Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth Davis
1908 - 1989
American born Lowell, Massachusetts

Nickname The Fifth Warner Brother, The First Lady of Film . Height 5' 3" (1.60 m) . Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. She passed away from cancer October 6, 1989 in France. Her parents divorced when she was a child & she was raised, along with her sister by her mother, Ruthie. Bette demanded attention practically from birth which led to her pursuing a career in acting. After graduation from Cushing Academy she was refused admittance to Eva Le Gallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory because she was considered insincere and frivolous. She enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School and was the star pupil. She was in the off-Broadway "The Earth Between" (1923). Her Broadway debut in 1929 was in "Broken Dishes" and she also appeared in "Solid South." Late in 1930 she was hired by Universal. When she arrived in Hollywood, the studio representative who went to meet her train left without her because he could find no one who looked like a movie star. An official at Universal complained she had "as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville" and her performance in the movie The Bad Sister (1931) didn't impress. In 1932 she signed a seven year deal with Warner Brothers. She became a star after her appearance in The Man Who Played God (1932). Warners loaned her to RKO in 1934 for Of Human Bondage (1934) in which she was a smash. She had a significant number of write-in votes for the Best Actress Oscar. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938) and fought unsuccessfully with Warner Brothers to break her contract because she felt she wasn't receiving the top roles an Oscar winning actress deserved. When she came back after the lawsuit her roles improved dramatically. The only role she didn't get that she wanted in 1939 was Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Warners wouldn't loan her to David O. Selznick unless he hired Errol Flynn to play Rhett Butler, which both Selznick and Davis thought was a terrible choice. It was rumored she had numerous affairs, among them George Brent and William Wyler and four unhappy marriages. She admitted her career always came first. She made many successful 40's films, but each picture was weaker than the last and by the time her Warner Brothers contract had ended in 1949 the movies were disappointing, such as the unintentionally hilarious Beyond the Forest (1949). She made a huge comeback in 1950 when she replaced an ill Claudette Colbert and received an Oscar nomination for her role in All About Eve (1950). She worked in films through the 1950's, but her career came to a standstill and in 1961 she placed a now famous "job wanted" ad in the trade papers. She received an Oscar nomination for her role as a demented former child star in 1962's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) which brought a new phase of stardom in both movies and television through the 60's and 70's. In 1977 she received the AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award and in 1979 she won a Best Actress Emmy for Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979) (TV). In 1977-78 she moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles and filmed a pilot for the series "Hotel", which she called "Brothel". She refused to do the TV series and suffered a stroke during this time. Her daughter B.D. Hyman wrote a 1985 "Mommie Dearest" type book "My Mother's Keeper". She worked in the later 1980's in films and TV even though a stroke had impaired her appearance and mobility. She wrote "This N That" during her recovery from the stroke. Her last book was "Bette Davis, The Lonely Life" issued in paperback in 1990. It included an update from 1962 to 1989. She wrote the last chapter in San Sebastian, Spain. When she passed away October 6, 1989 in France many of her fans refused to believe she was gone. Spouse Gary Merrill (28 July 1950 - 6 July 1960) (divorced) 2 children, William Grant Sherry (30 November 1945 - 3 July 1950) (divorced) 1 child, Arthur Farnsworth (31 December 1940 - 25 August 1943) (his death), Harmon Nelson (18 August 1932 - 6 December 1938) (divorced).

Wicked Stepmother (1989) , The Whales of August (1987) , As Summers Die (1986) , Murder with Mirrors (1985) , Right of Way (1983) , Hotel (1983) , "Hotel" (1983) , Little Gloria... Happy at Last (1982) , A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982) , Family Reunion (1981) , Skyward (1980) , The Watcher in the Woods (1980) , White Mama (1980) , Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979) , The Children of Sanchez (1978) , Death on the Nile (1978) , Return from Witch Mountain (1978) , "The Dark Secret of Harvest Home" (1978) , The Disappearance of Aimee (1976) , Burnt Offerings (1976) , Hello Mother, Goodbye! (1974) , Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973) , The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972) , Scopone scientifico, Lo (1972) , Madame Sin (1972) , Bunny O'Hare (1971) , Connecting Rooms (1970) , "It Takes a Thief" (1970) , The Anniversary (1968) , "Gunsmoke" (1966) , The Nanny (1965) , Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) , Where Love Has Gone (1964) , Dead Ringer (1964) , "Perry Mason" (1963) , Noia, La (1963) , "The Virginian" (1962) , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) , "Wagon Train" (1961) , Pocketful of Miracles (1961) , "The DuPont Show with June Allyson" (1959) , The Scapegoat (1959) , John Paul Jones (1959) , "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1959) , "Suspicion" (1958) ,"General Electric Theater" (1958) , "Studio 57" (1958) , "Telephone Time" (1957) , "The Ford Television Theatre" (1957) , "Schlitz Playhouse of Stars" (1957) , Storm Center (1956) , The Catered Affair (1956) , "The 20th Century-Fox Hour" (1956) , The Virgin Queen (1955) , The Star (1952) , Phone Call from a Stranger (1952) , Another Man's Poison (1952) , Payment on Demand (1951) , All About Eve (1950) , Beyond the Forest (1949) , June Bride (1948) , Winter Meeting (1948) , Deception (1946) , A Stolen Life (1946) , The Corn Is Green (1945) , Mr. Skeffington (1944) , Old Acquaintance (1943) , Watch on the Rhine (1943) , Now, Voyager (1942) , In This Our Life (1942) , The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) , The Little Foxes (1941) , The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941) , Shining Victory (1941) , The Great Lie (1941) , The Letter (1940) , All This, and Heaven Too (1940) , The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) , The Old Maid (1939) , Juarez (1939) , Dark Victory (1939) , The Sisters (1938) , Jezebel (1938) , It's Love I'm After (1937) , That Certain Woman (1937) , Kid Galahad (1937) , Marked Woman (1937) , Satan Met a Lady (1936) , The Golden Arrow (1936), The Petrified Forest (1936) , Dangerous (1935) , Special Agent (1935) , Front Page Woman (1935) , The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935) , Bordertown (1935) , Housewife (1934) , Of Human Bondage (1934) , Fog Over Frisco (1934) , Jimmy the Gent (1934) , Fashions of 1934 (1934) , The Big Shakedown (1934) , Bureau of Missing Persons (1933) , Ex-Lady (1933) , The Working Man (1933) , Parachute Jumper (1933), Just Around the Corner (1933) , 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) , Three on a Match (1932) , The Cabin in the Cotton (1932), The Dark Horse (1932) , The Rich Are Always with Us (1932) , So Big! (1932) , The Man Who Played God (1932) , Hell's House (1932) , The Menace (1932) , Way Back Home (1932) , Waterloo Bridge (1931) , Seed (1931) , The Bad Sister (1931)