Bette Davis
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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
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
as (in "Deception") (archive footage)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
as Charlotte Hollis
Mr. Skeffington (1944)
as Fanny Trellis
Return from Witch Mountain (1978)
as Letha Wedge
Dark Victory (1939)
as Judith Traherne
Now, Voyager (1942)
as Charlotte Vale
The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
as Mrs. Aylwood
Dead Ringer (1964)
as Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
The Virgin Queen (1955)
as Queen Elizabeth I
The Corn Is Green (1945)
as Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
as Apple Annie
Burnt Offerings (1976)
as Aunt Elizabeth
Jezebel (1938)
as Julie Marsden
The Little Foxes (1941)
as Regina Hubbard Giddens
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
as Maggie Cutler
Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
Marked Woman (1937)
as Mary Dwight Strauber
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1986)
as archive footage
June Bride (1948)
as Linda Gilman
The Whales of August (1987)
as Libby Strong
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Housewife (1934)
as Patricia Berkeley
Listen to Me Marlon (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
as Self
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
as Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
as Marie Hoke
John Paul Jones (1959)
as Empress Catherine the Great
Directed by William Wyler (1986)
as Self
The Disappearance of Aimee (1976)
as Minnie Kennedy
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire (2014)
as Self - Actress (archive footage)
The Scapegoat (1959)
as Countess
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
as Fay Wilson
In This Our Life (1942)
as Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
Of Human Bondage (1934)
as Mildred Rogers
Juarez (1939)
as Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
Morceaux de Cannes (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
as Queen Elizabeth
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies (2001)
as Self (archive footage)
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995)
as Self (archive footage)
Watch on the Rhine (1943)
as Sara Müller
Where Love Has Gone (1964)
as Mrs. Gerald Hayden
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
as Self
The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005)
as Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Jimmy the Gent (1934)
as Joan Martin
This Is Joan Collins (2022)
as Self (Archive Footage)
Kid Galahad (1937)
as Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
Mike Wallace Is Here (2019)
as (archive footage)
The Catered Affair (1956)
as Agnes Hurley
Three on a Match (1932)
as Ruth Westcott
Madonna: Madame X (2021)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis (1972)
as Self
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
as Valerie Purvis
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood (1987)
as (archive footage)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
as Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
The Fabulous Allan Carr (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982)
as Esther McDonald Cimino
The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
as Joan Winfield
Murder with Mirrors (1985)
as Carrie Louise Serrocold
The Letter (1940)
as Leslie Crosbie
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell (1995)
as Self (archive footage)
The Voice That Thrilled the World (1943)
as Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972)
as Judge Meredith
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
The Man Who Played God (1932)
as Grace Blair
A Stolen Life (1946)
as Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Show-Business at War (1943)
as Self
The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
as Malbro
The Nanny (1965)
as Nanny
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
as (archive footage)
A Dream Comes True (1935)
Actor
Showbiz Goes to War (1982)
as (archive footage)
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers (1985)
as Self (archive footage)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
as Madge Norwood
It's Love I'm After (1937)
as Joyce Arden
Family Reunion (1981)
as Elizabeth Winfield
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady (1982)
as Self
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1942 (1942)
as Self
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
as Self
Wicked Stepmother (1989)
as Miranda Pierpoint
The Great Lie (1941)
as Maggie Patterson Van Allen
The Anniversary (1968)
as Mrs. Taggart
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940)
as Self
Footsteps on the Ceiling (2013)
as Margo Channing (archive footage)
Waterloo Bridge (1931)
as Janet Cronin
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
Special Agent (1935)
as Julie Gardner
Just Around the Corner (1933)
as Ginger
Another Man's Poison (1951)
as Janet Frobisher
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979)
as Lucy Mason
The Bad Sister (1931)
as Laura Madison
Fashions of 1934 (1934)
as Lynn Mason
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (2002)
as Self (archive footage)
Backstory: 'All About Eve' (2000)
as Self (archive footage)
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)
as Self (archive footage)
Fog Over Frisco (1934)
as Arlene Bradford
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1) (1936)
as Self
Marilyn at the Movies (2011)
as Self (archive footage)
Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
Right of Way (1983)
as Miniature Dwyer
Miss Moffat (1974)
as Miss Moffat
The 42nd Street Special (1933)
as Self (uncredited)
Payment on Demand (1951)
as Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
The Star (1952)
as Margaret Elliot
Jezebel: Legend of the South (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935)
as Miriam A. Brady
Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)
as Norma Roberts
Front Page Woman (1935)
as Ellen Garfield
The Sisters (1938)
as Louise Elliott Medlin
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Way Back Home (1931)
as Mary Lucy Duffy
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
The Scopone Game (1972)
as 'A vecchia
Storm Center (1956)
as Alicia Hull
Old Acquaintance (1943)
as Kit Marlowe
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette (1978)
as Marie Van Schuyler
The Horror Show (1979)
as (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
as Self (archive footage)
Dangerous (1935)
as Joyce Heath
The Old Maid (1939)
as Charlotte Lovell
Madame Sin (1972)
as Madame Sin
White Mama (1980)
as Estelle Malone
That Certain Woman (1937)
as Mary Donnell
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill (1994)
as Self (archive footage)
Beyond the Forest (1949)
as Rosa Moline
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning" (1936)
Actor
All About Bette (1994)
as Self
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
Deception (1946)
as Christine Radcliffe
Complicated Women (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1944 (1944)
as Self
Bride of Trailer Camp (2001)
as (archive footage)
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1983)
as Self
Breakdowns of 1949 (1949)
as Self
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor (1973)
as Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford: Always the Star (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Working Man (1933)
as Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
How Real is 'The Star'? (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
As Summers Die (1986)
as Hannah Loftin
A Present with a Future (1943)
as Mother
Bordertown (1935)
as Mrs. Marie Roark
Breakdowns of 1937 (1937)
as Self
A Day at Santa Anita (1937)
as Bette Davis (uncredited)
The Dark Horse (1932)
as Kay Russell
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
Parachute Jumper (1933)
as Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
If I Forget You (1940)
as Bette Davis
Mickey's 50 (1978)
as Self
Ex-Lady (1933)
as Helen Bauer
Bunny O'Hare (1971)
as Bunny O'Hare
Hairway to the Stars (1989)
as Self [Archive Footage]
The Golden Arrow (1936)
as Daisy Appleby
Vito (2011)
as Self (archive footage)
The Empty Canvas (1963)
as Dino's Mother
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
as Mrs. Elliott
The Big Shakedown (1934)
as Norma Nelson
Breakdowns of 1936 (1936)
as Self
Hello Mother, Goodbye! (1974)
as Mother
Connecting Rooms (1970)
as Wanda Fleming
So Big! (1932)
as Miss Dallas O'Mara
Bette and Joan (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
Skyward (1980)
as Billie Dupree
South of Reno (1988)
Actor
Hell's House (1932)
as Peggy Gardner
Shining Victory (1941)
Actor
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française (1986)
as Self
Seed (1931)
as Margaret Carter
Breakdowns of 1939 (1939)
as Self
Stars on Horseback (1943)
Actor
The Decorator (1965)
as Liz
Showbiz Ballyhoo (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
The Menace (1932)
as Peggy Lowell
Winter Meeting (1948)
as Susan Grieve