Bette Davis
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
Perry Mason
Constant Doyle
Wagon Train
Ella Lindstrom
Wagon Train
Madame Elizabeth McQueeny
The Virginian
Celia Miller
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
Gunsmoke
Etta Stone
Intimate Portrait
Self (archive footage)
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
Dinah!
Self
What's My Line?
Self
The Oscars
Self
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Miss Fox
Burnt Offerings
Aunt Elizabeth
Dark Victory
Judith Traherne
All About Eve
Margo Channing
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
(in "Deception") (archive footage)
Waterloo Bridge
Janet Cronin
The Ford Television Theatre
Dolley Madison
The Kennedy Center Honors
Self
Skyward
Billie Dupree
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Charlotte Hollis
Another Man's Poison
Janet Frobisher
The Scopone Game
'A vecchia
Deception
Christine Radcliffe
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Marie Hoke
It Takes a Thief
Bessie Grindel
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Self
Telephone Time
Death on the Nile
Marie Van Schuyler
Kid Galahad
Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Self (archive footage)
Now, Voyager
Charlotte Vale
The Star
Margaret Elliot
Satan Met a Lady
Valerie Purvis
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Sarah Whitney
The Hollywood Palace
Self
The Virgin Queen
Queen Elizabeth I
Madame Sin
Madame Sin
Three on a Match
Ruth Westcott
The Old Maid
Charlotte Lovell
In This Our Life
Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
Connecting Rooms
Wanda Fleming
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
Pocketful of Miracles
Apple Annie
The Catered Affair
Mrs. Agnes Hurley
Winter Meeting
Susan Grieve
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
The Anniversary
Mrs. Taggart
The Petrified Forest
Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Maggie Cutler
Bureau of Missing Persons
Norma Roberts
The Little Foxes
Regina Hubbard Giddens
Jimmy the Gent
Joan Martin
Wicked Stepmother
Miranda Pierpoint
The Watcher in the Woods
Mrs. Aylwood
Where Love Has Gone
Mrs. Gerald Hayden
The Letter
Leslie Crosbie
Special Agent
Julie Gardner
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
Suspicion
Mrs. Wilfred Ellis
The Menace
Peggy Lowell
The Nanny
Nanny
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Fay Wilson
All This, and Heaven Too
Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
Mike Wallace Is Here
(archive footage)
Show-Business at War
Self
Of Human Bondage
Mildred Rogers
The Cabin in the Cotton
Madge Norwood
Night of 100 Stars
Self
The Empty Canvas
Dino's Mother
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
Self
Backstory: 'All About Eve'
Self (archive footage)
Fashions of 1934
Lynn Mason
Bordertown
Mrs. Marie Roark
The Girl from 10th Avenue
Miriam A. Brady
The Working Man
Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
Scream, Pretty Peggy
Mrs. Elliott
That Certain Woman
Mary Donnell
Hollywood Canteen
Self
Phone Call from a Stranger
Marie Hoke
The Bride Came C.O.D.
Joan Winfield
Beyond the Forest
Rosa Moline
Frank Capra's American Dream
Self (archive footage)
Right of Way
Miniature Dwyer
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
John Paul Jones
Empress Catherine the Great
The Scapegoat
Countess
Bride of Trailer Camp
(archive footage)
The Rich Are Always with Us
Malbro
The Man Who Played God
Grace Blair
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
Talking Pictures
Self (archive footage)
Hell's House
Peggy Gardner
So Big!
Miss Dallas O'Mara
The Decorator
Liz
The Disappearance of Aimee
Minnie Kennedy
Seed
Margaret Carter
Breakdowns of 1942
Self
The Great Lie
Maggie Patterson Van Allen
Mickey's 50
Self
The Golden Arrow
Daisy Appleby
A Day at Santa Anita
Bette Davis (uncredited)
Watch on the Rhine
Sara Müller
Stars on Horseback
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Baby Jane Hudson
Ex-Lady
Helen Bauer
Reflets de Cannes
Self
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Self (archive footage)
Shining Victory
Showbiz Goes to War
(archive footage)
Juarez
Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
Lucy Mason
Parachute Jumper
Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
The Dark Horse
Kay Russell
Breakdowns of 1936
Self
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
As Summers Die
Hannah Loftin
Breakdowns of 1938
Self (archive footage)
Housewife
Patricia Berkeley
A Dream Comes True
The Whales of August
Libby Strong
Dangerous
Joyce Heath
Payment on Demand
Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
The Andy Williams Christmas Show
Mr. Skeffington
Fanny Trellis
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
A Present with a Future
Mother
Return from Witch Mountain
Letha Wedge
Listen to Me Marlon
Self (archive footage)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Self (archive footage)
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, Aimee's mother
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Self
Breakdowns of 1937
Self
The Big Shakedown
Norma Nelson
Directed by William Wyler
Self
Breakdowns of 1939
Self
The Sisters
Louise Elliott Medlin
The World of Hammer
Self (archive footage)
Marked Woman
Mary Dwight Strauber
Breakdowns of 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
(archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1949
Self
Madonna: Madame X
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Murder with Mirrors
Carrie Louise Serrocold
White Mama
Estelle Malone
Fog Over Frisco
Arlene Bradford
Jezebel
Julie Marsden
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt
General Electric Theater
Miss Burrows
General Electric Theater
Christine Marlowe
June Bride
Linda Gilman
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Self (archive footage)
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Irene Van Buren
Bunny O'Hare
Bunny O'Hare
The Bad Sister
Laura Madison
Breakdowns of 1944
Self
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
Widow Fortune
Laugh-In
Guest Performer
The 42nd Street Special
Self (uncredited)
Dead Ringer
Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
Self (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor
Self (archive footage)
Front Page Woman
Ellen Garfield
Way Back Home
Mary Lucy Duffy
The Corn Is Green
Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
Bette Davis
Self
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka
Self (archive footage)
A Stolen Life
Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Footsteps on the Ceiling
Margo Channing (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Queen Elizabeth
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
Self - Actress (archive footage)
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Self
It's Love I'm After
Joyce Arden
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
The Voice That Thrilled the World
Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Self (archive footage)
Old Acquaintance
Kit Marlowe
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life
Self (archive footage)
Storm Center
Alicia Hull
Family Reunion
Elizabeth Winfield
Family Reunion
Elizabeth Winfield
If I Forget You
Bette Davis
The Judge and Jake Wyler
Judge Meredith
Hairway to the Stars
Self [Archive Footage]
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis
Self (archive footage)
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
Esther McDonald Cimino
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
Mother
Just Around the Corner
Ginger
All About Bette
Self
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
Self (archive footage)
Bette and Joan
Self (archive footage)
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
Self (archive footage)
Jezebel: Legend of the South
Self (archive footage)
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
Self (archive footage)
Showbiz Ballyhoo
Self (archive footage)
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
Self (archive footage)
Miss Moffat
Miss Moffat
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
Self - Co-Host
The Merv Griffin Show
Self
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
V.I.P. Schaukel
Self