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