Bette Davis

Personal Info

Known For Actor

Gender Female

Birthday 1908-04-05

Deathday 1989-10-06 (81 years old)

Place of Birth Lowell, Massachusetts, USA

Also Known As The First Lady of Film, Ruth Elizabeth Davis, The Fourth Warner Brother, 베티 데이비스, Μπέτι Ντέιβις, Бетт Дейвіс

Bette Davis

Biography

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

Actor

2024
Faye

as Self - Actor (archive footage)

2024
Faye

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

2021
Madonna: Madame X

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

2019
Mike Wallace Is Here

as (archive footage)

2018
2018
Always at The Carlyle

as Self (archive footage)

2017
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life

as Self (archive footage)

2017
Bette and Joan

as Self (archive footage)

2015
Listen to Me Marlon

as Self (archive footage)

2014
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

as Self - Actress (archive footage)

2014
And the Oscar Goes To...

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored

as Self (archive footage)

2013
Footsteps on the Ceiling

as Margo Channing (archive footage)

2013
Talking Pictures

as Self (archive footage)

2009
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka

as Self (archive footage)

2009
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis

as Self (archive footage)

2009
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

as Self (archive footage)

2006
Jezebel: Legend of the South

as Self (archive footage)

2006
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story

as Self (archive footage)

2006
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition

as Self (archive footage)

2005
2005
The Adventures of Errol Flynn

as Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)

2003
Complicated Women

as Self (archive footage)

2001
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies

as Self (archive footage)

2000
Backstory: 'All About Eve'

as Self (archive footage)

1998
Parkinson

as Self (archive footage)

1997
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender

as Self (archive footage)

1997
Frank Capra's American Dream

as Self (archive footage)

1996
Joan Crawford: Always the Star

as Self (archive footage)

1996
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis

as Self (archive footage)

1994
1993
Intimate Portrait

as Self (archive footage)

1989
Wicked Stepmother

as Miranda Pierpoint

1989
Hairway to the Stars

as Self [Archive Footage]

1988
1987
The Whales of August

as Libby Strong

1987
1986
As Summers Die

as Hannah Loftin

1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend

as Self (from All About Eve [1950]) (archive footage)

1985
Murder with Mirrors

as Carrie Louise Serrocold

1985
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers

as Self (archive footage)

1984
Going Hollywood: The '30s

as (archive footage)

1983
Right of Way

as Miniature Dwyer

1983
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1982
Showbiz Goes to War

as (archive footage)

1982
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

as (in "Deception") (archive footage)

1982
1982
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino

as Esther McDonald Cimino

1982
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!

as Self (archive footage)

1982
Little Gloria... Happy at Last

as Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt

1981
Family Reunion

as Elizabeth Winfield

1980
Skyward

as Billie Dupree

1980
The Watcher in the Woods

as Mrs. Aylwood

1980
White Mama

as Estelle Malone

1979
The Horror Show

as (archive footage)

1978
Death on the Nile

as Marie Van Schuyler

1978
1978
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette

as Marie Van Schuyler (archive footage)

1978
1977
Laugh-In

as Self

1976
The Disappearance of Aimee

as Minnie Kennedy

1976
Burnt Offerings

as Aunt Elizabeth

1973
Scream, Pretty Peggy

as Mrs. Elliott

1973
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor

as Self (archive footage)

1972
Bette Davis

as Self

1972
The Judge and Jake Wyler

as Judge Meredith

1972
The Scopone Game

as 'A vecchia

1972
Madame Sin

as Madame Sin

1971
Bunny O'Hare

as Bunny O'Hare

1971
1970
Connecting Rooms

as Wanda Fleming

1968
The Anniversary

as Mrs. Taggart

1968
The Dick Cavett Show

as Self - Guest

1968
It Takes a Thief

as Bessie Grindel

1965
The Nanny

as Nanny

1965
1964
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte

as Charlotte Hollis

1964
Where Love Has Gone

as Mrs. Gerald Hayden

1964
Hollywood and the Stars

as (archive footage)

1964
Dead Ringer

as Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips

1963
The Empty Canvas

as Dino's Mother

1962
1962
The Virginian

as Celia Miller

1961
Pocketful of Miracles

as Apple Annie

1961
The Mike Douglas Show

as Self - Co-Host

1959
The Scapegoat

as Countess

1959
John Paul Jones

as Empress Catherine the Great

1957
Suspicion

as Mrs. Wilfred Ellis

1957
Perry Mason

as Constant Doyle

1957
Wagon Train

as Ella Lindstrom

1956
Storm Center

as Alicia Hull

1956
The Catered Affair

as Mrs. Agnes Hurley

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Presenter

1955
The Virgin Queen

as Queen Elizabeth I

1955
1955
Gunsmoke

as Etta Stone

1954
1953
The Oscars

as Self

1953
General Electric Theater

as Miss Burrows

1953
General Electric Theater

as Christine Marlowe

1952
The Star

as Margaret Elliot

1952
1952
The Ford Television Theatre

as Dolley Madison

1951
Another Man's Poison

as Janet Frobisher

1951
Payment on Demand

as Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)

1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, Aimee's mother

1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

as Irene Van Buren

1950
All About Eve

as Margo Channing

1950
What's My Line?

as Self - Mystery Guest

1949
1949
Beyond the Forest

as Rosa Moline

1948
June Bride

as Linda Gilman

1948
Winter Meeting

as Susan Grieve

1946
Deception

as Christine Radcliffe

1946
A Stolen Life

as Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth

1945
The Corn Is Green

as Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat

1944
1944
1944
Mr. Skeffington

as Fanny Trellis

1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Presenter

1943
Old Acquaintance

as Kit Marlowe

1943
The Voice That Thrilled the World

as Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)

1943
Watch on the Rhine

as Sara Müller

1942
1942
Now, Voyager

as Charlotte Vale

1942
In This Our Life

as Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill

1941
1941
Breakdowns of 1941

as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

1941
The Little Foxes

as Regina Hubbard Giddens

1941
The Bride Came C.O.D.

as Joan Winfield

1941
The Great Lie

as Maggie Patterson Van Allen

1940
The Letter

as Leslie Crosbie

1940
All This, and Heaven Too

as Henriette Deluzy-Desportes

1940
If I Forget You

as Bette Davis

1939
1939
The Old Maid

as Charlotte Lovell

1939
Juarez

as Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg

1939
Dark Victory

as Judith Traherne

1938
Breakdowns of 1938

as Self (archive footage)

1938
The Sisters

as Louise Elliott Medlin

1938
Jezebel

as Julie Marsden

1937
1937
It's Love I'm After

as Joyce Arden

1937
That Certain Woman

as Mary Donnell/Mme Al Haines

1937
Kid Galahad

as Louise 'Fluff' Phillips

1937
Marked Woman

as Mary Dwight Strauber

1936
1936
Satan Met a Lady

as Valerie Purvis

1936
The Golden Arrow

as Daisy Appleby

1936
The Petrified Forest

as Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple

1935
Dangerous

as Joyce Heath

1935
Special Agent

as Julie Gardner

1935
Front Page Woman

as Ellen Garfield

1935
The Girl from 10th Avenue

as Miriam A. Brady

1935
Bordertown

as Mrs. Marie Roark

1934
Housewife

as Patricia Berkeley

1934
Of Human Bondage

as Mildred Rogers

1934
Fog Over Frisco

as Arlene Bradford

1934
Jimmy the Gent

as Joan Martin

1934
Fashions of 1934

as Lynn Mason

1934
The Big Shakedown

as Norma Nelson

1933
Bureau of Missing Persons

as Norma Roberts

1933
Ex-Lady

as Helen Bauer

1933
The Working Man

as Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey

1933
The 42nd Street Special

as Self (uncredited)

1933
Parachute Jumper

as Patricia 'Alabama' Brent

1932
1932
Three on a Match

as Ruth Westcott

1932
The Cabin in the Cotton

as Madge Norwood

1932
The Dark Horse

as Kay Russell

1932
So Big!

as Miss Dallas O'Mara

1932
The Man Who Played God

as Grace Blair

1932
Hell's House

as Peggy Gardner

1932
The Menace

as Peggy Lowell

1931
Way Back Home

as Mary Lucy Duffy

1931
Waterloo Bridge

as Janet Cronin

1931
Seed

as Margaret Carter

1931
The Bad Sister

as Laura Madison

Producer

1946
A Stolen Life

as Producer