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.
Movie | Mike Wallace Is Here | (archive footage) | 2019-07-26 |
Movie | Always at The Carlyle | Self (archive footage) | 2018-05-11 |
Movie | Listen to Me Marlon | Self (archive footage) | 2015-07-29 |
Movie | Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn | Self (archive footage) | 2015-08-18 |
Movie | And the Oscar Goes To... | Self (archive footage) | 2014-02-01 |
Movie | Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire | Self - Actress (archive footage) | 2014-09-20 |
Movie | The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka | Self (archive footage) | 2009-10-17 |
Movie | Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema | Self (archive footage) | 2007-05-23 |
Movie | Stardust: The Bette Davis Story | Self (archive footage) | 2006-05-03 |
Movie | The Adventures of Errol Flynn | Queen Elizabeth (archive footage) | 2005-04-05 |
Movie | Complicated Women | Self (archive footage) | 2003-05-06 |
Movie | Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies | Self (archive footage) | 2001-10-07 |
Movie | The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender | Self (archive footage) | 1997-11-01 |
Movie | Frank Capra's American Dream | Self (archive footage) | 1997-01-01 |
Movie | Joan Crawford: Always the Star | Self (archive footage) | 1996-09-30 |
Movie | All About Bette | Self | 1994-07-17 |
Movie | Wicked Stepmother | Miranda Pierpoint | 1989-02-03 |
Movie | The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind | Self (archive footage) | 1988-10-01 |
Movie | Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood | (archive footage) | 1987-06-26 |
Movie | The Whales of August | Libby Strong | 1987-10-14 |
Movie | As Summers Die | Hannah Loftin | 1986-05-18 |
Movie | Murder with Mirrors | Carrie Louise Serrocold | 1985-02-20 |
Movie | Terror in the Aisles | Baby Jane Hudson (Archive Footage) | 1984-10-26 |
Movie | Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1983-02-25 |
Movie | Right of Way | Miniature Dwyer | 1983-11-21 |
Movie | Night of 100 Stars | Self | 1982-03-08 |
Movie | Little Gloria... Happy at Last | Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt | 1982-10-24 |
Movie | Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid | (in "Deception") (archive footage) | 1982-05-21 |
Movie | Family Reunion | Elizabeth Winfield | 1981-10-11 |
Movie | White Mama | Estelle Malone | 1980-03-05 |
Movie | The Watcher in the Woods | Mrs. Aylwood | 1980-04-17 |
Movie | Skyward | Billie Dupree | 1980-11-20 |
Movie | The Horror Show | (archive footage) | 1979-02-06 |
Movie | Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter | Lucy Mason | 1979-05-13 |
Movie | Death on the Nile | Marie Van Schuyler | 1978-09-29 |
Series | The Dark Secret of Harvest Home | Widow Fortune | 1978-01-23 |
Movie | Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette | Marie Van Schuyler (archive footage) | 1978-01-01 |
Movie | Return from Witch Mountain | Letha Wedge | 1978-03-10 |
Movie | The Disappearance of Aimee | Minnie Kennedy | 1976-11-17 |
Movie | Scream, Pretty Peggy | Mrs. Elliott | 1973-11-24 |
Movie | Madame Sin | Madame Sin | 1972-01-15 |
Movie | The Judge and Jake Wyler | Judge Meredith | 1972-12-02 |
Movie | The Scopone Game | 'A vecchia | 1972-08-28 |
Movie | Bunny O'Hare | Bunny O'Hare | 1971-10-18 |
Movie | Connecting Rooms | Wanda Fleming | 1970-05-01 |
Movie | The Anniversary | Mrs. Taggart | 1968-02-07 |
Movie | The Nanny | Nanny | 1965-10-07 |
Movie | Hollywood My Home Town | Self (archive footage) | 1965-12-31 |
Movie | Dead Ringer | Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips | 1964-02-19 |
Movie | Where Love Has Gone | Mrs. Gerald Hayden | 1964-11-02 |
Movie | The Empty Canvas | Dino's Mother | 1963-12-04 |
Movie | Pocketful of Miracles | Apple Annie | 1961-12-18 |
Movie | John Paul Jones | Empress Catherine the Great | 1959-06-16 |
Movie | The Scapegoat | Countess | 1959-08-06 |
Movie | The Catered Affair | Mrs. Agnes Hurley | 1956-06-14 |
Movie | Storm Center | Alicia Hull | 1956-07-31 |
Movie | The Virgin Queen | Queen Elizabeth I | 1955-07-22 |
Movie | Phone Call from a Stranger | Marie Hoke | 1952-02-01 |
Movie | The Star | Margaret Elliot | 1952-12-11 |
Movie | Payment on Demand | Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson) | 1951-02-03 |
Movie | Another Man's Poison | Janet Frobisher | 1951-11-20 |
Movie | Beyond the Forest | Rosa Moline | 1949-10-21 |
Movie | Winter Meeting | Susan Grieve | 1948-04-07 |
Movie | June Bride | Linda Gilman | 1948-10-29 |
Movie | A Stolen Life | Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth | 1946-05-01 |
Movie | Deception | Christine Radcliffe | 1946-10-26 |
Movie | The Corn Is Green | Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat | 1945-03-29 |
Movie | Mr. Skeffington | Fanny Trellis | 1944-05-25 |
Movie | Hollywood Canteen | Self | 1944-12-15 |
Movie | Show-Business at War | Self | 1943-05-21 |
Movie | Thank Your Lucky Stars | Self | 1943-09-25 |
Movie | Watch on the Rhine | Sara Müller | 1943-08-27 |
Movie | In This Our Life | Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill | 1942-05-08 |
Movie | Now, Voyager | Charlotte Vale | 1942-10-22 |
Movie | Breakdowns of 1942 | Self | 1942-12-31 |
Movie | Shining Victory | 1941-05-30 | |
Movie | The Great Lie | Maggie Patterson Van Allen | 1941-04-05 |
Movie | The Bride Came C.O.D. | Joan Winfield | 1941-07-12 |
Movie | The Little Foxes | Regina Hubbard Giddens | 1941-08-29 |
Movie | The Man Who Came to Dinner | Maggie Cutler | 1941-12-24 |
Movie | Breakdowns of 1941 | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1941-11-14 |
Movie | All This, and Heaven Too | Henriette Deluzy-Desportes | 1940-07-05 |
Movie | Cavalcade of the Academy Awards | Self | 1940-07-31 |
Movie | The Letter | Leslie Crosbie | 1940-11-21 |
Movie | Dark Victory | Judith Traherne | 1939-04-20 |
Movie | Juarez | Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg | 1939-06-10 |
Movie | The Old Maid | Charlotte Lovell | 1939-08-16 |
Movie | The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex | Queen Elizabeth | 1939-11-11 |
Movie | The Sisters | Louise Elliott Medlin | 1938-10-14 |
Movie | Jezebel | Julie Marsden | 1938-03-26 |
Movie | Breakdowns of 1938 | Self (archive footage) | 1938-12-31 |
Movie | Marked Woman | Mary Dwight Strauber | 1937-04-10 |
Movie | A Day at Santa Anita | 1937-05-22 | |
Movie | Kid Galahad | Louise 'Fluff' Phillips | 1937-05-29 |
Movie | Breakdowns of 1937 | Self | 1937-12-31 |
Movie | It's Love I'm After | Joyce Arden | 1937-10-08 |
Movie | That Certain Woman | Mary Donnell/Mme Al Haines | 1937-08-30 |
Movie | The Petrified Forest | Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple | 1936-02-08 |
Movie | The Golden Arrow | Daisy Appleby | 1936-05-23 |
Movie | Breakdowns of 1936 | Self | 1936-12-30 |
Movie | Satan Met a Lady | Valerie Purvis | 1936-07-22 |
Movie | Bordertown | Mrs. Marie Roark | 1935-01-23 |
Movie | The Girl from 10th Avenue | Miriam A. Brady | 1935-06-01 |
Movie | Front Page Woman | Ellen Garfield | 1935-07-11 |
Movie | A Dream Comes True | 1935-12-31 | |
Movie | Dangerous | Joyce Heath | 1935-12-25 |
Movie | Special Agent | Julie Gardner | 1935-09-14 |
Movie | Fashions of 1934 | Lynn Mason | 1934-02-14 |
Movie | The Big Shakedown | Norma Nelson | 1934-01-06 |
Movie | Jimmy the Gent | Joan Martin | 1934-03-09 |
Movie | Housewife | Patricia Berkeley | 1934-08-11 |
Movie | Fog Over Frisco | Arlene Bradford | 1934-06-02 |
Movie | Of Human Bondage | Mildred Rogers | 1934-07-20 |
Movie | Parachute Jumper | Patricia 'Alabama' Brent | 1933-01-28 |
Movie | Just Around the Corner | Ginger | 1933-01-17 |
Movie | Ex-Lady | Helen Bauer | 1933-05-15 |
Movie | The Working Man | Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey | 1933-04-20 |
Movie | Bureau of Missing Persons | Norma Roberts | 1933-09-16 |
Movie | The Man Who Played God | Grace Blair | 1932-02-09 |
Movie | The Menace | Peggy Lowell | 1932-01-29 |
Movie | Hell's House | Peggy Gardner | 1932-01-30 |
Movie | So Big! | Miss Dallas O'Mara | 1932-04-30 |
Movie | The Rich Are Always with Us | Malbro | 1932-05-19 |
Movie | The Cabin in the Cotton | Madge Norwood | 1932-09-26 |
Movie | Three on a Match | Ruth Westcott | 1932-10-29 |
Movie | The Dark Horse | Kay Russell | 1932-06-16 |
Movie | The Bad Sister | Laura Madison | 1931-03-29 |
Movie | Seed | Margaret Carter | 1931-05-14 |
Movie | Waterloo Bridge | Janet Cronin | 1931-09-01 |
Movie | Way Back Home | Mary Lucy Duffy | 1931-11-13 |
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