed Davis's representative's claims that she was an "underpaid slave" held under a "life sentence", and ruled that Davis was in breach of her contract to Warners "for no discoverable reason except that she wanted more money".[55]

Davis was ordered to pay Warners $80,000 in restitution,[45] and was also ordered to pay Warners' legal fees for filing the injunction in England.[48] The British press offered little support to Davis, calling her overpaid and ungrateful.[56]

In 1943, actress Olivia de Havilland won a lawsuit against Warner Bros. regarding the length of time a studio contract could be legally enforceable, which is seven years. In her later years, Davis would falsely claim in interviews that she set the path for de Havilland's legal victory; however, this is grossly inaccurate. Warners' 1936 injunction against Davis was due to her attempt to unlawfully breach her contract to work for another production company because she and Warners were having a salary disagreement, and bears no resemblance to the de Havilland legal case.[57]

1937–1941: Success with Warner Bros. Edit

The same year, she starred with Humphrey Bogart in Marked Woman (1937), a contemporary gangster drama inspired by the case of Lucky Luciano, a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career. She was awarded the Volpi Cup at the 1937 Venice Film Festival for her performance.[58]

 
Davis in Jezebel (1938)

Davis's portrayal of a strong-willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel (1938) won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress, and was the first of five consecutive years in which she received the Best Actress nomination. During production, Davis entered a relationship with director William Wyler. She later described him as the "love of my life", and said that making the film with him was "the time in my life of my most perfect happiness".[59] The film was a success, and Davis's performance as a spoiled Southern belle earned her a second Academy Award.

This led to speculation in the press that she would be chosen to play Scarlett O'Hara, a similar character, in Gone with the Wind. Davis expressed her desire to play Scarlett, and while David O. Selznick was conducting a search for the actress to play the role, a radio poll named her as the audience favorite. Warner offered her services to Selznick as part of a deal that also included Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, but Selznick did not consider Davis as suitable, and rejected the offer,[60] while Davis did not want Flynn cast as Rhett Butler. Newcomer Vivien Leigh was cast as Scarlett O'Hara, de Havilland landed a role as Melanie, and both of them were nominated for the Oscars, with Leigh winning.

Jezebel marked the beginning of the most successful phase of Davis's career, and over the next few years, she was listed in the annual Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money-Making Stars, which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. for the stars who had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year.[61]

In contrast to Davis's success, her husband Ham Nelson had failed to establish a career for himself, and their relationship faltered. In 1938, Nelson obtained evidence that Davis was engaged in a sexual relationship with Howard Hughes, and subsequently filed for divorce, citing Davis's "cruel and inhuman manner".[62]

 
Davis with Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

Davis was emotional during the making of her next film, Dark Victory (1939), and considered abandoning it until the producer Hal B. Wallis convinced her to channel her despair into her acting. The film was among the high-grossing films of the year, and the role of Judith Traherne brought her an Academy Award nomination. In later years, Davis cited this performance as her personal favorite.[63] Dark Victory featured Ronald Reagan and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles.

She appeared in three other box-office hits in 1939: The Old Maid with Miriam Hopkins, Juarez with Paul Muni, and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex with Errol Flynn. The last was her first color film, and her only color film made during the height of her career. To play the elderly Elizabeth I of England, Davis shaved her hairline and eyebrows.

During filming, she was visited on the set by the actor Charles Laughton. She commented that she had a "nerve" playing a woman in her 60s, to which Laughton replied: "Never not dare to hang yourself. That's the only way you grow in your profession. You must continually attempt things that you think are beyond you, or you get into a complete rut." Recalling the episode many years later, Davis remarked that Laughton's advice had influenced her throughout her career.[64]

 
Davis with Spencer Tracy at the 1939 Academy Awards

By this time, Davis was Warner Bros.' most profitable star, and she was given the most important of their female leading roles. Her image was considered with more care; although she continued to play character roles, she was often filmed in close-ups that emphasized her distinctive eyes. All This, and Heaven Too (1940) was the most financially successful film of Davis's career to that point.

The Letter (1940) was considered "one of the best pictures of the year" by The Hollywood Reporter, and Davis won admiration for her portrayal of an adulterous killer, a role originated onstage by Katharine Cornell.[65] During this time, she was in a relationship with her former co-star George Brent, who proposed marriage. Davis refused, as she had met Arthur Farnsworth, a New England innkeeper, and Vermont dentist's son. Davis and Farnsworth were married at Home Ranch, in Rimrock, Arizona, in December 1940, her second marriage.[66]

 
Davis often played unlikable characters such as Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes (1941).

In January 1941, Davis became the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but antagonized the committee members with her brash manner and radical proposals. Davis rejected the idea of her being just "a figurehead only". Faced with the disapproval and resistance of the committee, Davis resigned, and was succeeded by her predecessor Walter Wanger.[67]

Davis starred in three movies in 1941, the first being The Great Lie, with George Brent. It was a refreshingly different role for Davis as she played a kind, sympathetic character.

William Wyler directed Davis for the third time in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1941), but they clashed over the character of Regina Giddens, a role originally played on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead (Davis had portrayed in film a role initiated by Bankhead on the stage once before – in Dark Victory). Wyler encouraged Davis to emulate Bankhead's interpretation of the role, but Davis wanted to make the role her own. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance, and never worked with Wyler again.[68]

1942–1944: War years Edit

In 1943, Davis told an interviewer that she had molded her film career on her motto, "I love tragedy," and ironically, until Pearl Harbor she had been recognized as the American favorite of Japanese moviegoers—because to them, she "represented the admirable principle of sad self-sacrifice.”[69]

In 1942, Davis, along with John Garfield, were among the members of the Hollywood Victory Committee who helped establish the Hollywood Canteen. [70][6][71] The Canteen offered food, dancing and entertainment for servicemen and was staffed by members of the entertainment industry. Davis served as Canteen president through the end of the war.[72][73][74] In 1983, Davis received the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Department of Defense for her work with the Hollywood Canteen.[75]

She appeared as herself in the film Hollywood Canteen (1944), which used the canteen as the setting for a fictional story. Warner Bros. donated 40% of proceeds from the film to both the Hollywood Canteen and the Stage Door Canteen in New York.[76][77]

Davis showed little interest in the film Now, Voyager (1942), until Hal Wallis advised her that female audiences needed romantic dramas to distract them from the reality of their lives. It became one of the better known of her "women's pictures". In one of the film's most imitated scenes, Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes as he stares into Davis's eyes, and passes one to her. Film reviewers complimented Davis on her performance, the National Board of Review commenting that she gave the film "a dignity not fully warranted by the script".[78]

 
Davis with Paul Henreid in Now, Voyager (1942), one of her most iconic roles

During the early 1940s, several of Davis's film choices were influenced by the war, such as Watch on the Rhine (1943), by Lillian Hellman, and Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), a lighthearted all-star musical cavalcade. Davis performed a novelty song, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old."

Old Acquaintance (1943) reunited her with Miriam Hopkins in a story of two old friends who deal with the tensions created when one of them becomes a successful novelist. Davis felt that Hopkins tried to upstage her throughout the film. Director Vincent Sherman recalled the intense competition and animosity between the two actresses, and Davis often joked that she held back nothing in a scene in which she was required to shake Hopkins in a fit of anger.[79]

Death of Arthur Farnsworth Edit

On August 25, 1943, Davis' second husband, Arthur Farnsworth, died following a series of head injuries that are suspected to be the result of violent fits against him by Davis. In July 1943, Farnsworth hit his head while he and Davis were visiting Farnsworth's family in New Hampshire. At the time, Davis claimed Farnsworth slipped and fell down the stairs. In regard to the first head injury, a family member of Farnsworth stated, "He was a darling guy, but no match for Bette. He should have left her then. If he had, he would have been alive today."[80] Farnsworth suffered a second head injury during his and Davis' train ride back to California. During the train ride, Farnsworth and Davis reportedly argued over her affair with director Vincent Sherman and the state of their marriage.[80] Then, on August 23, Farnsworth fell and hit his head on the pavement on Hollywood Blvd shortly after he and Davis had lunch with her attorney to discuss filing separate tax returns. A disoriented Farnsworth was immediately rushed to the hospital, where Farnsworth ran a high fever and several hemorrhages making him to be unable to relay to medical staff the events surrounding his fall.[81] He died two days later. An autopsy revealed that Farnsworth's death was the result of a skull fracture. Not telling authorities about Farnsworth's last two head injuries, Davis told detectives that she believed Farnsworth died due to the first head injury he sustained in New Hampshire several months prior, however, police readily dismissed Davis's claims and opened a criminal investigation.[82]

According to Davis's third husband, William Sherry, Davis showed him the spot on the pavement where Farnsworth hit his head and confessed that she had, in fact, violently pushed him and caused him to fall.[83][84] Davis later claimed that Farnsworth was "drunk" and fell, however, law enforcement and the doctor who examined Farnsworth immediately after his fall stated there was "no odor of alcohol on his breath."[85] A bystander at Farnsworth's funeral stated that Davis was icy towards Farnworth's family and only displayed grief when she sensed she was being observed by the press. Following Farnsworth's funeral, his body was held for four days while the police investigated his death to determine if any criminal charges would be filed. Davis testified at an inquest that she knew of no event that might have caused the injury and a finding of accidental death was reached. According to writer Hector Arce, Warners Studio head Jack Warner used his influence to get the inquest settled quickly. Highly distraught, Davis attempted to withdraw from her next film Mr. Skeffington (1944), but Jack Warner, who had halted production following Farnsworth's death, persuaded her to continue.

Although she had gained a reputation for being forthright and demanding, her behavior during filming of Mr. Skeffington was erratic and out of character. She alienated Vincent Sherman by refusing to film certain scenes and insisting that some sets be rebuilt. She improvised dialogue, causing confusion among other actors, and infuriated the writer Julius Epstein, who was called upon to rewrite scenes at her whim. Davis later explained her actions with the observation "When I was most unhappy, I lashed out rather than whined." Some reviewers criticized Davis for the excess of her performance; James Agee wrote that she "demonstrates the horrors of egocentricity on a marathonic scale".[86]. Despite all these problems, Mr. Skeffington was another box-office hit and earned Davis another Academy Award nomination. [87] [88]

1945–1949: Career setbacks Edit

 
In The Corn Is Green (1945)

In 1945, Davis married artist William Grant Sherry, her third husband, who also worked as a masseur. She had been drawn to him because he claimed he had never heard of her and was, therefore, not intimidated by her.[89] The same year, Davis made The Corn Is Green (1945), based on a play by Emlyn Williams.

In The Corn Is Green Davis played Miss Moffat, an English teacher who saves a young Welsh miner (John Dall) from a life in the coal pits, by offering him education. The part had been played in the theatre by Ethel Barrymore (who was 61 at the play's premiere), but Warner Bros. felt that the film version should depict the character as a younger woman. Davis disagreed, and insisted on playing the part as written, and wore a gray wig and padding under her clothes, to create a dowdy appearance.[90] The critic E. Arnot Robertson observed:

Only Bette Davis...could have combated so successfully the obvious intention of the adaptors of the play to make frustrated sex the mainspring of the chief character's interest in the young miner.[91]

She concluded that "the subtle interpretation she insisted on giving" kept the focus on the teacher's "sheer joy in imparting knowledge".[91] The film was well received by critics, and made a profit of $2.2 million.[92]

Her next film, A Stolen Life (1946), was the only film that Davis made with her own production company, BD Productions.[93] Davis played dual roles as twins. The film received poor reviews, and was described by Bosley Crowther as "a distressingly empty piece";[94] but, with a profit of $2.5 million, it was one of her biggest box office successes.[95] Her next film was Deception (1946), the first of her films to lose money.[96] In 1947, at the age of 39, Davis gave birth to daughter Barbara Davis Sherry (known as B.D.), and later wrote in her memoir that she became absorbed in motherhood and considered ending her career. As she continued making films, however, her relationship with her daughter B.D. began to deteriorate, and her popularity with audiences steadily declined.[97]

 
Beyond the Forest (1949) was the last film Davis made for Warner Bros. after 17 years with the studio.

In 1948, Davis was cast in the melodrama Winter Meeting. Although she initially was enthusiastic, she soon learned that Warner had arranged for "softer" lighting to be used to disguise her age. She recalled that she had seen the same lighting technique "on the sets of Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis, and I knew what they meant".[98] To add to her disappointment, she was not confident in the abilities of her leading man – James Davis in his first major screen role. She disagreed with changes made to the script because of censorship restrictions, and found that many of the aspects of the role that initially appealed to her had been cut. The film was described by Bosley Crowther as "interminable", and he noted that "of all the miserable dilemmas in which Miss Davis has been involved ... this one is probably the worst". It failed at the box office, and the studio lost nearly $1 million.[99]

While making June Bride (1948), Davis clashed with co-star Robert Montgomery, later describing him as "a male Miriam Hopkins... an excellent actor, but addicted to scene-stealing".[100] The film marked her first comedy in several years, and earned her some positive reviews, but it was not particularly popular with audiences, and returned only a small profit.

Despite the lackluster box-office receipts from her more recent films, in 1949, she negotiated a four-film contract with Warner Bros. that paid $10,285 per week and made her the highest-paid woman in the United States.[101] However, Jack Warner had refused to allow her script approval, and cast her in Beyond the Forest (1949). Davis reportedly loathed the script and begged Warner to recast the role, but he refused. After the film was completed, her request to be released from her contract was honored.

The reviews of the film were scathing. Dorothy Manners, writing for the Los Angeles Examiner, described the film as "an unfortunate finale to her brilliant career".[102] Hedda Hopper wrote: "If Bette had deliberately set out to wreck her career, she could not have picked a more appropriate vehicle."[103] The film contained the line "What a dump!", which became closely associated with Davis after it was referenced in Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and impersonators began to use it in their acts. Arthur Blake was a famous female impersonator of the post World-War II era who was particularly known for his performances as Bette Davis; notably impersonating her in the 1952 film Diplomatic Courier.[104]

1949–1960: Starting a freelance career Edit

 
Davis posing as Margo Channing in a promotional image for All About Eve (1950): She is pictured with Gary Merrill, to whom she was married from 1950 to 1960 (her fourth, and final, husband).

Davis filmed The Story of a Divorce (released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1951 as Payment on Demand). She played a Broadway star in All About Eve (1950), which earned her another Oscar nomination and won her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. Davis read the script, described it as the best she had ever read, and accepted the role. Within days, she joined the cast in San Francisco to begin filming. During production, she established what became a lifelong friendship with her co-star Anne Baxter and a romantic relationship with her leading man Gary Merrill, which led to marriage. The film's director Joseph L. Mankiewicz later remarked: "Bette was letter perfect. She was syllable-perfect. The director's dream: the prepared actress."[105]

Critics responded positively to Davis's performance, and several of her lines became well-known, particularly "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night". She was again nominated for an Academy Award, and critics such as Gene Ringgold described her Margo as her "all-time best performance".[106] Pauline Kael wrote that much of Mankiewicz's vision of "the theater" was "nonsense", but commended Davis, writing "[the film is] saved by one performance that is the real thing: Bette Davis is at her most instinctive and assured. Her actress – vain, scared, a woman who goes too far in her reactions and emotions – makes the whole thing come alive."[107]

Davis won a Best Actress award from the Cannes Film Festival, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award. She also received the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award as Best Actress, having been named by them as the Worst Actress of 1949 for Beyond the Forest. During this time, she was invited to leave her hand prints in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.[108]

On July 3, 1950, Davis's divorce from William Sherry was finalized, and on July 28, she married Gary Merrill, her fourth and final husband. With Sherry's consent, Merrill adopted B.D., Davis's daughter with Sherry. In January 1951, Davis and Merrill adopted a five-day-old baby girl they named Margot Mosher Merrill (born January 6, 1951 - died May 5, 2022),[109][110][111] after the character Margo Channing. Davis and Merrill lived with their three children – in 1952, they adopted a baby boy, Michael (born February 5, 1952)[112] – on an estate on the coast of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. (Davis and Merrill also stayed at Homewood Inn in Yarmouth, Maine, for six months.)[113] After semi-retirement in the mid-1950s, Davis again starred in several movies during her time in Maine, including The Virgin Queen (1955), in which she played Queen Elizabeth I.[114]

The family traveled to England, where Davis and Merrill starred in the murder-mystery film Another Man's Poison (1951). When it received lukewarm reviews and failed at the box office, Hollywood columnists wrote that Davis's comeback had petered out, and an Academy Award nomination for The Star (1952) did not halt her decline at the box office.[115]

In 1952, Davis appeared in the Broadway revue Two's Company, directed by Jules Dassin. She was uncomfortable working outside of her area of expertise; she never had been a musical performer, and her limited theater experience had been more than 20 years earlier. She was also severely ill, and was operated on for osteomyelitis of the jaw.[116] Margot was diagnosed as severely brain-damaged due to an injury sustained during or shortly after her birth, and was placed in an institution around the age of 3.[117] Davis and Merrill began arguing frequently, and B.D. later recalled episodes of alcohol abuse and domestic violence.[118]

Few of Davis's films of the 1950s were successful, and many of her performances were condemned by critics. The Hollywood Reporter wrote of mannerisms "that you'd expect to find in a nightclub impersonation of [Davis]", while the London critic Richard Winninger wrote

Miss Davis, with more say than most stars as to what films she makes, seems to have lapsed into egoism. The criterion for her choice of film would appear to be that nothing must compete with the full display of each facet of the Davis art. Only bad films are good enough for her.[119]

Her films of this period included Storm Center (1956) and The Catered Affair (1956). As her career declined, her marriage continued to deteriorate until she filed for divorce in 1960. The following year, her mother died. During the same time, she tried television, appearing in three episodes of the popular NBC Western Wagon Train as three different characters in 1959 and 1961; her first appearance on TV had been February 25, 1956, on General Electric Theatre.[120]

In 1960, Davis, a registered Democrat, appeared at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, where she met future President John F. Kennedy, whom she greatly admired.[121] Outside of acting and politics, Davis was an active and practicing Episcopalian.[122]

1961–1970: Renewed success Edit

 
Davis received her final Academy Award nomination for her role as demented "Baby Jane" Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

In 1961, Davis opened in the Broadway production The Night of the Iguana to mostly mediocre reviews, and left the production after four months due to "chronic illness". She then joined Glenn Ford and Hope Lange for the Frank Capra film Pocketful of Miracles (1961), a remake of Capra's 1933 film, Lady for a Day, based on a story by Damon Runyon. Exhibitors protested her star billing as they considered it would negatively impact the box office performance and, despite the appearance of Ford, the film failed at the box office.[123]

Her last Oscar nomination was for the Grand Guignol horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which also starred Joan Crawford. Joan Crawford showed interest in the script and considered Davis for the part of Jane. Davis believed it could appeal to the same audience that had recently made Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) a success. She negotiated a deal that would pay her 10 percent of the worldwide gross profits in addition to her salary. The film became one of the year's big successes.[124]

Davis and Crawford played two aging sisters, one a former child star (Davis) and the other an accomplished film actress (Crawford) who are now forced by circumstance to share a decaying Hollywood mansion. The director, Robert Aldrich, explained that Davis and Crawford were each aware of how important the film was to their respective careers. Regardless of their personal feelings toward one another, Davis and Crawford spoke highly of each other's acting talent. Crawford said Davis was a "fascinating actress" but they never become friends as they only worked on that one film together and had few opportunities outside that association. Davis also said Crawford was a good, professional actress. Despite the alleged "feud," Crawford heavily promoted Davis's performance. Crawford told reporter Wayne Allen, "I'll predict here and now that Miss Davis will win an Oscar for it."[125] Their alleged feud was eventually turned into the 2017 limited series Feud by Ryan Murphy, which took enormous creative liberties with the facts.

Davis also received her only BAFTA nomination for this performance. Daughter Barbara (credited as B.D. Merrill) played a small role in the film, and when she and Davis visited the Cannes Film Festival to promote it, Barbara met Jeremy Hyman, an executive for Seven Arts Productions. After a short courtship, she married Hyman at the age of 16, with Davis's permission.

 
Davis and William Hopper in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of Constant Doyle" 1963)

In October 1962, it was announced that four episodes of the CBS-TV series Perry Mason would feature special guest stars who would cover for Raymond Burr during his convalescence from surgery. A Perry Mason fan, Davis was the first of the guest stars. "The Case of Constant Doyle" began filming on December 12, 1962,[126] and aired January 31, 1963.[127]

In 1962, Davis appeared as Celia Miller on the TV western The Virginian in the episode titled "The Accomplice."

In September 1962, Davis placed an advertisement in Variety under the heading of "Situations wanted – women artists", which read: "Mother of three – 10, 11, & 15 – divorcee. American. Thirty years experience as an actress in Motion Pictures. Mobile still, and more affable than rumor would have it. Wants steady employment in Hollywood. (Has had Broadway.)"[128] Davis said that she intended it as a joke, and she sustained her comeback over the course of several years.

Dead Ringer (1964) was a crime drama in which she played twin sisters. The film was an American adaptation of the Mexican film La Otra, starring Dolores del Río.[129] Where Love Has Gone (1964) was a romantic drama based on a Harold Robbins novel. Davis played the mother of Susan Hayward, but filming was hampered by heated arguments between Davis and Hayward.[130]

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) was Robert Aldrich's follow-up to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. Aldrich planned to reunite Davis and Crawford, but the latter withdrew allegedly due to illness soon after filming began. She was replaced by Olivia de Havilland. The film was a considerable success, and brought renewed attention to its veteran cast, which included Joseph Cotten, Mary Astor, Agnes Moorehead, and Cecil Kellaway.

The following year, Davis was cast as the lead in an Aaron Spelling sitcom, The Decorator.[131] A pilot episode was filmed, but was not shown, and the project was terminated. By the end of the decade, Davis had appeared in the British films The Nanny (1965), The Anniversary (1968), and Connecting Rooms (1970), none of which were reviewed well, and her career again stalled.[115]

1971–1983: Later career Edit

In the early 1970s, Davis was invited to appear in New York City in a stage presentation titled Great Ladies of the American Cinema. Over five successive nights, a different female star discussed her career, and answered questions from the audience; Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, Lana Turner, Sylvia Sidney, and Joan Crawford were the other participants. Davis was well-received, and was invited to tour Australia with the similarly themed Bette Davis in Person and on Film; its success allowed her to take the production to the United Kingdom.[132]

In 1972, Davis played the lead role in two television films that were each intended as pilots for upcoming series for ABC and NBC, Madame Sin, with Robert Wagner, and The Judge and Jake Wyler, with Doug McClure and Joan Van Ark, but in each case, the network decided against producing a series.

She appeared in the stage production Miss Moffat, a musical adaptation of her film The Corn Is Green, but after the show was panned by the Philadelphia critics during its pre-Broadway run, she cited a back injury, and abandoned the show, which closed immediately.

She played supporting roles in Luigi Comencini's Lo Scopone scientifico (1972) with Joseph Cotten and Italian actors Alberto Sordi and Silvana Mangano, Burnt Offerings (1976), a Dan Curtis film, for which she won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the Saturn Awards, and The Disappearance of Aimee (1976), but she clashed with Karen Black and Faye Dunaway, the stars of the two latter respective productions, because she felt that neither extended her an appropriate degree of respect and that their behavior on the film sets was unprofessional.[133]

 
Davis (left) and Elizabeth Taylor in late 1981 during a show celebrating Taylor's life

In 1977, Davis became the first woman to receive the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. The televised event included comments from several of Davis's colleagues, including William Wyler, who joked that given the chance, Davis would still like to re-film a scene from The Letter to which Davis nodded. Jane Fonda, Henry Fonda, Natalie Wood, and Olivia de Havilland were among the performers who paid tribute, with de Havilland commenting that Davis "got the roles I always wanted".[134]

Following the telecast, she found herself in demand again, often having to choose between several offers. She accepted roles in the television miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978) and the theatrical film Death on the Nile (1978), an Agatha Christie murder mystery. The bulk of her remaining work was for television. She won an Emmy Award for Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979) with Gena Rowlands, and was nominated for her performances in White Mama (1980) and Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982). She also played supporting roles in the Disney films Return from Witch Mountain (1978) and The Watcher in the Woods (1980).

Davis's name became well known to a younger audience when Kim Carnes's song "Bette Davis Eyes" (written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon) became a worldwide hit and the best-selling record of 1981 in the U.S., where it stayed at number one on the music charts for more than two months. Davis's grandson was impressed that she was the subject of a hit song and Davis considered it a compliment, writing to both Carnes and the songwriters, and accepting the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes, and hanging them on her wall.[135][136]

She continued acting for television, appearing in Family Reunion (1981) with her grandson J. Ashley Hyman, A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982), for which she won the Best Actress Award at The Monte Carlo Television Festival,[137] and Right of Way (1983) with James Stewart. In 1983, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.[138]

1983–1989: Illness, awards, and final works Edit

Her career went through several periods of eclipse, but despite a long period of ill health she continued acting in film and on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in 1989.[139] She admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. She was married four times, divorcing three and widowed once. She raised her children largely as a single parent.

 
Davis (aged 79) completed her penultimate role in The Whales of August (1987), which brought her acclaim during a period in which she was beset with failing health and personal trauma.

In 1983, after filming the pilot episode for the television series Hotel, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Within two weeks of her surgery, she had four strokes which caused paralysis in the left side of her face and in her left arm, and left her with slurred speech. She commenced a lengthy period of physical therapy, and aided by her personal assistant Kathryn Sermak gained partial recovery from the paralysis. Even late in life, Davis smoked 100 cigarettes per day.[140]

During this time, her relationship with her daughter B.D. Hyman deteriorated when Hyman became a born-again Christian and attempted to persuade Davis to follow suit. With her health stable, she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie mystery Murder with Mirrors (1985). Upon her return, she learned that Hyman had published My Mother's Keeper, in which she chronicled a difficult mother-daughter relationship and depicted scenes of Davis's overbearing and drunken behavior.[139]

Several of Davis's friends commented that Hyman's depiction of events was not accurate; one said "So much of the book is out of context". Mike Wallace re-broadcast a 60 Minutes interview he had filmed with Hyman a few years earlier in which she commended Davis on her skills as a mother, and said that she had adopted many of Davis's principles in raising her own children.

Critics of Hyman noted that Davis financially supported the Hyman family for several years and had recently saved them from losing their house. Despite the acrimony of their divorce years earlier, Gary Merrill also defended Davis. Interviewed by CNN, Merrill said that Hyman was motivated by "cruelty and greed". Davis's adopted son Michael Merrill ended contact with Hyman, and refused to speak to her again, as did Davis, who disinherited her.[141]

 
Davis with President Ronald Reagan (her co-star in 1939's Dark Victory) in 1987, two years before her death

In her second memoir This 'n That (1987), Davis wrote: "I am still recovering from the fact that a child of mine would write about me behind my back, to say nothing about the kind of book it is. I will never recover as completely from B.D.'s book as I have from the stroke. Both were shattering experiences." Her memoir concluded with a letter to her daughter, in which she addressed her several times as Hyman, and described her actions as "a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given". She concluded with a reference to the title of Hyman's book, "If it refers to money, if my memory serves me right, I've been your keeper all these many years. I am continuing to do so, as my name has made your book about me a success."[142]

Davis appeared in the television film As Summers Die (1986), and in Lindsay Anderson's film The Whales of August (1987), in which she played the blind sister of Lillian Gish. Though in poor health at the time, Davis memorized her own and everyone else's lines as she always had.[143] The film earned good reviews, with one critic writing: "Bette crawls across the screen like a testy old hornet on a windowpane, snarling, staggering, twitching – a symphony of misfired synapses."[144] Davis became an honouree of the Kennedy Center Honors for her contribution to films in 1987.

Her last performance was the title role in Larry Cohen's Wicked Stepmother (1989). By this time, her health was failing, and after disagreements with Cohen, she walked off the set. The script was rewritten to place more emphasis on Barbara Carrera's character, and the reworked version was released after Davis's death.[140]

After abandoning Wicked Stepmother, and with no further film offers (though she was keen to play the centenarian in Craig Calman's The Turn of the Century, and worked with him on adapting the stage play to a feature-length screenplay), Davis appeared on several talk shows, and was interviewed by Johnny Carson, Joan Rivers, Larry King, and David Letterman, discussing her career, but refusing to discuss her daughter. Her appearances were popular; Lindsay Anderson observed that the public enjoyed seeing her behaving "so bitchy": "I always disliked that because she was encouraged to behave badly. And I'd always hear her described by that awful word, feisty."[145]

During 1988 and 1989, Davis was honored for her career achievements, receiving the Legion of Honor from France, the Campione d'Italia from Italy, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Lifetime Achievement Award. She appeared on British television in a special broadcast from the South Bank Centre, discussing film and her career, the other guest being the renowned Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky.

Death Edit

 
Davis's crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles

Davis collapsed during the American Cinema Awards in 1989, and later discovered that her cancer had returned. She recovered sufficiently to travel to Spain, where she was honored at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, but during her visit, her health rapidly deteriorated. Too weak to make the long journey back to the U.S., she traveled to France, where she died on October 6, 1989, at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Davis was 81 years old. A memorial tribute was held by invitation only at Burbank Studio's stage 18 where a work light was turned on signaling the end of production.[146]

She was entombed in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, alongside her mother Ruthie and sister Bobby, with her name in larger letters. On her tombstone is written: "She did it the hard way", an epitaph that she mentioned in her memoir Mother Goddam as having been suggested to her by Joseph L. Mankiewicz shortly after they had filmed All About Eve.[147]

Reception and legacy Edit

As early as 1936, Graham Greene summarized Davis:

Even the most inconsiderable film ... seemed temporarily better than they were because of that precise, nervy voice, the pale ash-blond hair, the popping, neurotic eyes, a kind of corrupt and phosphorescent prettiness ... I would rather watch Miss Davis than any number of competent pictures.[148]

 
Davis registering to vote in 1964

In 1964, Jack Warner spoke of the "magic quality that transformed this sometimes bland and not beautiful little girl into a great artist",[147] and in a 1988 interview, Davis remarked that, unlike many of her contemporaries, she had forged a career without the benefit of beauty.[149] She admitted she was terrified during the making of her early films, and that she became tough by necessity. "Until you're known in my profession as a monster, you are not a star", she said, "[but] I've never fought for anything in a treacherous way. I've never fought for anything but the good of the film."[150] During the making of All About Eve (1950), Joseph L. Mankiewicz told her of the perception in Hollywood that she was difficult, and she explained that when the audience saw her on screen, they did not consider that her appearance was the result of numerous people working behind the scenes. If she was presented as "a horse's ass ... forty feet wide, and thirty feet high", that is all the audience "would see or care about".[151]

While lauded for her achievements, Davis and her films were sometimes derided; Pauline Kael described Now, Voyager (1942) as a "shlock classic",[152] and by the mid-1940s, her sometimes mannered and histrionic performances had become the subject of caricature. Edwin Schallert, for the Los Angeles Times, praised Davis's performance in Mr. Skeffington (1944), while observing, "The mimics will have more fun than a box of monkeys imitating Miss Davis"; and Dorothy Manners, at the Los Angeles Examiner, said of her performance in the poorly received Beyond the Forest (1949): "No night club caricaturist has ever turned in such a cruel imitation of the Davis mannerisms as Bette turns on herself in this one." Time magazine noted that Davis was compulsively watchable, even while criticizing her acting technique, summarizing her performance in Dead Ringer (1964) with the observation, "Her acting, as always, isn't really acting: It's shameless showing off. But just try to look away!"[153]

Davis attracted a following in the gay subculture, and was frequently imitated by female impersonators such as Tracey Lee, Craig Russell, Jim Bailey, and Charles Pierce.[154] Attempting to explain her popularity with gay audiences, the journalist Jim Emerson wrote: "Was she just a camp figurehead because her brittle, melodramatic style of acting hadn't aged well? Or was it that she was 'Larger Than Life', a tough broad who had survived? Probably some of both."[149]

Her film choices were often unconventional: Davis sought roles as manipulators and killers in an era when actresses usually preferred to play sympathetic characters, and she excelled in them. She favored authenticity over glamour, and was willing to change her own appearance if it suited the character.[150]

 
Davis's signature and handprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre

As she entered old age, Davis was acknowledged for her achievements. John Springer, who had arranged her speaking tours of the early 1970s, wrote that despite the accomplishments of many of her contemporaries, Davis was "the star of the thirties and into the forties", achieving notability for the variety of her characterizations and her ability to assert herself, even when her material was mediocre.[155] Individual performances continued to receive praise; in 1987, Bill Collins analyzed The Letter (1940), and described her performance as "a brilliant, subtle achievement", and wrote: "Bette Davis makes Leslie Crosbie one of the most extraordinary females in movies."[156] In a 2000 review for All About Eve (1950), Roger Ebert noted: "Davis was a character, an icon with a grand style; so, even her excesses are realistic."[157] In House of Wax (2005), in her attempt to blend in with the other wax figures in the local movie house, the lead female character has to sit through a scene from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane .[158] In 2006, Premiere magazine ranked her portrayal of Margo Channing in the film as fifth on their list of 100 Greatest Performances of All Time, commenting: "There is something deliciously audacious about her gleeful willingness to play such unattractive emotions as jealousy, bitterness, and neediness."[159] While reviewing What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) in 2008, Ebert asserted that, "No one who has seen the film will ever forget her."[160]

In 1981 the song “Bette Davis Eyes” won two Grammy Awards (Song of the Year and Record of the Year) and spent a total of nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Top 100.

A few months before her death in 1989, Davis was one of several actors featured on the cover of Life magazine. In a film retrospective that celebrated the films and stars of 1939, Life concluded that Davis was the most significant actress of her era, and highlighted Dark Victory (1939) as one of the more important films of the year.[161] Her death made front-page news throughout the world as the "close of yet another chapter of the Golden Age of Hollywood". Angela Lansbury summarized the feeling of those of the Hollywood community who attended her memorial service, commenting, after a sample from Davis's films was screened, that they had witnessed "an extraordinary legacy of acting in the twentieth century by a real master of the craft" that should provide "encouragement and illustration to future generations of aspiring actors".[162]

In 1977, Davis became the first woman to be honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award.[163] In 1999, the American Film Institute published its list of the "AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars", which was the result of a film-industry poll to determine the "50 Greatest American Screen Legends" in order to raise public awareness and appreciation of classic film. Of the 25 actresses listed, Davis was ranked at number two, behind Katharine Hepburn.[164]

The United States Postal Service honored Davis with a commemorative postage stamp in 2008, marking the 100th anniversary of her birth.[165] The stamp features an image of her in the role of Margo Channing in All About Eve. The First Day of Issue celebration took place September 18, 2008, at Boston University, which houses an extensive Davis archive. Featured speakers included her son Michael Merrill and Lauren Bacall. In 1997, the executors of her estate, Merrill and Kathryn Sermak, her former assistant, established The Bette Davis Foundation, which awards college scholarships to promising actors and actresses.[166]

Journalist Jeanine Basinger of The New York Times wrote:

"I was once the goat elected to inform her that she couldn't smoke at a dinner honoring Frank Capra, whose asthmatic wife, Lu, had stored her oxygen tank under the table. "Well, get her out of here!" Davis bellowed at me, by way of a suggested solution."
[167]

In 2017, Sermak published the memoir Miss D & Me: Life With the Invincible Bette Davis, a book Davis had requested Sermak write, detailing their years spent together.[168]

Academy Awards Edit

 
Davis in the trailer for Dark Victory (1939), in which she gave one of her 11 Oscar-nominated performances

Davis established several Oscar milestones. Among them, she became the first person to earn five consecutive Academy Award nominations for acting, all in the Best Actress category (1938–1942).[169] Her record has only been matched by one other performer, Greer Garson, who also earned five consecutive nominations in the Best Actress category (1941–1945), including three years when both these actresses were nominated.[169]

In 1962, Bette Davis became the first person to secure 10 Academy Award nominations for acting (though one could argue her 10th nomination was in 1952, and her 11th in 1962, as her write-in nomination for "Of Human Bondage" remains a source of contention (she came in 3rd in the voting, ahead of official nominee Grace Moore). Since then only three people have surpassed this figure, Meryl Streep (with 21 nominations and three wins), Katharine Hepburn (12 nominations and 4 wins), and Jack Nicholson (12 nominations and 3 wins) with Laurence Olivier matching the number (10 nominations and 1 win).[170]

Steven Spielberg purchased Davis's Oscars for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938), when they were offered for auction for $207,500 and $578,000, respectively, and returned them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[171][172]

Selected filmography Edit

Main article: Bette Davis filmography

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ Michele Bourgoin, Suzanne (1998). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale. p. 119. ISBN 0-7876-2221-4.
  2. ^ O’Dell, Cary (April 19, 2023). "Happy Birthday Bette Davis–You "Jezebel"!". Now See Hear! National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  3. ^ Jung, E. Alex. "Susan Sarandon on Feud and Why Everyone Gets So Mad at Her About Politics". Vulture. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "'Feud:' 10 Things to Know About the Bette Davis Tell-All 'My Mother's Keeper'". The Hollywood Reporter. April 14, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  5. ^ Davis, Bette (1962). The Lonely Life. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 115.
  6. ^ a b Sikov, Ed (2008). Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. Henry Holt and Company. pp. 210–211. ISBN 978-0-8050-8863-2.
  7. ^ ancestry.com Massachusetts 1840–1915 birth records, page 448 of book registered in Somerville
  8. ^ ancestry.com Massachusetts Birth Records 1840–1915, page 1235
  9. ^ Sikov (2007), pp. 14–15
  10. ^ Chandler (2006), p. 34
  11. ^ Sikov, Ed (2008). Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. Macmillan. p. 16. ISBN 978-0805088632. Bette Davis Girl Scout.
  12. ^ Sikov, Ed (2008). Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0805088632. Retrieved May 16, 2020 – via Google Books. Ruth Elizabeth Davis became a Girl Scout
  13. ^ Sikov, Ed (2008). Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0805088632. Retrieved May 16, 2020 – via Google Books. There was a contest – a competitive dress parade for Mrs. Herbert Hoover at Madison Square Garden – and Ruth Elizabeth's patrol necessarily won
  14. ^ "Bette Davis: I'm Liberated Because of Belief in Myself". Newsday. November 11, 1976.
  15. ^ Davis, Bette (1962). The Lonely Life. G. P. Putman's Sons. pp. 50–51.
  16. ^ Spada (1993), p. 40
  17. ^ Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. Macmillan. 2008. ISBN 978-0805088632. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
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  20. ^ Stine (1974), pp. 2–3
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  25. ^ Stine (1974), p. 20
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  27. ^ Yuma, Arizona Marriage Applications, 1932 August–November
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  30. ^ Spada (1993), pp. 102–107
  31. ^ Ringgold (1966), p. 57
  32. ^ Chandler (2006), p. 102
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  34. ^ Spada (1993), p. 107
  35. ^ Wiley (1987), p. 58
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  37. ^ Picture Post, 2 November 1946, as quoted in Noble, Peter (1948). Bette Davis: A Biography. London: Skelton Robinson.
  38. ^ Ringgold (1966), p. 65
  39. ^ Baxter, John (1968). Hollywood in the Thirties. London: A. Zwemmer Limited. p. 128. ISBN 0-498-06927-3.
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  41. ^ Chandler (2006), pp. 101, 263
  42. ^ "Oscar Statuette". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. July 25, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  43. ^ Hopper, Hedda. "Battle Goes Marry On". No. July 4, 1936. The San Antonio Light. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
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  45. ^ a b "Movie Contract Wizard". No. Aug 14, 1938. The Sunday Oregonian. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
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  52. ^ "Seattle Daily Times". No. Aug 25, 1936. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
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  57. ^ "Seven Years Is Enough, Olivia Is Freed". No. Dec 10, 1944. Sunday World Herald. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  58. ^ . La Biennale di Venezia. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
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Bibliography Edit

  • Bret, David (2006). Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7867-1868-9.
  • Carr, Larry (1979). More Fabulous Faces: The Evolution and Metamorphosis of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Dolores del Río, Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0-385-12819-3.
  • Chandler, Charlotte (2006). The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-6208-8.
  • Collins, Bill (1987). Bill Collins Presents "The Golden Years of Hollywood". The MacMillan Company of Australia. ISBN 0-333-45069-8.
  • Considine, Shaun (2000). Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud. Backinprint.com. ISBN 978-0-595-12027-7.
  • Davis, Bette (1962). The Lonely Life: An Autobiography. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 978-0-425-12350-8. OCLC 387221.
  • Davis, Bette; Herskowitz, Michael (1987). This 'N That. G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-345-34453-7.
  • Guiles, Fred Lawrence (1995). Joan Crawford, The Last Word. Conrad Goulden Books. ISBN 1-85793-268-4.
  • Haver, Ronald (1980). David O. Selznick's Hollywood. Bonanza Books. ISBN 0-517-47665-7.
  • Kael, Pauline (1982). 5001 Nights at the Movies. Zenith Books. ISBN 0-09-933550-6.
  • Ringgold, Gene (1966). The Films of Bette Davis. Cadillac Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8065-0953-8.
  • Sermak, Kathryn (2017). Miss D. and me: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0316507844.
  • Shipman, David (1988). Movie Talk. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-03403-2.
  • Sikov, Ed (2007). Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-7548-9.
  • Spada, James (1993). More Than a Woman: An Intimate Biography of Bette Davis. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-90880-0.
  • Sperling, Cass Warner; Milner, Cork Milner; Warner, Jack Jr. (1998). Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story. Prima Publishing. ISBN 0-8131-0958-2.
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  • Staggs, Sam (2000). All About "All About Eve". St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-27315-0.
  • Stine, Whitney; Davis, Bette (1974). Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis. W.H. Allen and Co. Plc. ISBN 1-56980-157-6.
  • Wiley, Mason; Bona, Damien (1987). Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-34453-7.
  • Zeruk, James (2014). Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide: A Biography. McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-7313-7.

External links Edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bette Davis.
 
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Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
1941 		Succeeded by
Walter Wanger

August 27, 2023
bette, davis, other, people, with, similar, names, betty, davis, ruth, elizabeth, bette, davis, april, 1908, october, 1989, american, actress, with, career, spanning, more, than, years, acting, credits, noted, playing, unsympathetic, sardonic, characters, famo. For other people with similar names see Betty Davis Ruth Elizabeth Bette Davis ˈ b ɛ t i April 5 1908 October 6 1989 was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits She was noted for playing unsympathetic sardonic characters and was famous for her performances in a range of film genres from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films suspense horror and occasional comedies although her greater successes were in romantic dramas 1 A recipient of two Academy Awards she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations Bette DavisDavis in 1935BornRuth Elizabeth Davis 1908 04 05 April 5 1908Lowell Massachusetts U S DiedOctober 6 1989 1989 10 06 aged 81 Neuilly sur Seine FranceResting placeForest Lawn Memorial ParkOccupationActressYears active1929 1989Political partyDemocraticSpousesHarmon Oscar Nelson m 1932 div 1938 wbr Arthur Farnsworth m 1940 died 1943 wbr William Grant Sherry m 1945 div 1950 wbr Gary Merrill m 1950 div 1960 wbr Children3 including B D HymanSignatureAfter appearing on stage in New York for a short period Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930 After some unsuccessful films she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in Of Human Bondage 1934 although contentiously she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year The next year Davis received her first Best Actress nomination and she won for her performance in Dangerous 1935 In 1937 she starred in Marked Woman a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career Davis s portrayal of a strong willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel 1938 won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress 2 and was the first of five consecutive years in which she received a Best Actress nomination the others were for Dark Victory 1939 The Letter 1940 The Little Foxes 1941 and Now Voyager 1942 Davis was known for her forceful and intense style of acting She could be combative and confrontational with studio executives and film directors as well as with her co stars Her forthright manner idiosyncratic speech and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona that has been often imitated 3 She played a Broadway star in All About Eve 1950 which earned her another Oscar nomination and won her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress Her last Oscar nomination was for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane 1962 which also starred Joan Crawford In the latter stage of her career her most successful films were Death on the Nile 1978 and The Whales of August 1987 Her career went through several periods of eclipse but despite a long period of ill health she continued acting in film and on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in 1989 4 She admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships She married four times divorcing three and widowed once when her second husband died unexpectedly She raised her children largely as a single parent Her daughter B D Hyman wrote a controversial memoir about her childhood 1985 s My Mother s Keeper 4 Contents 1 Life and career 1 1 1908 1929 Childhood and early acting career 1 2 1930 1936 Early years in Hollywood 1 2 1 Warners legal case against Bette Davis 1 3 1937 1941 Success with Warner Bros 1 4 1942 1944 War years 1 4 1 Death of Arthur Farnsworth 1 5 1945 1949 Career setbacks 1 6 1949 1960 Starting a freelance career 1 7 1961 1970 Renewed success 1 8 1971 1983 Later career 1 9 1983 1989 Illness awards and final works 2 Death 3 Reception and legacy 4 Academy Awards 5 Selected filmography 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External linksLife and career Edit1908 1929 Childhood and early acting career Edit Bette Davis and Donald Meek in Broken Dishes 1929 I was now a bona fide Broadway actress in a hit Davis wrote 5 Ruth Elizabeth Davis known from early childhood as Betty was born on April 5 1908 6 in Lowell Massachusetts the daughter of Harlow Morrell Davis 1885 1938 a law student from Augusta Maine and subsequently a patent attorney and Ruth Augusta nee Favor 1885 1961 from Tyngsborough Massachusetts 7 Davis s younger sister was Barbara Harriet 8 In 1915 after Davis s parents separated Davis and her sister Barbara attended a spartan boarding school named Crestalban in Lanesborough Massachusetts for three years 9 In the fall of 1921 her mother Ruth Davis moved to New York City using her children s tuition money to enroll in the Clarence White School of Photography with an apartment on 144th Street at Broadway She then worked as a portrait photographer The young Bette Davis later changed the spelling of her first name to Bette after Bette Fischer a character in Honore de Balzac s La Cousine Bette 10 During their time in New York Davis became a Girl Scout where she became a patrol leader 11 12 Her patrol won a competitive dress parade for Lou Hoover at Madison Square Garden 13 Davis attended Cushing Academy a boarding school in Ashburnham Massachusetts where she met her future husband Harmon O Nelson known as Ham In 1926 a then 18 year old Davis saw a production of Henrik Ibsen s The Wild Duck with Blanche Yurka and Peg Entwistle Davis later recalled The reason I wanted to go into theater was because of an actress named Peg Entwistle 14 Bette Davis interviewed with Eva Le Gallienne to be a student at her 14th Street theatre Eva Le Gallienne felt Davis was not serious enough to attend her school 15 and described her attitude as insincere and frivolous 16 Davis auditioned for George Cukor s stock theater company in Rochester New York although he was not very impressed he gave Davis her first paid acting assignment a one week stint playing the part of a chorus girl in the play Broadway Ed Sikov sources Davis s first professional role to a 1929 production by the Provincetown Players of Virgil Geddes play The Earth Between however the production was postponed by a year 17 In 1929 Davis was chosen by Blanche Yurka to play Hedwig the character she had seen Entwistle play in The Wild Duck 18 After performing in Philadelphia Washington and Boston she made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Broken Dishes and followed it with Solid South 19 1930 1936 Early years in Hollywood Edit Bette Davis in Bureau of Missing Persons 1933 After appearing on Broadway in New York the 22 year old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930 to screen test for Universal Studios She had been inspired to pursue a career as a film actress after seeing Mary Pickford in Little Lord Fauntleroy Davis and her mother travelled by train to Hollywood She later recounted her surprise that nobody from the studio was there to meet her In fact a studio employee had waited for her but left because he saw nobody who looked like an actress She failed her first screen test but was used in several screen tests for other actors In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett she related the experience with the observation I was the most Yankee est most modest virgin who ever walked the earth They laid me on a couch and I tested fifteen men They all had to lie on top of me and give me a passionate kiss Oh I thought I would die Just thought I would die 20 A second test was arranged for Davis for the 1931 film A House Divided Hastily dressed in an ill fitting costume with a low neckline she was rebuffed by the film director William Wyler who loudly commented to the assembled crew What do you think of these dames who show their chests and think they can get jobs 21 Carl Laemmle the head of Universal Studios considered terminating Davis s employment but cinematographer Karl Freund told him she had lovely eyes and would be suitable for Bad Sister 1931 in which she subsequently made her film debut 22 Her nervousness was compounded when she overheard the chief of production Carl Laemmle Jr comment to another executive that she had about as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville one of the film s co stars 23 The film was not a success and her next role in Seed 1931 was too brief to attract attention citation needed Universal Studios renewed her contract for three months and she appeared in a small role in Waterloo Bridge 1931 before being lent to Columbia Pictures for The Menace and to Capital Films for Hell s House all 1932 After one year and six unsuccessful films Laemmle elected not to renew her contract 24 Davis was preparing to return to New York when actor George Arliss chose Davis for the lead female role in the Warner Bros picture The Man Who Played God 1932 and for the rest of her life Davis credited him with helping her achieve her break in Hollywood The Saturday Evening Post wrote She is not only beautiful but she bubbles with charm and compared her to Constance Bennett and Olive Borden 25 Warner Bros signed her to a five year contract and she remained with the studio for the next 18 years citation needed Davis s first marriage was to Harmon Oscar Nelson 26 on August 18 1932 in Yuma Arizona 27 better source needed Their marriage was scrutinized by the press his 100 a week earnings 1 885 in 2020 dollars citation needed compared unfavourably with Davis s reported 1 000 a week income 18 850 Davis addressed the issue in an interview pointing out that many Hollywood wives earned more than their husbands but the situation proved difficult for Nelson who refused to allow Davis to purchase a house until he could afford to pay for it himself 28 Davis had several abortions during the marriage 29 Davis in Of Human Bondage 1934 After more than 20 film roles she had her critical breakthrough playing the role of the vicious and slatternly Mildred Rogers in the RKO Radio production of Of Human Bondage 1934 a film adaptation of W Somerset Maugham s novel It earned Davis her first major critical acclaim although contentiously she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year Many actresses feared playing unsympathetic characters and several had refused the role but Davis viewed it as an opportunity to show the range of her acting skills Her co star Leslie Howard was initially dismissive of her but as filming progressed his attitude changed and he subsequently spoke highly of her abilities The director John Cromwell allowed her relative freedom I let Bette have her head I trusted her instincts She insisted that she be portrayed realistically in her death scene and said The last stages of consumption poverty and neglect are not pretty and I intended to be convincing looking 30 The film was a success and Davis s characterization earned praise from critics with Life writing that she gave probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U S actress 31 Davis anticipated that her reception would encourage Warner Bros to cast her in more important roles and was disappointed when Jack L Warner refused to lend her to Columbia Studios to appear in It Happened One Night and instead cast her in the melodrama Housewife 32 When Davis was not nominated for an Academy Award for Of Human Bondage The Hollywood Citizen News questioned the omission and Norma Shearer herself a nominee joined a campaign to have Davis nominated This prompted an announcement from the Academy president Howard Estabrook who said that under the circumstances any voter may write on the ballot his or her personal choice for the winners thus allowing for the only time in the Academy s history the consideration of a candidate not officially nominated for an award 33 The uproar led however to a change in academy voting procedures the following year wherein nominations were determined by votes from all eligible members of a particular branch rather than by a smaller committee 34 with results independently tabulated by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse 35 Next year A Midsummer Night s Dream became the only film to win a write in Oscar for Best Cinematography 36 The next year her performance as a down and out troubled actress in Dangerous 1935 received very good reviews and landed Davis her first Best Actress nomination and win E Arnot Robertson wrote in Picture Post that I think Bette Davis would probably have been burned as a witch if she had lived two or three hundred years ago She gives the curious feeling of being charged with power which can find no ordinary outlet 37 The New York Times hailed her as becoming one of the most interesting of our screen actresses 38 She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role but commented that it was belated recognition for Of Human Bondage calling the award a consolation prize 39 For the rest of her life Davis maintained that she gave the statue its familiar name of Oscar because its posterior resembled that of her husband whose middle name was Oscar 40 41 although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially makes reference to another story 42 In her next film The Petrified Forest 1936 Davis co starred with Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart Warners legal case against Bette Davis Edit In the spring of 1936 Davis asked Warners to loan her out to RKO to make Mary of Scotland film Warners refused and assigned Davis to two films that were written specifically for her God s Country and The Woman and Mountain Justice However as God s Country and The Woman was going into production Davis refused to work and demanded a salary increase on her contract with Warners 43 44 At the time Davis was earning 1 250 per week Jack Warner offered Davis an increased salary of 2 250 per week which Davis refused Davis s agent Mike Levee said She s a very stubborn young lady I asked her how much she wanted and she said 3 500 a week plus all radio rights and permission to make outside pictures I told her Whoa that s too much 45 Meanwhile due to Davis s refusal to continue with God s County and The Woman Warners was incurring excessive production costs because the film was being made in technicolor and the technicolor cameras were on loan out 46 In late June Warners put Davis on suspension for refusal to work and replaced her in the film with Beverly Roberts 47 48 During negotiations with Warners regarding her salary and signing Davis for the female lead in Danton Davis abruptly traveled to England with her husband Harmon Nelson on a vacation However in England Davis signed a contract with British film production company Toplitz to make the film I ll Take the Low Road for a 50 000 salary in England with Maurice Chevalier 49 50 51 52 On September 9 1936 Warner Brothers filed a legal injunction against Davis in England which forbade her from appearing in film productions without their consent 53 While on a shopping spree in Paris Davis publicly declared to the press that she intended to defy Warner s legal injunction and make the film in England 54 On October 14 1936 the British court held a hearing regarding Warner s injunction against Davis Justice Sir George Branson issued his decision on October 19 ruling in favor of Warner Bros Justice Branson dismissed Davis s representative s claims that she was an underpaid slave held under a life sentence and ruled that Davis was in breach of her contract to Warners for no discoverable reason except that she wanted more money 55 Davis was ordered to pay Warners 80 000 in restitution 45 and was also ordered to pay Warners legal fees for filing the injunction in England 48 The British press offered little support to Davis calling her overpaid and ungrateful 56 In 1943 actress Olivia de Havilland won a lawsuit against Warner Bros regarding the length of time a studio contract could be legally enforceable which is seven years In her later years Davis would falsely claim in interviews that she set the path for de Havilland s legal victory however this is grossly inaccurate Warners 1936 injunction against Davis was due to her attempt to unlawfully breach her contract to work for another production company because she and Warners were having a salary disagreement and bears no resemblance to the de Havilland legal case 57 1937 1941 Success with Warner Bros Edit The same year she starred with Humphrey Bogart in Marked Woman 1937 a contemporary gangster drama inspired by the case of Lucky Luciano a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career She was awarded the Volpi Cup at the 1937 Venice Film Festival for her performance 58 Davis in Jezebel 1938 Davis s portrayal of a strong willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel 1938 won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress and was the first of five consecutive years in which she received the Best Actress nomination During production Davis entered a relationship with director William Wyler She later described him as the love of my life and said that making the film with him was the time in my life of my most perfect happiness 59 The film was a success and Davis s performance as a spoiled Southern belle earned her a second Academy Award This led to speculation in the press that she would be chosen to play Scarlett O Hara a similar character in Gone with the Wind Davis expressed her desire to play Scarlett and while David O Selznick was conducting a search for the actress to play the role a radio poll named her as the audience favorite Warner offered her services to Selznick as part of a deal that also included Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland but Selznick did not consider Davis as suitable and rejected the offer 60 while Davis did not want Flynn cast as Rhett Butler Newcomer Vivien Leigh was cast as Scarlett O Hara de Havilland landed a role as Melanie and both of them were nominated for the Oscars with Leigh winning Jezebel marked the beginning of the most successful phase of Davis s career and over the next few years she was listed in the annual Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U S for the stars who had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year 61 In contrast to Davis s success her husband Ham Nelson had failed to establish a career for himself and their relationship faltered In 1938 Nelson obtained evidence that Davis was engaged in a sexual relationship with Howard Hughes and subsequently filed for divorce citing Davis s cruel and inhuman manner 62 Davis with Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 1939 Davis was emotional during the making of her next film Dark Victory 1939 and considered abandoning it until the producer Hal B Wallis convinced her to channel her despair into her acting The film was among the high grossing films of the year and the role of Judith Traherne brought her an Academy Award nomination In later years Davis cited this performance as her personal favorite 63 Dark Victory featured Ronald Reagan and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles She appeared in three other box office hits in 1939 The Old Maid with Miriam Hopkins Juarez with Paul Muni and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex with Errol Flynn The last was her first color film and her only color film made during the height of her career To play the elderly Elizabeth I of England Davis shaved her hairline and eyebrows During filming she was visited on the set by the actor Charles Laughton She commented that she had a nerve playing a woman in her 60s to which Laughton replied Never not dare to hang yourself That s the only way you grow in your profession You must continually attempt things that you think are beyond you or you get into a complete rut Recalling the episode many years later Davis remarked that Laughton s advice had influenced her throughout her career 64 Davis with Spencer Tracy at the 1939 Academy AwardsBy this time Davis was Warner Bros most profitable star and she was given the most important of their female leading roles Her image was considered with more care although she continued to play character roles she was often filmed in close ups that emphasized her distinctive eyes All This and Heaven Too 1940 was the most financially successful film of Davis s career to that point The Letter 1940 was considered one of the best pictures of the year by The Hollywood Reporter and Davis won admiration for her portrayal of an adulterous killer a role originated onstage by Katharine Cornell 65 During this time she was in a relationship with her former co star George Brent who proposed marriage Davis refused as she had met Arthur Farnsworth a New England innkeeper and Vermont dentist s son Davis and Farnsworth were married at Home Ranch in Rimrock Arizona in December 1940 her second marriage 66 Davis often played unlikable characters such as Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes 1941 In January 1941 Davis became the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences but antagonized the committee members with her brash manner and radical proposals Davis rejected the idea of her being just a figurehead only Faced with the disapproval and resistance of the committee Davis resigned and was succeeded by her predecessor Walter Wanger 67 Davis starred in three movies in 1941 the first being The Great Lie with George Brent It was a refreshingly different role for Davis as she played a kind sympathetic character William Wyler directed Davis for the third time in Lillian Hellman s The Little Foxes 1941 but they clashed over the character of Regina Giddens a role originally played on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead Davis had portrayed in film a role initiated by Bankhead on the stage once before in Dark Victory Wyler encouraged Davis to emulate Bankhead s interpretation of the role but Davis wanted to make the role her own She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance and never worked with Wyler again 68 1942 1944 War years Edit In 1943 Davis told an interviewer that she had molded her film career on her motto I love tragedy and ironically until Pearl Harbor she had been recognized as the American favorite of Japanese moviegoers because to them she represented the admirable principle of sad self sacrifice 69 In 1942 Davis along with John Garfield were among the members of the Hollywood Victory Committee who helped establish the Hollywood Canteen 70 6 71 The Canteen offered food dancing and entertainment for servicemen and was staffed by members of the entertainment industry Davis served as Canteen president through the end of the war 72 73 74 In 1983 Davis received the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal from the Department of Defense for her work with the Hollywood Canteen 75 She appeared as herself in the film Hollywood Canteen 1944 which used the canteen as the setting for a fictional story Warner Bros donated 40 of proceeds from the film to both the Hollywood Canteen and the Stage Door Canteen in New York 76 77 Davis showed little interest in the film Now Voyager 1942 until Hal Wallis advised her that female audiences needed romantic dramas to distract them from the reality of their lives It became one of the better known of her women s pictures In one of the film s most imitated scenes Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes as he stares into Davis s eyes and passes one to her Film reviewers complimented Davis on her performance the National Board of Review commenting that she gave the film a dignity not fully warranted by the script 78 Davis with Paul Henreid in Now Voyager 1942 one of her most iconic rolesDuring the early 1940s several of Davis s film choices were influenced by the war such as Watch on the Rhine 1943 by Lillian Hellman and Thank Your Lucky Stars 1943 a lighthearted all star musical cavalcade Davis performed a novelty song They re Either Too Young or Too Old Old Acquaintance 1943 reunited her with Miriam Hopkins in a story of two old friends who deal with the tensions created when one of them becomes a successful novelist Davis felt that Hopkins tried to upstage her throughout the film Director Vincent Sherman recalled the intense competition and animosity between the two actresses and Davis often joked that she held back nothing in a scene in which she was required to shake Hopkins in a fit of anger 79 Death of Arthur Farnsworth Edit On August 25 1943 Davis second husband Arthur Farnsworth died following a series of head injuries that are suspected to be the result of violent fits against him by Davis In July 1943 Farnsworth hit his head while he and Davis were visiting Farnsworth s family in New Hampshire At the time Davis claimed Farnsworth slipped and fell down the stairs In regard to the first head injury a family member of Farnsworth stated He was a darling guy but no match for Bette He should have left her then If he had he would have been alive today 80 Farnsworth suffered a second head injury during his and Davis train ride back to California During the train ride Farnsworth and Davis reportedly argued over her affair with director Vincent Sherman and the state of their marriage 80 Then on August 23 Farnsworth fell and hit his head on the pavement on Hollywood Blvd shortly after he and Davis had lunch with her attorney to discuss filing separate tax returns A disoriented Farnsworth was immediately rushed to the hospital where Farnsworth ran a high fever and several hemorrhages making him to be unable to relay to medical staff the events surrounding his fall 81 He died two days later An autopsy revealed that Farnsworth s death was the result of a skull fracture Not telling authorities about Farnsworth s last two head injuries Davis told detectives that she believed Farnsworth died due to the first head injury he sustained in New Hampshire several months prior however police readily dismissed Davis s claims and opened a criminal investigation 82 According to Davis s third husband William Sherry Davis showed him the spot on the pavement where Farnsworth hit his head and confessed that she had in fact violently pushed him and caused him to fall 83 84 Davis later claimed that Farnsworth was drunk and fell however law enforcement and the doctor who examined Farnsworth immediately after his fall stated there was no odor of alcohol on his breath 85 A bystander at Farnsworth s funeral stated that Davis was icy towards Farnworth s family and only displayed grief when she sensed she was being observed by the press Following Farnsworth s funeral his body was held for four days while the police investigated his death to determine if any criminal charges would be filed Davis testified at an inquest that she knew of no event that might have caused the injury and a finding of accidental death was reached According to writer Hector Arce Warners Studio head Jack Warner used his influence to get the inquest settled quickly Highly distraught Davis attempted to withdraw from her next film Mr Skeffington 1944 but Jack Warner who had halted production following Farnsworth s death persuaded her to continue Although she had gained a reputation for being forthright and demanding her behavior during filming of Mr Skeffington was erratic and out of character She alienated Vincent Sherman by refusing to film certain scenes and insisting that some sets be rebuilt She improvised dialogue causing confusion among other actors and infuriated the writer Julius Epstein who was called upon to rewrite scenes at her whim Davis later explained her actions with the observation When I was most unhappy I lashed out rather than whined Some reviewers criticized Davis for the excess of her performance James Agee wrote that she demonstrates the horrors of egocentricity on a marathonic scale 86 Despite all these problems Mr Skeffington was another box office hit and earned Davis another Academy Award nomination 87 88 1945 1949 Career setbacks Edit In The Corn Is Green 1945 In 1945 Davis married artist William Grant Sherry her third husband who also worked as a masseur She had been drawn to him because he claimed he had never heard of her and was therefore not intimidated by her 89 The same year Davis made The Corn Is Green 1945 based on a play by Emlyn Williams In The Corn Is Green Davis played Miss Moffat an English teacher who saves a young Welsh miner John Dall from a life in the coal pits by offering him education The part had been played in the theatre by Ethel Barrymore who was 61 at the play s premiere but Warner Bros felt that the film version should depict the character as a younger woman Davis disagreed and insisted on playing the part as written and wore a gray wig and padding under her clothes to create a dowdy appearance 90 The critic E Arnot Robertson observed Only Bette Davis could have combated so successfully the obvious intention of the adaptors of the play to make frustrated sex the mainspring of the chief character s interest in the young miner 91 She concluded that the subtle interpretation she insisted on giving kept the focus on the teacher s sheer joy in imparting knowledge 91 The film was well received by critics and made a profit of 2 2 million 92 Her next film A Stolen Life 1946 was the only film that Davis made with her own production company BD Productions 93 Davis played dual roles as twins The film received poor reviews and was described by Bosley Crowther as a distressingly empty piece 94 but with a profit of 2 5 million it was one of her biggest box office successes 95 Her next film was Deception 1946 the first of her films to lose money 96 In 1947 at the age of 39 Davis gave birth to daughter Barbara Davis Sherry known as B D and later wrote in her memoir that she became absorbed in motherhood and considered ending her career As she continued making films however her relationship with her daughter B D began to deteriorate and her popularity with audiences steadily declined 97 Beyond the Forest 1949 was the last film Davis made for Warner Bros after 17 years with the studio In 1948 Davis was cast in the melodrama Winter Meeting Although she initially was enthusiastic she soon learned that Warner had arranged for softer lighting to be used to disguise her age She recalled that she had seen the same lighting technique on the sets of Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis and I knew what they meant 98 To add to her disappointment she was not confident in the abilities of her leading man James Davis in his first major screen role She disagreed with changes made to the script because of censorship restrictions and found that many of the aspects of the role that initially appealed to her had been cut The film was described by Bosley Crowther as interminable and he noted that of all the miserable dilemmas in which Miss Davis has been involved this one is probably the worst It failed at the box office and the studio lost nearly 1 million 99 While making June Bride 1948 Davis clashed with co star Robert Montgomery later describing him as a male Miriam Hopkins an excellent actor but addicted to scene stealing 100 The film marked her first comedy in several years and earned her some positive reviews but it was not particularly popular with audiences and returned only a small profit Despite the lackluster box office receipts from her more recent films in 1949 she negotiated a four film contract with Warner Bros that paid 10 285 per week and made her the highest paid woman in the United States 101 However Jack Warner had refused to allow her script approval and cast her in Beyond the Forest 1949 Davis reportedly loathed the script and begged Warner to recast the role but he refused After the film was completed her request to be released from her contract was honored The reviews of the film were scathing Dorothy Manners writing for the Los Angeles Examiner described the film as an unfortunate finale to her brilliant career 102 Hedda Hopper wrote If Bette had deliberately set out to wreck her career she could not have picked a more appropriate vehicle 103 The film contained the line What a dump which became closely associated with Davis after it was referenced in Edward Albee s Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and impersonators began to use it in their acts Arthur Blake was a famous female impersonator of the post World War II era who was particularly known for his performances as Bette Davis notably impersonating her in the 1952 film Diplomatic Courier 104 1949 1960 Starting a freelance career Edit Davis posing as Margo Channing in a promotional image for All About Eve 1950 She is pictured with Gary Merrill to whom she was married from 1950 to 1960 her fourth and final husband Davis filmed The Story of a Divorce released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1951 as Payment on Demand She played a Broadway star in All About Eve 1950 which earned her another Oscar nomination and won her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress Davis read the script described it as the best she had ever read and accepted the role Within days she joined the cast in San Francisco to begin filming During production she established what became a lifelong friendship with her co star Anne Baxter and a romantic relationship with her leading man Gary Merrill which led to marriage The film s director Joseph L Mankiewicz later remarked Bette was letter perfect She was syllable perfect The director s dream the prepared actress 105 Critics responded positively to Davis s performance and several of her lines became well known particularly Fasten your seat belts it s going to be a bumpy night She was again nominated for an Academy Award and critics such as Gene Ringgold described her Margo as her all time best performance 106 Pauline Kael wrote that much of Mankiewicz s vision of the theater was nonsense but commended Davis writing the film is saved by one performance that is the real thing Bette Davis is at her most instinctive and assured Her actress vain scared a woman who goes too far in her reactions and emotions makes the whole thing come alive 107 Davis won a Best Actress award from the Cannes Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle Award She also received the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award as Best Actress having been named by them as the Worst Actress of 1949 for Beyond the Forest During this time she was invited to leave her hand prints in the forecourt of Grauman s Chinese Theatre 108 On July 3 1950 Davis s divorce from William Sherry was finalized and on July 28 she married Gary Merrill her fourth and final husband With Sherry s consent Merrill adopted B D Davis s daughter with Sherry In January 1951 Davis and Merrill adopted a five day old baby girl they named Margot Mosher Merrill born January 6 1951 died May 5 2022 109 110 111 after the character Margo Channing Davis and Merrill lived with their three children in 1952 they adopted a baby boy Michael born February 5 1952 112 on an estate on the coast of Cape Elizabeth Maine Davis and Merrill also stayed at Homewood Inn in Yarmouth Maine for six months 113 After semi retirement in the mid 1950s Davis again starred in several movies during her time in Maine including The Virgin Queen 1955 in which she played Queen Elizabeth I 114 The family traveled to England where Davis and Merrill starred in the murder mystery film Another Man s Poison 1951 When it received lukewarm reviews and failed at the box office Hollywood columnists wrote that Davis s comeback had petered out and an Academy Award nomination for The Star 1952 did not halt her decline at the box office 115 In 1952 Davis appeared in the Broadway revue Two s Company directed by Jules Dassin She was uncomfortable working outside of her area of expertise she never had been a musical performer and her limited theater experience had been more than 20 years earlier She was also severely ill and was operated on for osteomyelitis of the jaw 116 Margot was diagnosed as severely brain damaged due to an injury sustained during or shortly after her birth and was placed in an institution around the age of 3 117 Davis and Merrill began arguing frequently and B D later recalled episodes of alcohol abuse and domestic violence 118 Few of Davis s films of the 1950s were successful and many of her performances were condemned by critics The Hollywood Reporter wrote of mannerisms that you d expect to find in a nightclub impersonation of Davis while the London critic Richard Winninger wrote Miss Davis with more say than most stars as to what films she makes seems to have lapsed into egoism The criterion for her choice of film would appear to be that nothing must compete with the full display of each facet of the Davis art Only bad films are good enough for her 119 Her films of this period included Storm Center 1956 and The Catered Affair 1956 As her career declined her marriage continued to deteriorate until she filed for divorce in 1960 The following year her mother died During the same time she tried television appearing in three episodes of the popular NBC Western Wagon Train as three different characters in 1959 and 1961 her first appearance on TV had been February 25 1956 on General Electric Theatre 120 In 1960 Davis a registered Democrat appeared at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles where she met future President John F Kennedy whom she greatly admired 121 Outside of acting and politics Davis was an active and practicing Episcopalian 122 1961 1970 Renewed success Edit Davis received her final Academy Award nomination for her role as demented Baby Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane 1962 In 1961 Davis opened in the Broadway production The Night of the Iguana to mostly mediocre reviews and left the production after four months due to chronic illness She then joined Glenn Ford and Hope Lange for the Frank Capra film Pocketful of Miracles 1961 a remake of Capra s 1933 film Lady for a Day based on a story by Damon Runyon Exhibitors protested her star billing as they considered it would negatively impact the box office performance and despite the appearance of Ford the film failed at the box office 123 Her last Oscar nomination was for the Grand Guignol horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane 1962 which also starred Joan Crawford Joan Crawford showed interest in the script and considered Davis for the part of Jane Davis believed it could appeal to the same audience that had recently made Alfred Hitchcock s Psycho 1960 a success She negotiated a deal that would pay her 10 percent of the worldwide gross profits in addition to her salary The film became one of the year s big successes 124 Davis and Crawford played two aging sisters one a former child star Davis and the other an accomplished film actress Crawford who are now forced by circumstance to share a decaying Hollywood mansion The director Robert Aldrich explained that Davis and Crawford were each aware of how important the film was to their respective careers Regardless of their personal feelings toward one another Davis and Crawford spoke highly of each other s acting talent Crawford said Davis was a fascinating actress but they never become friends as they only worked on that one film together and had few opportunities outside that association Davis also said Crawford was a good professional actress Despite the alleged feud Crawford heavily promoted Davis s performance Crawford told reporter Wayne Allen I ll predict here and now that Miss Davis will win an Oscar for it 125 Their alleged feud was eventually turned into the 2017 limited series Feud by Ryan Murphy which took enormous creative liberties with the facts Davis also received her only BAFTA nomination for this performance Daughter Barbara credited as B D Merrill played a small role in the film and when she and Davis visited the Cannes Film Festival to promote it Barbara met Jeremy Hyman an executive for Seven Arts Productions After a short courtship she married Hyman at the age of 16 with Davis s permission Davis and William Hopper in the Perry Mason episode The Case of Constant Doyle 1963 In October 1962 it was announced that four episodes of the CBS TV series Perry Mason would feature special guest stars who would cover for Raymond Burr during his convalescence from surgery A Perry Mason fan Davis was the first of the guest stars The Case of Constant Doyle began filming on December 12 1962 126 and aired January 31 1963 127 In 1962 Davis appeared as Celia Miller on the TV western The Virginian in the episode titled The Accomplice In September 1962 Davis placed an advertisement in Variety under the heading of Situations wanted women artists which read Mother of three 10 11 amp 15 divorcee American Thirty years experience as an actress in Motion Pictures Mobile still and more affable than rumor would have it Wants steady employment in Hollywood Has had Broadway 128 Davis said that she intended it as a joke and she sustained her comeback over the course of several years Dead Ringer 1964 was a crime drama in which she played twin sisters The film was an American adaptation of the Mexican film La Otra starring Dolores del Rio 129 Where Love Has Gone 1964 was a romantic drama based on a Harold Robbins novel Davis played the mother of Susan Hayward but filming was hampered by heated arguments between Davis and Hayward 130 Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964 was Robert Aldrich s follow up to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane Aldrich planned to reunite Davis and Crawford but the latter withdrew allegedly due to illness soon after filming began She was replaced by Olivia de Havilland The film was a considerable success and brought renewed attention to its veteran cast which included Joseph Cotten Mary Astor Agnes Moorehead and Cecil Kellaway The following year Davis was cast as the lead in an Aaron Spelling sitcom The Decorator 131 A pilot episode was filmed but was not shown and the project was terminated By the end of the decade Davis had appeared in the British films The Nanny 1965 The Anniversary 1968 and Connecting Rooms 1970 none of which were reviewed well and her career again stalled 115 1971 1983 Later career Edit In the early 1970s Davis was invited to appear in New York City in a stage presentation titled Great Ladies of the American Cinema Over five successive nights a different female star discussed her career and answered questions from the audience Myrna Loy Rosalind Russell Lana Turner Sylvia Sidney and Joan Crawford were the other participants Davis was well received and was invited to tour Australia with the similarly themed Bette Davis in Person and on Film its success allowed her to take the production to the United Kingdom 132 In 1972 Davis played the lead role in two television films that were each intended as pilots for upcoming series for ABC and NBC Madame Sin with Robert Wagner and The Judge and Jake Wyler with Doug McClure and Joan Van Ark but in each case the network decided against producing a series She appeared in the stage production Miss Moffat a musical adaptation of her film The Corn Is Green but after the show was panned by the Philadelphia critics during its pre Broadway run she cited a back injury and abandoned the show which closed immediately She played supporting roles in Luigi Comencini s Lo Scopone scientifico 1972 with Joseph Cotten and Italian actors Alberto Sordi and Silvana Mangano Burnt Offerings 1976 a Dan Curtis film for which she won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the Saturn Awards and The Disappearance of Aimee 1976 but she clashed with Karen Black and Faye Dunaway the stars of the two latter respective productions because she felt that neither extended her an appropriate degree of respect and that their behavior on the film sets was unprofessional 133 Davis left and Elizabeth Taylor in late 1981 during a show celebrating Taylor s lifeIn 1977 Davis became the first woman to receive the American Film Institute s Lifetime Achievement Award The televised event included comments from several of Davis s colleagues including William Wyler who joked that given the chance Davis would still like to re film a scene from The Letter to which Davis nodded Jane Fonda Henry Fonda Natalie Wood and Olivia de Havilland were among the performers who paid tribute with de Havilland commenting that Davis got the roles I always wanted 134 Following the telecast she found herself in demand again often having to choose between several offers She accepted roles in the television miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home 1978 and the theatrical film Death on the Nile 1978 an Agatha Christie murder mystery The bulk of her remaining work was for television She won an Emmy Award for Strangers The Story of a Mother and Daughter 1979 with Gena Rowlands and was nominated for her performances in White Mama 1980 and Little Gloria Happy at Last 1982 She also played supporting roles in the Disney films Return from Witch Mountain 1978 and The Watcher in the Woods 1980 Davis s name became well known to a younger audience when Kim Carnes s song Bette Davis Eyes written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon became a worldwide hit and the best selling record of 1981 in the U S where it stayed at number one on the music charts for more than two months Davis s grandson was impressed that she was the subject of a hit song and Davis considered it a compliment writing to both Carnes and the songwriters and accepting the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes and hanging them on her wall 135 136 She continued acting for television appearing in Family Reunion 1981 with her grandson J Ashley Hyman A Piano for Mrs Cimino 1982 for which she won the Best Actress Award at The Monte Carlo Television Festival 137 and Right of Way 1983 with James Stewart In 1983 she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award 138 1983 1989 Illness awards and final works EditHer career went through several periods of eclipse but despite a long period of ill health she continued acting in film and on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in 1989 139 She admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships She was married four times divorcing three and widowed once She raised her children largely as a single parent Davis aged 79 completed her penultimate role in The Whales of August 1987 which brought her acclaim during a period in which she was beset with failing health and personal trauma In 1983 after filming the pilot episode for the television series Hotel Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy Within two weeks of her surgery she had four strokes which caused paralysis in the left side of her face and in her left arm and left her with slurred speech She commenced a lengthy period of physical therapy and aided by her personal assistant Kathryn Sermak gained partial recovery from the paralysis Even late in life Davis smoked 100 cigarettes per day 140 During this time her relationship with her daughter B D Hyman deteriorated when Hyman became a born again Christian and attempted to persuade Davis to follow suit With her health stable she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie mystery Murder with Mirrors 1985 Upon her return she learned that Hyman had published My Mother s Keeper in which she chronicled a difficult mother daughter relationship and depicted scenes of Davis s overbearing and drunken behavior 139 Several of Davis s friends commented that Hyman s depiction of events was not accurate one said So much of the book is out of context Mike Wallace re broadcast a 60 Minutes interview he had filmed with Hyman a few years earlier in which she commended Davis on her skills as a mother and said that she had adopted many of Davis s principles in raising her own children Critics of Hyman noted that Davis financially supported the Hyman family for several years and had recently saved them from losing their house Despite the acrimony of their divorce years earlier Gary Merrill also defended Davis Interviewed by CNN Merrill said that Hyman was motivated by cruelty and greed Davis s adopted son Michael Merrill ended contact with Hyman and refused to speak to her again as did Davis who disinherited her 141 Davis with President Ronald Reagan her co star in 1939 s Dark Victory in 1987 two years before her deathIn her second memoir This n That 1987 Davis wrote I am still recovering from the fact that a child of mine would write about me behind my back to say nothing about the kind of book it is I will never recover as completely from B D s book as I have from the stroke Both were shattering experiences Her memoir concluded with a letter to her daughter in which she addressed her several times as Hyman and described her actions as a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given She concluded with a reference to the title of Hyman s book If it refers to money if my memory serves me right I ve been your keeper all these many years I am continuing to do so as my name has made your book about me a success 142 Davis appeared in the television film As Summers Die 1986 and in Lindsay Anderson s film The Whales of August 1987 in which she played the blind sister of Lillian Gish Though in poor health at the time Davis memorized her own and everyone else s lines as she always had 143 The film earned good reviews with one critic writing Bette crawls across the screen like a testy old hornet on a windowpane snarling staggering twitching a symphony of misfired synapses 144 Davis became an honouree of the Kennedy Center Honors for her contribution to films in 1987 Her last performance was the title role in Larry Cohen s Wicked Stepmother 1989 By this time her health was failing and after disagreements with Cohen she walked off the set The script was rewritten to place more emphasis on Barbara Carrera s character and the reworked version was released after Davis s death 140 After abandoning Wicked Stepmother and with no further film offers though she was keen to play the centenarian in Craig Calman s The Turn of the Century and worked with him on adapting the stage play to a feature length screenplay Davis appeared on several talk shows and was interviewed by Johnny Carson Joan Rivers Larry King and David Letterman discussing her career but refusing to discuss her daughter Her appearances were popular Lindsay Anderson observed that the public enjoyed seeing her behaving so bitchy I always disliked that because she was encouraged to behave badly And I d always hear her described by that awful word feisty 145 During 1988 and 1989 Davis was honored for her career achievements receiving the Legion of Honor from France the Campione d Italia from Italy and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Lifetime Achievement Award She appeared on British television in a special broadcast from the South Bank Centre discussing film and her career the other guest being the renowned Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky Death Edit Davis s crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los AngelesDavis collapsed during the American Cinema Awards in 1989 and later discovered that her cancer had returned She recovered sufficiently to travel to Spain where she was honored at the San Sebastian International Film Festival but during her visit her health rapidly deteriorated Too weak to make the long journey back to the U S she traveled to France where she died on October 6 1989 at the American Hospital in Neuilly sur Seine Davis was 81 years old A memorial tribute was held by invitation only at Burbank Studio s stage 18 where a work light was turned on signaling the end of production 146 She was entombed in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles alongside her mother Ruthie and sister Bobby with her name in larger letters On her tombstone is written She did it the hard way an epitaph that she mentioned in her memoir Mother Goddam as having been suggested to her by Joseph L Mankiewicz shortly after they had filmed All About Eve 147 Reception and legacy EditAs early as 1936 Graham Greene summarized Davis Even the most inconsiderable film seemed temporarily better than they were because of that precise nervy voice the pale ash blond hair the popping neurotic eyes a kind of corrupt and phosphorescent prettiness I would rather watch Miss Davis than any number of competent pictures 148 Davis registering to vote in 1964In 1964 Jack Warner spoke of the magic quality that transformed this sometimes bland and not beautiful little girl into a great artist 147 and in a 1988 interview Davis remarked that unlike many of her contemporaries she had forged a career without the benefit of beauty 149 She admitted she was terrified during the making of her early films and that she became tough by necessity Until you re known in my profession as a monster you are not a star she said but I ve never fought for anything in a treacherous way I ve never fought for anything but the good of the film 150 During the making of All About Eve 1950 Joseph L Mankiewicz told her of the perception in Hollywood that she was difficult and she explained that when the audience saw her on screen they did not consider that her appearance was the result of numerous people working behind the scenes If she was presented as a horse s ass forty feet wide and thirty feet high that is all the audience would see or care about 151 While lauded for her achievements Davis and her films were sometimes derided Pauline Kael described Now Voyager 1942 as a shlock classic 152 and by the mid 1940s her sometimes mannered and histrionic performances had become the subject of caricature Edwin Schallert for the Los Angeles Times praised Davis s performance in Mr Skeffington 1944 while observing The mimics will have more fun than a box of monkeys imitating Miss Davis and Dorothy Manners at the Los Angeles Examiner said of her performance in the poorly received Beyond the Forest 1949 No night club caricaturist has ever turned in such a cruel imitation of the Davis mannerisms as Bette turns on herself in this one Time magazine noted that Davis was compulsively watchable even while criticizing her acting technique summarizing her performance in Dead Ringer 1964 with the observation Her acting as always isn t really acting It s shameless showing off But just try to look away 153 Davis attracted a following in the gay subculture and was frequently imitated by female impersonators such as Tracey Lee Craig Russell Jim Bailey and Charles Pierce 154 Attempting to explain her popularity with gay audiences the journalist Jim Emerson wrote Was she just a camp figurehead because her brittle melodramatic style of acting hadn t aged well Or was it that she was Larger Than Life a tough broad who had survived Probably some of both 149 Her film choices were often unconventional Davis sought roles as manipulators and killers in an era when actresses usually preferred to play sympathetic characters and she excelled in them She favored authenticity over glamour and was willing to change her own appearance if it suited the character 150 Davis s signature and handprints at Grauman s Chinese TheatreAs she entered old age Davis was acknowledged for her achievements John Springer who had arranged her speaking tours of the early 1970s wrote that despite the accomplishments of many of her contemporaries Davis was the star of the thirties and into the forties achieving notability for the variety of her characterizations and her ability to assert herself even when her material was mediocre 155 Individual performances continued to receive praise in 1987 Bill Collins analyzed The Letter 1940 and described her performance as a brilliant subtle achievement and wrote Bette Davis makes Leslie Crosbie one of the most extraordinary females in movies 156 In a 2000 review for All About Eve 1950 Roger Ebert noted Davis was a character an icon with a grand style so even her excesses are realistic 157 In House of Wax 2005 in her attempt to blend in with the other wax figures in the local movie house the lead female character has to sit through a scene from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane 158 In 2006 Premiere magazine ranked her portrayal of Margo Channing in the film as fifth on their list of 100 Greatest Performances of All Time commenting There is something deliciously audacious about her gleeful willingness to play such unattractive emotions as jealousy bitterness and neediness 159 While reviewing What Ever Happened to Baby Jane 1962 in 2008 Ebert asserted that No one who has seen the film will ever forget her 160 In 1981 the song Bette Davis Eyes won two Grammy Awards Song of the Year and Record of the Year and spent a total of nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Top 100 A few months before her death in 1989 Davis was one of several actors featured on the cover of Life magazine In a film retrospective that celebrated the films and stars of 1939 Life concluded that Davis was the most significant actress of her era and highlighted Dark Victory 1939 as one of the more important films of the year 161 Her death made front page news throughout the world as the close of yet another chapter of the Golden Age of Hollywood Angela Lansbury summarized the feeling of those of the Hollywood community who attended her memorial service commenting after a sample from Davis s films was screened that they had witnessed an extraordinary legacy of acting in the twentieth century by a real master of the craft that should provide encouragement and illustration to future generations of aspiring actors 162 In 1977 Davis became the first woman to be honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award 163 In 1999 the American Film Institute published its list of the AFI s 100 Years 100 Stars which was the result of a film industry poll to determine the 50 Greatest American Screen Legends in order to raise public awareness and appreciation of classic film Of the 25 actresses listed Davis was ranked at number two behind Katharine Hepburn 164 The United States Postal Service honored Davis with a commemorative postage stamp in 2008 marking the 100th anniversary of her birth 165 The stamp features an image of her in the role of Margo Channing in All About Eve The First Day of Issue celebration took place September 18 2008 at Boston University which houses an extensive Davis archive Featured speakers included her son Michael Merrill and Lauren Bacall In 1997 the executors of her estate Merrill and Kathryn Sermak her former assistant established The Bette Davis Foundation which awards college scholarships to promising actors and actresses 166 Journalist Jeanine Basinger of The New York Times wrote I was once the goat elected to inform her that she couldn t smoke at a dinner honoring Frank Capra whose asthmatic wife Lu had stored her oxygen tank under the table Well get her out of here Davis bellowed at me by way of a suggested solution 167 In 2017 Sermak published the memoir Miss D amp Me Life With the Invincible Bette Davis a book Davis had requested Sermak write detailing their years spent together 168 Academy Awards Edit Davis in the trailer for Dark Victory 1939 in which she gave one of her 11 Oscar nominated performancesDavis established several Oscar milestones Among them she became the first person to earn five consecutive Academy Award nominations for acting all in the Best Actress category 1938 1942 169 Her record has only been matched by one other performer Greer Garson who also earned five consecutive nominations in the Best Actress category 1941 1945 including three years when both these actresses were nominated 169 In 1962 Bette Davis became the first person to secure 10 Academy Award nominations for acting though one could argue her 10th nomination was in 1952 and her 11th in 1962 as her write in nomination for Of Human Bondage remains a source of contention she came in 3rd in the voting ahead of official nominee Grace Moore Since then only three people have surpassed this figure Meryl Streep with 21 nominations and three wins Katharine Hepburn 12 nominations and 4 wins and Jack Nicholson 12 nominations and 3 wins with Laurence Olivier matching the number 10 nominations and 1 win 170 Steven Spielberg purchased Davis s Oscars for Dangerous 1935 and Jezebel 1938 when they were offered for auction for 207 500 and 578 000 respectively and returned them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 171 172 Year Category Film Result1934 Best Actress Of Human Bondage Nominated Write in 1935 Dangerous Won1938 Jezebel1939 Dark Victory Nominated1940 The Letter1941 The Little Foxes1942 Now Voyager1944 Mr Skeffington1950 All About Eve1952 The Star1962 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane Selected filmography EditMain article Bette Davis filmography Bad Sister 1931 20 000 Years in Sing Sing 1932 The Cabin in the Cotton 1932 The Working Man 1933 Parachute Jumper 1933 Of Human Bondage 1934 Dangerous 1935 The Petrified Forest 1936 Marked Woman 1937 Jezebel 1938 Dark Victory 1939 The Old Maid 1939 The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex 1939 Juarez 1939 All This and Heaven Too 1940 The Letter 1940 The Bride Came C O D 1941 The Little Foxes 1941 The Great Lie 1941 The Man Who Came to Dinner 1942 In This Our Life 1942 Now Voyager 1942 Watch on the Rhine 1943 Old Acquaintance 1943 Mr Skeffington 1944 The Corn Is Green 1945 A Stolen Life 1946 Deception 1946 Winter Meeting 1948 Beyond the Forest 1949 All About Eve 1950 Payment on Demand 1951 Another Man s Poison 1951 Phone Call from a Stranger 1952 The Star 1952 The Virgin Queen 1955 The Catered Affair 1956 Pocketful of Miracles 1961 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane 1962 Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964 Dead Ringer 1964 The Nanny 1965 The Anniversary 1968 Connecting Rooms 1970 Burnt Offerings 1976 Return from Witch Mountain 1978 Death on the Nile 1978 Strangers The Story of a Mother and Daughter 1979 The Watcher in the Woods 1980 Right of Way 1983 As Summers Die 1986 The Whales of August 1987 Wicked Stepmother 1989 See also EditMotion Picture Production Code Hays Code Classical Hollywood cinemaReferences Edit Michele Bourgoin Suzanne 1998 Encyclopedia of World Biography Gale p 119 ISBN 0 7876 2221 4 O Dell Cary April 19 2023 Happy Birthday Bette Davis You Jezebel Now See Hear National Audio Visual Conservation Center Retrieved August 17 2023 Jung E Alex Susan Sarandon on Feud and Why Everyone Gets So Mad at Her About Politics Vulture Retrieved March 8 2017 a b Feud 10 Things to Know About the Bette Davis Tell All My Mother s Keeper The Hollywood Reporter April 14 2017 Retrieved March 11 2019 Davis Bette 1962 The Lonely Life New York G P Putnam s Sons p 115 a b Sikov Ed 2008 Dark Victory The Life of Bette Davis Henry Holt and Company pp 210 211 ISBN 978 0 8050 8863 2 ancestry com Massachusetts 1840 1915 birth records page 448 of book registered in Somerville ancestry com Massachusetts Birth Records 1840 1915 page 1235 Sikov 2007 pp 14 15 Chandler 2006 p 34 Sikov Ed 2008 Dark Victory The Life of Bette Davis Macmillan p 16 ISBN 978 0805088632 Bette Davis Girl Scout Sikov Ed 2008 Dark Victory The Life of Bette Davis Macmillan ISBN 978 0805088632 Retrieved May 16 2020 via Google Books Ruth Elizabeth Davis became a Girl Scout Sikov Ed 2008 Dark Victory The Life of Bette Davis Macmillan ISBN 978 0805088632 Retrieved May 16 2020 via Google Books There was a contest a competitive dress parade for Mrs Herbert Hoover at Madison Square Garden and Ruth Elizabeth s patrol necessarily won Bette Davis I m Liberated Because of Belief in Myself Newsday November 11 1976 Davis Bette 1962 The Lonely Life G P Putman s Sons pp 50 51 Spada 1993 p 40 Dark Victory The Life of Bette Davis Macmillan 2008 ISBN 978 0805088632 Retrieved April 27 2018 Zeruk James 2013 Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide A Biography McFarland amp Company Inc p 70 ISBN 978 0 7864 7313 7 Bette Davis britannica com Encyclopedia Britannica October 2 2019 Retrieved October 14 2019 Stine 1974 pp 2 3 Chandler 2006 p 68 Chandler 2006 p 67 Stine 1974 p 10 Davis Bette Centennial 1908 1989 Part One Emanuel Levy emanuellevy com Retrieved March 8 2017 Stine 1974 p 20 Cieply Michael June 26 2022 So Once And For All We Hope Bruce Davis Settles Why They Call It Oscar Deadline Retrieved May 21 2023 Since the O in Harmon O Nelson stood for Oscar Yuma Arizona Marriage Applications 1932 August November Spada 1993 pp 94 98 Moseley Roy Bette Davis Lexington University of Kentucky Press 2003 p 103 Spada 1993 pp 102 107 Ringgold 1966 p 57 Chandler 2006 p 102 Wiley 1987 p 55 Spada 1993 p 107 Wiley 1987 p 58 The 8th Academy Awards 1936 Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences Retrieved August 14 2023 Picture Post 2 November 1946 as quoted in Noble Peter 1948 Bette Davis A Biography London Skelton Robinson Ringgold 1966 p 65 Baxter John 1968 Hollywood in the Thirties London A Zwemmer Limited p 128 ISBN 0 498 06927 3 Sikov 2007 p 80 Chandler 2006 pp 101 263 Oscar Statuette Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences July 25 2014 Retrieved March 8 2017 Hopper Hedda Battle Goes Marry On No July 4 1936 The San Antonio Light Retrieved June 2 2023 Graham Sheilah Walkout By Bette Davis No July 1 1936 The Evening Star Retrieved June 2 2023 a b Movie Contract Wizard No Aug 14 1938 The Sunday Oregonian Retrieved June 2 2023 Hebert F New Orleans States No July 11 1936 New Orleans States Retrieved June 2 2023 Greensboro Daily News No July 19 1936 Retrieved June 2 2023 a b Hollywood Chatter No Nov 2 1936 Illinois State Journal Retrieved June 2 2023 Times Union No Aug 8 1936 Retrieved June 2 2023 Davis Has Warners Ready To Sign No Aug 19 1936 The Knickerbocker Press Retrieved June 2 2023 I Cover Hollywood No Aug 22 1936 Times Union Retrieved June 2 2023 Seattle Daily Times No Aug 25 1936 Retrieved June 2 2023 Bette Davis Is Enjoined No Sept 9 1936 The San Antonio Light Retrieved June 2 2023 Bette Davis Defies Injunction No Sept 11 1936 Retrieved June 2 2023 Bette Davis Restrained By Court No Oct 19 1936 The Evening Gazette Retrieved June 2 2023 Spada 1993 pp 124 125 Seven Years Is Enough Olivia Is Freed No Dec 10 1944 Sunday World Herald Retrieved June 2 2023 The awards of the Venice Film Festival La Biennale di Venezia Archived from the original on July 7 2013 Retrieved December 14 2011 Chandler 2006 p 121 Haver 1980 p 243 The 2006 Motion Picture Almanac Top Ten Money Making Stars Quigley Publishing Company Archived from the original on January 14 2013 Retrieved August 24 2008 Spada James 1993 More Than a Woman Little Brown and Company pp 144 148 ISBN 0 316 90880 0 Chandler 2006 p 131 Chandler 2006 p 141 Ringgold 1966 p 105 Bette Davis Marries Vermont Dentist s Son at Arizona Ranch Reading PA Reading Eagle January 2 1941 Retrieved October 3 2014 via Google News Archive Search Bianco Marcie How Bette Davis Became a Hollywood Icon By Refusing to Conform at Every Turn HWD Retrieved October 23 2017 Miller Gabriel 2013 William Wyler The Life and Films of Hollywood s Most Celebrated Director Lexington University Press of Kentucky ISBN 978 0 8131 4209 8 Flanner Janet Cotton Dress Girl The New Yorker Conde Nast Retrieved April 6 2023 Graham Sheila December 20 1942 Hollywood Canteen Joy To Many Lonely Lads Started By Bette Davis and John Garfield and Enthusiastically Supported By All the Stars in the Movie Capital It Is the Mecca For Every Soldier and Sailor Passing Through The Hartford Courant pp A15 ProQuest 559727344 Retrieved August 5 2023 Harrison Scott March 6 2017 From the Archives Entertaining the troops at Hollywood Canteen Los Angeles Times Retrieved August 5 2023 Considine Shaun January 25 2017 Bette amp Joan The Divine Feud Ebook ed Graymalkin Media ISBN 978 1 63168 107 3 Davis Reelected Canteen Prexy The Hollywood Reporter February 9 1945 p 5 Bette Davis Heads Canteen Third Year Daily Boston Globe April 19 1944 p 19 ProQuest 840200228 Medal is given to Bette Davis The Baltimore Sun June 13 1983 ProQuest 537875698 Bette Davis in Canteen Film The Herald Tribune September 12 1943 p 8 ProQuest 1267877319 The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States Feature Films 1941 1950 F4 University of California Press 1999 p 1071 ISBN 9780520215214 Ringgold 1966 p 120 Spada 1993 pp 198 200 a b Considine Shaun 1989 Bette amp Joan The Divine Feud Graymalkin Media pp 153 155 ISBN 9781631681073 Retrieved May 31 2023 Coroner Probes Death of Bette Davis Husband No Aug 26 1943 Stamford Advocate Retrieved May 31 2023 Old Fall Blamed By Bette Davis No Aug 27 1943 The Evening Bulletin Retrieved May 31 2023 Dirt on Davis Revealed In Biography No Dec 31 1989 The Atlanta Journal Retrieved May 31 2023 The Times No Feb 11 1990 Retrieved May 31 2023 Mystery Death of Bette Davis Mate The Daily Times August 26 1943 Retrieved May 31 2023 Spada 1993 pp 218 225 Spada p 201 https www oscars org oscars ceremonies 1945 Spada 1993 pp 254 255 Spada p 227 a b Ringgold p 133 Spada p 227 Sikov p 250 Ringgold p 135 Spada 1993 p 236 Spada 1993 p 241 Spada 1993 pp 246 247 Spada 1993 p 250 Spada 1993 pp 250 251 Chandler 2006 pp 247 248 Spada 1993 p 257 Ringgold 1966 p 143 Spada 1993 p 285 Smith Jacob 2011 Spoken Word Postwar American Phonograph Culture University of California Press pp 126 129 ISBN 978 0520948358 Staggs 2000 p 80 Ringgold 1966 p 150 Kael 1982 p 13 Bette Davis Grauman s Chinese Theater Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection tessa lapl org Retrieved March 11 2019 Ware Susan 2004 Notable American Women ISBN 978 0674014886 Arabella Spotlight Archived from the original on December 25 2018 Retrieved November 26 2015 Twitter com Bette Davis Estate on Twitter Donnelley Paul 2003 Fade to Black ISBN 978 0711995123 Davis Bette 2017 The Lonely Life An Autobiography Hatchette Books ISBN 978 0316441292 Barker Matt Bette s Maine Interlude PDF Portland Monthly Portland Magazine Retrieved August 11 2017 a b Bubbeo Daniel 2010 The Women of Warner Brothers The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies with Filmographies for Each McFarland ISBN 978 0786462360 McNally Peter 2008 Bette Davis The Performances That Made Her Great McFarland ISBN 978 0786434992 Lippo Caralynn March 26 2017 Bette Davis Kids Are All Grown Up Now Romper Retrieved December 5 2018 Spada 1993 pp 310 315 Carr 1979 p 193 Bette Davis Debut PDF Broadcasting Telecasting January 2 1956 Ronald Reagan amp Bette Davis Politically Oppositional Co Stars carlanthonyonline com Archived from the original on March 21 2016 Retrieved April 2 2016 Starr Kevin 2002 The Dream Endures California Enters the 1940s Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0199923939 via Google Books Beaupre Lee May 15 1968 Rising Skepticism On Stars Variety p 1 Spada 1993 pp 353 355 The State Journal Register No Nov 25 1962 Retrieved June 2 2023 Adams Val October 30 1962 Bette Davis Hired for Perry Mason The New York Times Retrieved August 29 2016 Perry Mason Season 6 CBS 1962 1963 Classic TV Archive Retrieved August 29 2016 Situations wanted women artists Variety September 21 1962 Chandler 2006 p 324 Spada 1993 p 376 Terrace Vincent 1997 Experimental television test films pilots and trial series McFarland p 135 ISBN 0 7864 0178 8 Retrieved August 19 2009 Chandler 2006 pp 258 259 Spada 1993 pp 414 Karen Black 416 Faye Dunaway Spada 1993 p 424 Davis 1987 p 112 Bubbeo Daniel 2002 The women of Warner Brothers the McFarland ISBN 978 0 7864 1137 5 Retrieved April 14 2010 Golden Nymph Award Winners PDF Festival de Television de Monte Carlo Retrieved August 14 2023 Past Recipients Crystal Award Women In Film Archived from the original on July 24 2011 Retrieved May 10 2011 a b Feud 10 Things to Know About the Bette Davis Tell All My Mother s Keeper The Hollywood Reporter April 14 2017 Retrieved March 11 2019 a b Cohen Larry July 2012 I Killed Bette Davis Film Comment Spada 1993 pp 451 457 Davis 1987 pp 10 197 198 Placating the Stars of Whales The New York Times October 22 1987 Grand Old Lillian Gish Makes a Big Splash in the Whales of August Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved October 25 2015 Spada 1993 p 472 Thomas Kevin November 4 1989 A Simple Tribute to Screen Legend Bette Davis on Stage 18 Movies Friends gather at Burbank Studios to honor stormy actress who reveled in her stardom Los Angeles Times ISSN 0458 3035 Retrieved March 11 2019 a b Stine 1974 prologue ix The Cinema 19 Jun 1936 The Spectator Archive a b Emerson Jim Meeting Miss Davis Jeeem s Cinepad Archived from the original on May 12 2008 Retrieved August 24 2008 a b Shipman 1988 p 13 Spada 1993 p 272 Kael 1982 p 421 Ringgold 1966 p 178 Charles Pierce as Bette Davis Bochynski com Retrieved August 24 2008 Springer 1978 p 81 Collins 1987 p 135 Ebert Roger June 11 2000 Review of All About Eve RogerEbert com Archived from the original on July 9 2007 Retrieved August 24 2008 House of Wax 2005 PopMatters May 6 2005 Retrieved October 23 2020 100 Greatest Performances of All Time Premiere April 2006 Ebert Roger February 16 2008 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane 1962 RogerEbert com Archived from the original on September 20 2012 Retrieved December 29 2011 Hollywood 1939 1989 Today s Stars Meet the Screen Legends Life Spring 1989 Spada 1993 pp 480 481 Sikov 2007 p 405 AFI s 100 Years 100 Stars Greatest Film Star Legends American Film Institute Archived from the original on August 22 2008 Retrieved August 24 2008 Bette Davis Stars in 2008 Postage Stamps Fox News December 27 2007 Archived from the original on December 20 2008 Retrieved August 24 2008 Bette Davis official site Estate of Bette Davis Archived from the original on July 23 2008 Retrieved August 24 2008 Basinger Jeanine November 12 2007 The Real Margo Channing s Fasten Your Seatbelts Life The New York Times Retrieved May 16 2020 Miss D and Me Kirkus Reviews via www kirkusreviews com a b Persons With Acting Nominations in 3 or More Consecutive Years PDF Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences March 1 2018 Retrieved August 15 2018 Persons with 5 or More Acting Nominations PDF Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Archived from the original PDF on January 22 2016 Retrieved December 10 2015 Classic Movie Scrapbook Dangerous Reel Classics com Accessed May 24 2008 Spielberg buys Bette Davis Oscar BBC co uk July 20 2001 Accessed May 24 2008 Bibliography EditBret David 2006 Joan Crawford Hollywood Martyr Carroll amp Graf Publishers ISBN 978 0 7867 1868 9 Carr Larry 1979 More Fabulous Faces The Evolution and Metamorphosis of Bette Davis Katharine Hepburn Dolores del Rio Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy Doubleday and Company ISBN 0 385 12819 3 Chandler Charlotte 2006 The Girl Who Walked Home Alone Bette Davis A Personal Biography Simon and Schuster ISBN 978 0 7432 6208 8 Collins Bill 1987 Bill Collins Presents The Golden Years of Hollywood The MacMillan Company of Australia ISBN 0 333 45069 8 Considine Shaun 2000 Bette and Joan The Divine Feud Backinprint com ISBN 978 0 595 12027 7 Davis Bette 1962 The Lonely Life An Autobiography New York G P Putnam s Sons ISBN 978 0 425 12350 8 OCLC 387221 Davis Bette Herskowitz Michael 1987 This N That G P Putnam s Sons ISBN 0 345 34453 7 Guiles Fred Lawrence 1995 Joan Crawford The Last Word Conrad Goulden Books ISBN 1 85793 268 4 Haver Ronald 1980 David O Selznick s Hollywood Bonanza Books ISBN 0 517 47665 7 Kael Pauline 1982 5001 Nights at the Movies Zenith Books ISBN 0 09 933550 6 Ringgold Gene 1966 The Films of Bette Davis Cadillac Publishing Co ISBN 0 8065 0953 8 Sermak Kathryn 2017 Miss D and me Life with the Invincible Bette Davis Hachette Books ISBN 978 0316507844 Shipman David 1988 Movie Talk St Martin s Press ISBN 0 312 03403 2 Sikov Ed 2007 Dark Victory The Life of Bette Davis Henry Holt and Company ISBN 978 0 8050 7548 9 Spada James 1993 More Than a Woman An Intimate Biography of Bette Davis Little Brown and Company ISBN 0 316 90880 0 Sperling Cass Warner Milner Cork Milner Warner Jack Jr 1998 Hollywood Be Thy Name The Warner Brothers Story Prima Publishing ISBN 0 8131 0958 2 Springer John Hamilton Jack 1978 They Had Faces Then Citadel Press ISBN 0 8065 0657 1 Staggs Sam 2000 All About All About Eve St Martin s Press ISBN 0 312 27315 0 Stine Whitney Davis Bette 1974 Mother Goddam The Story of the Career of Bette Davis W H Allen and Co Plc ISBN 1 56980 157 6 Wiley Mason Bona Damien 1987 Inside Oscar The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards Ballantine Books ISBN 0 345 34453 7 Zeruk James 2014 Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide A Biography McFarland amp Co ISBN 978 0 7864 7313 7 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bette Davis Wikiquote has quotations related to Bette Davis Official website operated by the Estate of Bette Davis Bette Davis at IMDb Bette Davis at AllMovie Bette Davis at Rotten Tomatoes Bette Davis at the TCM Movie Database Bette Davis at the Internet Broadway Database Bette Davis at Playbill Vault Bette Davis at TV Guide Portraits from The Little Foxes 1941 by Ned Scott Kathryn Sermak recounts living with Bette Davis interview October 2017 News Sentinel accessed October 25 2017 Non profit organization positionsPreceded byWalter Wanger President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences1941 Succeeded byWalter Wanger Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bette Davis amp oldid 1172495590, wikipedia, 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