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