With her health stable, she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie mystery Murder with Mirrors (1985). [53], Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Davis spent the early months of 1942 selling war bonds. Movies of Bette Davis (Complete List) Menu. [25], After more than 20 film roles, the role of the vicious and slatternly Mildred Rogers in the RKO Radio production of Of Human Bondage (1934), a film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, earned Davis her first major critical acclaim. The Glorious Years Memorable Roles, One After Another. on Farny: Mysterious Drop-Dead Death of Bette Davis’ Husband. The Kennedy Honors coincided with the release of ''The Whales of August,'' a film in which Miss Davis co-starred with Lillian Gish and for which she won wide critical praise. Her memoir concluded with a letter to her daughter, in which she addressed her several times as Hyman, and described her actions as "a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given". She recalled that she had seen the same lighting technique "on the sets of Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis, and I knew what they meant". Joan Crawford played her role in Possessed, and was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress. Margot Mosher Merrill was the adopted daughter of Davis and husband Gary Merrill. Bette also said Joan was a good, professional actress, but cared a lot about the way she looked, and her vanity. She negotiated a deal that would pay her 10 percent of the worldwide gross profits in addition to her salary. She waited on tables at her schools, and once, to help with family expenses, posed nude for a woman making a sculpture. They must also be somehow ennobled. Davis was well-received, and was invited to tour Australia with the similarly themed Bette Davis in Person and on Film; its success allowed her to take the production to the United Kingdom.[105]. She accepted an offer to return to Broadway in a revue, ''Two's Company.''. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. She was syllable-perfect. During the filming of ''All About Eve,'' Miss Davis became romantically involved with her leading man, Gary Merrill, and they were married in 1950. [32], The New York Times hailed her as "becoming one of the most interesting of our screen actresses". In a 1971 interview with Dick Cavett, she related the experience with the observation, "I was the most Yankee-est, most modest virgin who ever walked the earth. In 1938, Nelson obtained evidence that Davis was engaged in a sexual relationship with Howard Hughes, and subsequently filed for divorce, citing Davis' "cruel and inhuman manner". But in her first three years at Warners Miss Davis made 14 films, including Edna Ferber's ''So Big,'' with Barbara Stanwyck starring, and ''20,000 Years in Sing Sing,'' which was, she was to say, ''my only film with the great Spencer Tracy, to my everlasting regret. The criterion for her choice of film would appear to be that nothing must compete with the full display of each facet of the Davis art. This prompted an announcement from the Academy president, Howard Estabrook, who said that under the circumstances, "any voter ... may write on the ballot his or her personal choice for the winners", thus allowing, for the only time in the Academy's history, the consideration of a candidate not officially nominated for an award. [96], She accepted her next role, in the Grand Guignol horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. [109][110], She continued acting for television, appearing in Family Reunion (1981) with her grandson J. Ashley Hyman, A Piano for Mrs. Cimino (1982), and Right of Way (1983) with James Stewart. That's the only way you grow in your profession. She concluded with a reference to the title of Hyman's book, "If it refers to money, if my memory serves me right, I've been your keeper all these many years. The following year, Davis was cast as the lead in an Aaron Spelling sitcom The Decorator. [62] The film was well received by critics, and made a profit of $2.2 million. '', ''It's odd that people remember me best for my evil roles,'' she said, ''since I played so many other kinds of characters. I guess I threw everything else down the drain. The script was rewritten to place more emphasis on Barbara Carrera's character, and the reworked version was released after Davis' death. Even late in life, Davis smoked 100 cigarettes per day. When informed that the film was to be shot in Africa, Davis refused the part, telling Jack Warner "If you can't shoot the picture in a boat on the back lot, then I'm not interested." It was a refreshingly different role for Davis as she played a kind, sympathetic character. The film was among the high-grossing films of the year, and the role of Judith Traherne brought her an Academy Award nomination. ''It is only work that truly satisfies,'' she said. It became one of the better known of her "women's pictures". Davis performed a novelty song, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old", which became a hit record after the film's release. As she continued making films, however, her relationship with her daughter B.D. After appearing on Broadway in New York, the 22-year old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. Lavish tributes flowed Saturday in a worldwide eulogy for Bette Davis, the tempestuous actress whose fiery talent and celebrated toughness made her one of … Friends and Enemies Fonda, Crawford, Cagney and Flynn. But once she had returned to the United States, Warners gave her a new contract calling for fewer pictures at a much higher salary. The bulk of her remaining work was for television. I am continuing to do so, as my name has made your book about me a success."[114]. Film reviewers complimented Davis on her performance, the National Board of Review commenting that she gave the film "a dignity not fully warranted by the script".[57]. He hired Miss Davis as his leading lady in ''The Man Who Played God,'' her breakthrough movie role. "[128] In a 2000 review for All About Eve (1950), Roger Ebert noted: "Davis was a character, an icon with a grand style; so, even her excesses are realistic. [31], Davis appeared in Dangerous (1935) as a troubled actress, and received very good reviews. [34] For the rest of her life, Davis maintained that she gave the statue its familiar name of "Oscar" because its posterior resembled that of her husband, whose middle name was Oscar,[35][36] although, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially makes reference to another story.[37]. [134], In 1977, Davis became the first woman to be honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award. The Hollywood Canteen is one of them." Bette Davis achieved numerous prestigious awards in her sixty years of broad career. [133] Her death made front-page news throughout the world as the "close of yet another chapter of the Golden Age of Hollywood". In 1982 Miss Davis told an interviewer, ''I never feuded with Joan Crawford. She also disliked Errol Flynn, her co-star in ''Elizabeth and Essex,'' calling him ''unprofessional.''. Following the death of Selena's father, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins. gets the … [50] During this time, she was in a relationship with her former co-star George Brent, who proposed marriage. Katharine Hepburn played the role, and was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress. ''No one has ever understood the sweetness of my joy at the end of a good day's work. Showbiz Cheat Sheet. She also received the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award as Best Actress, having been named by them as the Worst Actress of 1949 for Beyond the Forest.