Bette Davis
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, though her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas. After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract and although she lost a well-publicized legal case, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema's most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona which has often been imitated and satirized. Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. Married four times, she was once widowed and thrice divorced, and raised her children as a single parent. Her final years were marred by a long period of ill health, but she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer, with more than 100 films, television and theater roles to her credit. In 1999, Davis was placed second, after Katharine Hepburn, on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of all time.
Known for
Credits
Death on the Nile (1978)
as Marie Van Schuyler
All About Eve (1950)
as Margo Channing
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
as Baby Jane Hudson
June Bride (1948)
as Linda Gilman
Mr. Skeffington (1944)
as Fanny Trellis
The Scapegoat (1959)
as Countess
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
as Apple Annie
Juarez (1939)
as Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
as (in "Deception") (archive footage)
Bette Davis (1972)
as Self
Housewife (1934)
as Patricia Berkeley
Burnt Offerings (1976)
as Aunt Elizabeth
Return from Witch Mountain (1978)
as Letha Wedge
The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
as Mrs. Aylwood
Directed by William Wyler (1986)
as Self
Special Agent (1935)
as Julie Gardner
The Little Foxes (1941)
as Regina Hubbard Giddens
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
as Charlotte Hollis
Jezebel (1938)
as Julie Marsden
The Bad Sister (1931)
as Laura Madison
Dark Victory (1939)
as Judith Traherne
John Paul Jones (1959)
as Empress Catherine the Great
The Letter (1940)
as Leslie Crosbie
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
as Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
The Whales of August (1987)
as Libby Strong
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
as Marie Hoke
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
as Valerie Purvis
Jimmy the Gent (1934)
as Joan Martin
The Nanny (1965)
as Nanny
Waterloo Bridge (1931)
as Janet Cronin
The Catered Affair (1956)
as Agnes Hurley
The Scopone Game (1972)
as 'A vecchia
Kid Galahad (1937)
as Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
Murder with Mirrors (1985)
as Carrie Louise Serrocold
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hello Mother, Goodbye! (1974)
as Mother
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
as Maggie Cutler
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
as Joan Winfield
Listen to Me Marlon (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Front Page Woman (1935)
as Ellen Garfield
Morceaux de Cannes (2021)
Actor
Breakdowns of 1942 (1942)
as Self
All About Bette (1994)
as Self
Of Human Bondage (1934)
as Mildred Rogers
Miss Moffat (1974)
as Miss Moffat
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
as Fay Wilson
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
as Self
The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005)
as Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
Madonna: Madame X (2021)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Dead Ringer (1964)
as Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
The Anniversary (1968)
as Mrs. Taggart
A Stolen Life (1946)
as Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Wicked Stepmother (1989)
as Miranda Pierpoint
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
as Self
The Virgin Queen (1955)
as Queen Elizabeth I
The Disappearance of Aimee (1976)
as Minnie Kennedy
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
as Queen Elizabeth
Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mickey's 50 (1978)
as Self
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
as Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
The Great Lie (1941)
as Maggie Patterson Van Allen
Just Around the Corner (1933)
as Ginger
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire (2014)
as Self - Actress (archive footage)
Marked Woman (1937)
as Mary Dwight Strauber
Vito (2011)
as Self (archive)
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady (1982)
Actor
As Summers Die (1986)
as Hannah Loftin
Payment on Demand (1951)
as Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
Bette and Joan (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Now, Voyager (1942)
as Charlotte Vale
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
as Self
Old Acquaintance (1943)
as Kit Marlowe
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette (1978)
as Marie Van Schuyler
Fashions of 1934 (1934)
as Lynn Mason
Three on a Match (1932)
as Ruth Westcott
The Working Man (1933)
as Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
Watch on the Rhine (1943)
as Sara Müller
Dangerous (1935)
as Joyce Heath
The Big Shakedown (1934)
as Norma Nelson
The Man Who Played God (1932)
as Grace Blair
The Dark Horse (1932)
as Kay Russell
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
It's Love I'm After (1937)
as Joyce Arden
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
The Old Maid (1939)
as Charlotte Lovell
The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
as Madge Norwood
Fog Over Frisco (1934)
as Arlene Bradford
Bordertown (1935)
as Mrs. Marie Roark
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
Mike Wallace Is Here (2019)
as (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1944 (1944)
as Self
Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
as Self (archive footage)
The Fabulous Allan Carr (2017)
as Self (archive)
Breakdowns of 1949 (1949)
as Self
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
Complicated Women (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
The Empty Canvas (1963)
as Dino's Mother
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
Where Love Has Gone (1964)
as Mrs. Gerald Hayden
That Certain Woman (1937)
as Mary Donnell
Footsteps on the Ceiling (2013)
as Margo Channing (archive footage)
Showbiz Goes to War (1982)
as (archive footage)
Madame Sin (1972)
as Madame Sin
Show-Business at War (1943)
as Self
The Corn Is Green (1945)
as Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
The 42nd Street Special (1933)
as Self (uncredited)
Another Man's Poison (1951)
as Janet Frobisher
Parachute Jumper (1933)
as Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers (1985)
as Self (archive footage)
Ex-Lady (1933)
as Helen Bauer
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1986)
as archive footage
Breakdowns of 1937 (1937)
as Self
Bunny O'Hare (1971)
as Bunny O'Hare
Beyond the Forest (1949)
as Rosa Moline
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995)
as Self (archive footage)
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940)
as Self
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982)
as Esther McDonald Cimino
Way Back Home (1931)
as Mary Lucy Duffy
Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)
as Norma Roberts
In This Our Life (1942)
as Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
as (archive footage)
A Day at Santa Anita (1937)
as Bette Davis (uncredited)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
Storm Center (1956)
as Alicia Hull
The Sisters (1938)
as Louise Elliott Medlin
So Big! (1932)
as Miss Dallas O'Mara
The Star (1952)
as Margaret Elliot
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
Deception (1946)
as Christine Radcliffe
Family Reunion (1981)
as Elizabeth Winfield
The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972)
as Judge Meredith
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood (1987)
as (archive footage)
Jezebel: Legend of the South (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies (2001)
as Self (archive footage)
This Is Joan Collins (2022)
as Self (Archive Footage)
The Horror Show (1979)
as (archive footage)
The Golden Arrow (1936)
as Daisy Appleby
Breakdowns of 1936 (1936)
as Self
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning" (1936)
Actor
Shining Victory (1941)
Actor
The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
as Malbro
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
as Mrs. Elliott
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979)
as Lucy Mason
Seed (1931)
as Margaret Carter
The Voice That Thrilled the World (1943)
as Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
Bride of Trailer Camp (2001)
as (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1939 (1939)
as Self
Hairway to the Stars (1989)
as Self [Archive Footage]
Showbiz Ballyhoo (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
Winter Meeting (1948)
as Susan Grieve
A Dream Comes True (1935)
Actor
Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
White Mama (1980)
as Estelle Malone
Joan Crawford: Always the Star (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell (1995)
as Self (archive footage)
Right of Way (1983)
as Miniature Dwyer
Connecting Rooms (1970)
as Wanda Fleming
Skyward (1980)
as Billie Dupree
The Menace (1932)
as Peggy Lowell
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1) (1936)
as Self
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (2002)
as Self (archive footage)
A Present with a Future (1943)
as Mother
Backstory: 'All About Eve' (2000)
as Self (archive footage)
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill (1994)
as Self (archive footage)
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1983)
as Self
If I Forget You (1940)
as Bette Davis
Marilyn at the Movies (2011)
as Self (archive footage)
How Real is 'The Star'? (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
Stars on Horseback (1943)
Actor
The Decorator (1965)
as Liz
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor (1973)
as Self (archive footage)
Hell's House (1932)
as Peggy Gardner
The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935)
as Miriam A. Brady
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française (1986)
as Self
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis (2009)
as Self (archive footage)