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
Now, Voyager (1942)
as Charlotte Vale
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
as Apple Annie
The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
as Mrs. Aylwood
Jezebel (1938)
as Julie Marsden
Burnt Offerings (1976)
as Aunt Elizabeth
Return from Witch Mountain (1978)
as Letha Wedge
Of Human Bondage (1934)
as Mildred Rogers
The Little Foxes (1941)
as Regina Hubbard Giddens
Dead Ringer (1964)
as Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
The Petrified Forest (1936)
as Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
June Bride (1948)
as Linda Gilman
The Letter (1940)
as Leslie Crosbie
John Paul Jones (1959)
as Empress Catherine the Great
Juarez (1939)
as Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
Marked Woman (1937)
as Mary Dwight Strauber
The Whales of August (1987)
as Libby Strong
Dark Victory (1939)
as Judith Traherne
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995)
as Self (archive footage)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941)
as Maggie Cutler
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
as Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
as Queen Elizabeth
Morceaux de Cannes (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
In This Our Life (1942)
as Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
The Great Lie (1941)
as Maggie Patterson Van Allen
Kid Galahad (1937)
as Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
The Old Maid (1939)
as Charlotte Lovell
Wicked Stepmother (1989)
as Miranda Pierpoint
Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)
as Marie Hoke
Watch on the Rhine (1943)
as Sara Müller
The Nanny (1965)
as Nanny
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire (2014)
as Self - Actress (archive footage)
Housewife (1934)
as Patricia Berkeley
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2018)
as Self (archive footage)
Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
Murder with Mirrors (1985)
as Carrie Louise Serrocold
Night of 100 Stars (1982)
as Self
The Scapegoat (1959)
as Countess
Special Agent (1935)
as Julie Gardner
That Certain Woman (1937)
as Mary Donnell
The Horror Show (1979)
as (archive footage)
Waterloo Bridge (1931)
as Janet Cronin
Mike Wallace Is Here (2019)
as (archive footage)
The Virgin Queen (1955)
as Queen Elizabeth I
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
as Fay Wilson
Listen to Me Marlon (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
The Bride Came C.O.D. (1941)
as Joan Winfield
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender (1997)
as Self (archive footage)
Deception (1946)
as Christine Radcliffe
The Fabulous Allan Carr (2017)
as Self (archive)
A Stolen Life (1946)
as Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Show-Business at War (1943)
as Self
This Is Joan Collins (2022)
as Self (Archive Footage)
Hollywood Canteen (1944)
as Self
Three on a Match (1932)
as Ruth Westcott
The Bad Sister (1931)
as Laura Madison
Dangerous (1935)
as Joyce Heath
Madame Sin (1972)
as Madame Sin
The Sisters (1938)
as Louise Elliott Medlin
Front Page Woman (1935)
as Ellen Garfield
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940)
as Self
The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
as Madge Norwood
The Anniversary (1968)
as Mrs. Taggart
Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
as Self
Madonna: Madame X (2021)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell (1995)
as Self (archive footage)
Satan Met a Lady (1936)
as Valerie Purvis
Fog Over Frisco (1934)
as Arlene Bradford
The Scopone Game (1972)
as 'A vecchia
Directed by William Wyler (1986)
as Self
The Catered Affair (1956)
as Agnes Hurley
The Disappearance of Aimee (1976)
as Minnie Kennedy
Old Acquaintance (1943)
as Kit Marlowe
Right of Way (1983)
as Miniature Dwyer
Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Bordertown (1935)
as Mrs. Marie Roark
Where Love Has Gone (1964)
as Mrs. Gerald Hayden
Another Man's Poison (1951)
as Janet Frobisher
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood (1987)
as (archive footage)
Beyond the Forest (1949)
as Rosa Moline
Payment on Demand (1951)
as Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend (1986)
as archive footage
Complicated Women (2003)
as Self (archive footage)
Showbiz Goes to War (1982)
as (archive footage)
Storm Center (1956)
as Alicia Hull
It's Love I'm After (1937)
as Joyce Arden
The Empty Canvas (1963)
as Dino's Mother
Bette Davis (1972)
as Self
The Man Who Played God (1932)
as Grace Blair
Bunny O'Hare (1971)
as Bunny O'Hare
Vito (2011)
as Self (archive)
Breakdowns of 1942 (1942)
as Self
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979)
as Lucy Mason
Mickey's 50 (1978)
as Self
Joan Crawford: Always the Star (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988)
as Self (archive footage)
Jimmy the Gent (1934)
as Joan Martin
As Summers Die (1986)
as Hannah Loftin
Breakdowns of 1944 (1944)
as Self
Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)
as Norma Roberts
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Way Back Home (1931)
as Mary Lucy Duffy
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers (1985)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1983)
as Self
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007)
as Self (archive footage)
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers! (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady (1982)
Actor
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (2002)
as Self (archive footage)
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored (2013)
as Self (archive footage)
Family Reunion (1981)
as Elizabeth Winfield
The Star (1952)
as Margaret Elliot
The Corn Is Green (1945)
as Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
Hello Mother, Goodbye! (1974)
as Mother
The Working Man (1933)
as Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
Skyward (1980)
as Billie Dupree
Parachute Jumper (1933)
as Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
Miss Moffat (1974)
as Miss Moffat
The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
as Malbro
The Adventures of Errol Flynn (2005)
as Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
White Mama (1980)
as Estelle Malone
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor (1973)
as Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
as Self (archive footage)
Marilyn at the Movies (2011)
as Self (archive footage)
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill (1994)
as Self (archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)
as (archive footage)
The Menace (1932)
as Peggy Lowell
Fashions of 1934 (1934)
as Lynn Mason
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972)
as Judge Meredith
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982)
as Esther McDonald Cimino
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1937 (1937)
as Self
Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2015)
as Self (archive footage)
So Big! (1932)
as Miss Dallas O'Mara
The Voice That Thrilled the World (1943)
as Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1936 (1936)
as Self
Bette and Joan (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935)
as Miriam A. Brady
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1) (1936)
as Self
The 42nd Street Special (1933)
as Self (uncredited)
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
All About Bette (1994)
as Self
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
Ex-Lady (1933)
as Helen Bauer
Just Around the Corner (1933)
as Ginger
The Big Shakedown (1934)
as Norma Nelson
Shining Victory (1941)
Actor
The Dark Horse (1932)
as Kay Russell
Breakdowns of 1949 (1949)
as Self
The Decorator (1965)
as Liz
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette (1978)
as Marie Van Schuyler
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies (2001)
as Self (archive footage)
Footsteps on the Ceiling (2013)
as Margo Channing (archive footage)
South of Reno (1988)
Actor
A Dream Comes True (1935)
Actor
Connecting Rooms (1970)
as Wanda Fleming
Hairway to the Stars (1989)
as Self [Archive Footage]
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis (1996)
as Self (archive footage)
Seed (1931)
as Margaret Carter
Breakdowns of 1939 (1939)
as Self
Stars on Horseback (1943)
Actor
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning" (1936)
Actor
A Day at Santa Anita (1937)
as Bette Davis (uncredited)
Winter Meeting (1948)
as Susan Grieve
The Golden Arrow (1936)
as Daisy Appleby
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life (2017)
as Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française (1986)
as Self
Showbiz Ballyhoo (1982)
as Self (archive footage)
Backstory: 'All About Eve' (2000)
as Self (archive footage)
Hell's House (1932)
as Peggy Gardner
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
as Mrs. Elliott
How Real is 'The Star'? (2005)
as Self (archive footage)
Bride of Trailer Camp (2001)
as (archive footage)
If I Forget You (1940)
as Bette Davis
Jezebel: Legend of the South (2006)
as Self (archive footage)
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis (2009)
as Self (archive footage)
A Present with a Future (1943)
as Mother