One of the silver screen's legendary divas, Bette Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Mass., to parents who divorced when she was quite young. After high school, Davis enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School, where she was considered by everyone (including classmate Lucille Ball) to be the star pupil.After success on Broadway in the late 1920s, Davis was hired by Universal Studios and made her inauspicious screen debut in 1931's The Bad Sister. The next year, she signed a contract with Warner Brothers and had a hit with Of Human Bondage. She won Best Actress Oscars for her roles in Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938).
Davis hit a rough career patch during the 1940s, but scored a stunning comeback with All About Eve in 1950. Later films include the gothic horror movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Davis married four times and had three children. She died Oct. 6, 1989.
All About EveWriter-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's sharp script anchors this story about New York City theater life, with Bette Davis playing an aging Broadway diva who employs a starstruck fan (Anne Baxter) as her assistant, only to learn the woman is a conniving upstart. The now-classic All About Eve won... Read More
The LetterBased on W. Somerset Maugham's novel and directed by William Wyler, this drama stars Bette Davis in one of her nastiest film roles. After shooting Geoffrey (David Newell), Leslie (Davis) tells husband Robert (Herbert Marshall) and their lawyer (James Stephenson) that it was self-defense. But... Read More
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?In this Grand Guignol chiller, Hudson sisters Jane (Bette Davis) and Blanche (Joan Crawford), both aging actresses, share a rotting Los Angeles mansion, where Jane, once a vaudeville headliner, remains lost in her deranged childhood fantasies. When a devastating car crash -- blamed on a drunken Jane... Read More
The Watcher in the WoodsNo sooner does an all-American family takes possession of a baronial English manor when all manner of peculiar things occurring, including signs that point to the disappearance of a young girl during a solar eclipse decades before. Bette Davis stars as the woman who spends all her days searching the... Read More
Dark VictoryFast living comes easy for Long Island socialite Judith Traherne (Bette Davis), who counts throwing lavish soirees, enjoying free-flowing booze and raising thoroughbreds among the many pleasures in her hedonistic existence. But a horse-jumping accident forces her to come to terms with her lifestyle... Read More
