Bette Davis
Acting • Born 1908-04-05 – Died 1989-10-06
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.
Filmography
210 credits
Pocketful of Miracles
Movie • 1961
Apple Annie
All About Eve
Movie • 1950
Margo Channing
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
Movie • 1985
Self (archive footage)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Movie • 1962
Baby Jane Hudson
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
Movie • 2005
Self (archive footage)
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Movie • 1964
Charlotte Hollis
Jezebel
Movie • 1938
Julie Marsden
Death on the Nile
Movie • 1978
Marie Van Schuyler
The Watcher in the Woods
Movie • 1980
Mrs. Aylwood
Murder with Mirrors
Movie • 1985
Carrie Louise Serrocold
Dead Ringer
Movie • 1964
Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
Deception
Movie • 1946
Christine Radcliffe
Marked Woman
Movie • 1937
Mary Dwight Strauber
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Movie • 1982
(in "Deception") (archive footage)
The Man Who Came to Dinner
Movie • 1941
Maggie Cutler
Bordertown
Movie • 1935
Mrs. Marie Roark
Now, Voyager
Movie • 1942
Charlotte Vale
The Horror Show
Movie • 1979
(archive footage)
Dark Victory
Movie • 1939
Judith Traherne
Burnt Offerings
Movie • 1976
Aunt Elizabeth
Satan Met a Lady
Movie • 1936
Valerie Purvis
Wicked Stepmother
Movie • 1989
Miranda Pierpoint
Beyond the Forest
Movie • 1949
Rosa Moline
The Bride Came C.O.D.
Movie • 1941
Joan Winfield
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Movie • 1932
Fay Wilson
Return from Witch Mountain
Movie • 1978
Letha Wedge
Three on a Match
Movie • 1932
Ruth Westcott
Mr. Skeffington
Movie • 1944
Fanny Trellis
The Cabin in the Cotton
Movie • 1932
Madge Norwood
The Virgin Queen
Movie • 1955
Queen Elizabeth I
Winter Meeting
Movie • 1948
Susan Grieve
A Stolen Life
Movie • 1946
Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
The Corn Is Green
Movie • 1945
Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Movie • 1943
Self
In This Our Life
Movie • 1942
Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
The Little Foxes
Movie • 1941
Regina Hubbard Giddens
All This, and Heaven Too
Movie • 1940
Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
The Great Lie
Movie • 1941
Maggie Patterson Van Allen
Of Human Bondage
Movie • 1934
Mildred Rogers
The Old Maid
Movie • 1939
Charlotte Lovell
Storm Center
Movie • 1956
Alicia Hull
Hollywood Canteen
Movie • 1944
Self
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Movie • 1983
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Breakdowns of 1938
Movie • 1938
Self (archive footage)
Shining Victory
Movie • 1941
A Day at Santa Anita
Movie • 1937
Bette Davis (uncredited)
A Dream Comes True
Movie • 1935
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Movie • 1939
Queen Elizabeth
The Petrified Forest
Movie • 1936
Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
The Nanny
Movie • 1965
Nanny
The Letter
Movie • 1940
Leslie Crosbie
Watch on the Rhine
Movie • 1943
Sara Müller
The Whales of August
Movie • 1987
Libby Strong
Fog Over Frisco
Movie • 1934
Arlene Bradford
Breakdowns of 1941
Movie • 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Showbiz Goes to War
Movie • 1982
(archive footage)
Jimmy the Gent
Movie • 1934
Joan Martin
Dangerous
Movie • 1935
Joyce Heath
Special Agent
Movie • 1935
Julie Gardner
Bureau of Missing Persons
Movie • 1933
Norma Roberts
Ex-Lady
Movie • 1933
Helen Bauer
Kid Galahad
Movie • 1937
Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
Where Love Has Gone
Movie • 1964
Mrs. Gerald Hayden
Another Man's Poison
Movie • 1951
Janet Frobisher
Fashions of 1934
Movie • 1934
Lynn Mason
Old Acquaintance
Movie • 1943
Kit Marlowe
John Paul Jones
Movie • 1959
Empress Catherine the Great
Payment on Demand
Movie • 1951
Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
Madame Sin
Movie • 1972
Madame Sin
The Scopone Game
Movie • 1972
'A vecchia
Phone Call from a Stranger
Movie • 1952
Marie Hoke
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
Movie • 1987
(archive footage)
Bette and Joan
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
The Empty Canvas
Movie • 1963
Dino's Mother
The Star
Movie • 1952
Margaret Elliot
The Anniversary
Movie • 1968
Mrs. Taggart
Waterloo Bridge
Movie • 1931
Janet Cronin
Juarez
Movie • 1939
Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
The Dark Horse
Movie • 1932
Kay Russell
The Working Man
Movie • 1933
Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
The Big Shakedown
Movie • 1934
Norma Nelson
That Certain Woman
Movie • 1937
Mary Donnell
Bunny O'Hare
Movie • 1971
Bunny O'Hare
So Big!
Movie • 1932
Miss Dallas O'Mara
It's Love I'm After
Movie • 1937
Joyce Arden
The Rich Are Always with Us
Movie • 1932
Malbro
The Catered Affair
Movie • 1956
Mrs. Agnes Hurley
June Bride
Movie • 1948
Linda Gilman
The Sisters
Movie • 1938
Louise Elliott Medlin
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Movie • 2005
Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
Hairway to the Stars
Movie • 1989
Self [Archive Footage]
The Scapegoat
Movie • 1959
Countess
The Man Who Played God
Movie • 1932
Grace Blair
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
Movie • 2018
Self (archive footage)
The Bad Sister
Movie • 1931
Laura Madison
Front Page Woman
Movie • 1935
Ellen Garfield
Hell's House
Movie • 1932
Peggy Gardner
Parachute Jumper
Movie • 1933
Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
Backstory: 'All About Eve'
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
Way Back Home
Movie • 1931
Mary Lucy Duffy
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Movie • 1982
Self (archive footage)
Scream, Pretty Peggy
Movie • 1973
Mrs. Elliott
Right of Way
Movie • 1983
Miniature Dwyer
Housewife
Movie • 1934
Patricia Berkeley
Madonna: Madame X
Movie • 2021
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Girl from 10th Avenue
Movie • 1935
Miriam A. Brady
The Golden Arrow
Movie • 1936
Daisy Appleby
The Menace
Movie • 1932
Peggy Lowell
The Disappearance of Aimee
Movie • 1976
Minnie Kennedy
Just Around the Corner
Movie • 1933
Ginger
Seed
Movie • 1931
Margaret Carter
Connecting Rooms
Movie • 1970
Wanda Fleming
White Mama
Movie • 1980
Estelle Malone
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
Movie • 1979
Lucy Mason
Skyward
Movie • 1980
Billie Dupree
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Movie • 1984
(archive footage)
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
Movie • 1982
Esther McDonald Cimino
The Decorator
Movie • 1965
Liz
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française
Movie • 1986
Self
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
Movie • 1994
Self (archive footage)
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
Movie • 2006
Self (archive footage)
Jezebel: Legend of the South
Movie • 2006
Self (archive footage)
A Present with a Future
Movie • 1943
Mother
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Movie • 2013
Self (archive footage)
As Summers Die
Movie • 1986
Hannah Loftin
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Movie • 1996
Self (archive footage)
Mike Wallace Is Here
Movie • 2019
(archive footage)
Family Reunion
Movie • 1981
Elizabeth Winfield
The Judge and Jake Wyler
Movie • 1972
Judge Meredith
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
Movie • 2001
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1936
Movie • 1936
Self
All About Bette
Movie • 1994
Self
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor
Movie • 1973
Self (archive footage)
Listen to Me Marlon
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1937
Movie • 1937
Self
Breakdowns of 1939
Movie • 1939
Self
Breakdowns of 1944
Movie • 1944
Self
Breakdowns of 1949
Movie • 1949
Self
Show-Business at War
Movie • 1943
Self
If I Forget You
Movie • 1940
Bette Davis
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Movie • 1940
Self
Complicated Women
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Movie • 2002
Self (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Movie • 1988
Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Movie • 1936
Self
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life
Movie • 2017
Self (archive footage)
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
Movie • 1974
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
Movie • 1983
Self
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Movie • 2007
Self (archive footage)
The Voice That Thrilled the World
Movie • 1943
Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
Stars on Horseback
Movie • 1943
Frank Capra's American Dream
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
Directed by William Wyler
Movie • 1986
Self
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
Movie • 2014
Self - Actress (archive footage)
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1942
Movie • 1942
Self
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis
Movie • 1996
Self (archive footage)
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
Movie • 2009
Self (archive footage)
Footsteps on the Ceiling
Movie • 2013
Margo Channing (archive footage)
The 42nd Street Special
Movie • 1933
Self (uncredited)
Night of 100 Stars
Movie • 1982
Self
Bette Davis
Movie • 1972
Self
Miss Moffat
Movie • 1974
Miss Moffat
Mickey's 50
Movie • 1978
Self
Bride of Trailer Camp
Movie • 2001
(archive footage)
Showbiz Ballyhoo
Movie • 1982
Self (archive footage)
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning"
Movie • 1936
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
Movie • 2006
Self (archive footage)
How Real is 'The Star'?
Movie • 2005
Self (archive footage)
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Constant Doyle
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Etta Stone
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Miss Burrows
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, Aimee's mother
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Miss Fox
The Hollywood Palace
TV • 1964
Self
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Celia Miller
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Irene Van Buren
The 20th Century Fox Hour
TV • 1955
Marie Hoke
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV • 1956
Self
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
TV • 1973
Self
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
TV • 1978
Widow Fortune
Telephone Time
TV • 1956
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
TV • 1959
Sarah Whitney
The Kennedy Center Honors
TV • 1978
Self
Talking Pictures
TV • 2013
Self (archive footage)
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Ella Lindstrom
Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993
Self (archive footage)
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Christine Marlowe
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
TV • 1982
Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
TV • 1974
Mother
V.I.P. Schaukel
TV • 1971
Self
It Takes a Thief
TV • 1968
Bessie Grindel
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Suspicion
TV • 1957
Mrs. Wilfred Ellis
The Ford Television Theatre
TV • 1952
Dolley Madison
Reflets de Cannes
TV • 1954
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self - Co-Host
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Presenter
Dinah!
TV • 1974
Self
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
TV • 1967
Self
Laugh-In
TV • 1977
Guest Performer
Family Reunion
TV • 1981
Elizabeth Winfield
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Madame Elizabeth McQueeny
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
The World of Hammer
TV • 1994
Self (archive footage)