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
Wagon Train
Ella Lindstrom
Perry Mason
Constant Doyle
Telephone Time
The Ford Television Theatre
Dolley Madison
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
It Takes a Thief
Bessie Grindel
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Sarah Whitney
The Kennedy Center Honors
Self
The Oscars
Self
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Self
Suspicion
Mrs. Wilfred Ellis
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
The Virginian
Celia Miller
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Miss Fox
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
Gunsmoke
Etta Stone
Talking Pictures
Self (archive footage)
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Marie Hoke
Intimate Portrait
Self (archive footage)
What's My Line?
Self
Dinah!
Self
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, Aimee's mother
Death on the Nile
Marie Van Schuyler
General Electric Theater
Miss Burrows
General Electric Theater
Christine Marlowe
Hell's House
Peggy Gardner
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Irene Van Buren
All About Eve
Margo Channing
The Hollywood Palace
Self
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Baby Jane Hudson
The Petrified Forest
Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
The Scopone Game
'A vecchia
Reflets de Cannes
Self
Another Man's Poison
Janet Frobisher
Now, Voyager
Charlotte Vale
Jimmy the Gent
Joan Martin
Pocketful of Miracles
Apple Annie
The Big Shakedown
Norma Nelson
Jezebel
Julie Marsden
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Charlotte Hollis
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Maggie Cutler
Dark Victory
Judith Traherne
Where Love Has Gone
Mrs. Gerald Hayden
Laugh-In
Guest Performer
Dead Ringer
Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
Phone Call from a Stranger
Marie Hoke
The Little Foxes
Regina Hubbard Giddens
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Queen Elizabeth
Watch on the Rhine
Sara Müller
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
Self - Actress (archive footage)
Return from Witch Mountain
Letha Wedge
Always at The Carlyle
Self (archive footage)
Faye
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Faye
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
And the Oscar Goes To...
Self (archive footage)
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
Widow Fortune
The Bad Sister
Laura Madison
The Watcher in the Woods
Mrs. Aylwood
The Whales of August
Libby Strong
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
(in "Deception") (archive footage)
The Nanny
Nanny
Burnt Offerings
Aunt Elizabeth
Deception
Christine Radcliffe
Hollywood Canteen
Self
Wicked Stepmother
Miranda Pierpoint
Marked Woman
Mary Dwight Strauber
Of Human Bondage
Mildred Rogers
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt
The Disappearance of Aimee
Minnie Kennedy
The Man Who Played God
Grace Blair
The Letter
Leslie Crosbie
The Virgin Queen
Queen Elizabeth I
Kid Galahad
Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
Mr. Skeffington
Fanny Trellis
Bride of Trailer Camp
(archive footage)
The Star
Margaret Elliot
Old Acquaintance
Kit Marlowe
As Summers Die
Hannah Loftin
The Catered Affair
Mrs. Agnes Hurley
The Old Maid
Charlotte Lovell
All This, and Heaven Too
Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Fay Wilson
Madonna: Madame X
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Juarez
Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
The Empty Canvas
Dino's Mother
John Paul Jones
Empress Catherine the Great
Waterloo Bridge
Janet Cronin
Listen to Me Marlon
Self (archive footage)
A Stolen Life
Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Bureau of Missing Persons
Norma Roberts
Murder with Mirrors
Carrie Louise Serrocold
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Three on a Match
Ruth Westcott
In This Our Life
Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
The Scapegoat
Countess
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Madame Sin
Madame Sin
Showbiz Goes to War
(archive footage)
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
Winter Meeting
Susan Grieve
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
(archive footage)
Fashions of 1934
Lynn Mason
The Great Lie
Maggie Patterson Van Allen
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
Esther McDonald Cimino
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
Self (from All About Eve [1950]) (archive footage)
Directed by William Wyler
Self
The Sisters
Louise Elliott Medlin
Night of 100 Stars
Self
Mickey's 50
Self
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Self (archive footage)
Dangerous
Joyce Heath
Payment on Demand
Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1942
Self
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Self
Skyward
Billie Dupree
Bordertown
Mrs. Marie Roark
Fog Over Frisco
Arlene Bradford
Front Page Woman
Ellen Garfield
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Decorator
Liz
Connecting Rooms
Wanda Fleming
That Certain Woman
Mary Donnell/Mme Al Haines
Storm Center
Alicia Hull
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
Beyond the Forest
Rosa Moline
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
Self
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
Satan Met a Lady
Valerie Purvis
Mike Wallace Is Here
(archive footage)
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1938
Self (archive footage)
The Anniversary
Mrs. Taggart
Family Reunion
Elizabeth Winfield
Special Agent
Julie Gardner
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
Self (archive footage)
June Bride
Linda Gilman
Ex-Lady
Helen Bauer
The Corn Is Green
Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
It's Love I'm After
Joyce Arden
Seed
Margaret Carter
The Rich Are Always with Us
Malbro
Housewife
Patricia Berkeley
Breakdowns of 1937
Self
The Working Man
Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
So Big!
Miss Dallas O'Mara
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Self (archive footage)
The Bride Came C.O.D.
Joan Winfield
Breakdowns of 1936
Self
A Dream Comes True
Shining Victory
Parachute Jumper
Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
Lucy Mason
Breakdowns of 1939
Self
Breakdowns of 1949
Self
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Self (archive footage)
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
Self (archive footage)
The 42nd Street Special
Self (uncredited)
Breakdowns of 1944
Self
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
Mother
Bunny O'Hare
Bunny O'Hare
Showbiz Ballyhoo
Self (archive footage)
Show-Business at War
Self
The Cabin in the Cotton
Madge Norwood
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
The Judge and Jake Wyler
Judge Meredith
Way Back Home
Mary Lucy Duffy
White Mama
Estelle Malone
Frank Capra's American Dream
Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Self
The Andy Williams Christmas Show
The Voice That Thrilled the World
Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
A Day at Santa Anita
Bette Davis (uncredited)
The Dark Horse
Kay Russell
Right of Way
Miniature Dwyer
All About Bette
Self
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Self (archive footage)
Scream, Pretty Peggy
Mrs. Elliott
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Self (archive footage)
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka
Self (archive footage)
Miss Moffat
Miss Moffat
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Self (archive footage)
The Menace
Peggy Lowell
The Girl from 10th Avenue
Miriam A. Brady
Bette and Joan
Self (archive footage)
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
The Golden Arrow
Daisy Appleby
Backstory: 'All About Eve'
Self (archive footage)
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
Self (archive footage)
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
Self (archive footage)
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor
Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life
Self (archive footage)
Jezebel: Legend of the South
Self (archive footage)
Hairway to the Stars
Self [Archive Footage]
Just Around the Corner
Ginger
A Present with a Future
Mother
Footsteps on the Ceiling
Margo Channing (archive footage)
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter
The Dick Cavett Show
Self - Guest
If I Forget You
Bette Davis
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
Self (archive footage)
Stars on Horseback
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis
Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis
Self
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
Self - Co-Host
V.I.P. Schaukel
Self