Actor
· Acting
Bette Davis
Born 1908-04-05
Died 1989-10-06
📍 Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
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 211
Madonna: Madame X
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2021
Morceaux de Cannes
2021
Mike Wallace Is Here
as (archive footage)
2019
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
as Self (archive footage)
2018
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life
as Self (archive footage)
2017
Bette and Joan
as Self (archive footage)
2017
Listen to Me Marlon
as Self (archive footage)
2015
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
as Self - Actress (archive footage)
2014
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
as Self (archive footage)
2013
Talking Pictures
as Self (archive footage)
2013
Footsteps on the Ceiling
as Margo Channing (archive footage)
2013
Marilyn at the Movies
as Self (archive footage)
2011
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka
as Self (archive footage)
2009
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
as Self (archive footage)
2009
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
as Self (archive footage)
2009
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
as Self (archive footage)
2007
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
as Self (archive footage)
2006
Jezebel: Legend of the South
as Self (archive footage)
2006
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
as Self (archive footage)
2006
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
as Self (archive footage)
2005
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
as Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
2005
How Real is 'The Star'?
as Self (archive footage)
2005
Complicated Women
as Self (archive footage)
2003
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
as Self (archive footage)
2002
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
as Self (archive footage)
2001
Backstory: 'All About Eve'
as Self (archive footage)
2000
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
as Self (archive footage)
1997
Frank Capra's American Dream
as Self (archive footage)
1997
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
as Self (archive footage)
1996
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis
as Self (archive footage)
1996
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
as Self (archive footage)
1994
The World of Hammer
as Self (archive footage)
1994
All About Bette
as Self
1994
Intimate Portrait
as Self (archive footage)
1993
Wicked Stepmother
as Miranda Pierpoint
1989
Hairway to the Stars
as Self [Archive Footage]
1989
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
as Self (archive footage)
1988
The Whales of August
as Libby Strong
1987
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
as (archive footage)
1987
As Summers Die
as Hannah Loftin
1986
Directed by William Wyler
as Self
1986
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
as archive footage
1986
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française
as Self
1986
Murder with Mirrors
as Carrie Louise Serrocold
1985
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
as Self (archive footage)
1985
Going Hollywood: The '30s
as (archive footage)
1984
Right of Way
as Miniature Dwyer
1983
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
as Self
1983
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Showbiz Goes to War
as (archive footage)
1982
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
as Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt
1982
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
1982
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
as (in "Deception") (archive footage)
1982
Showbiz Ballyhoo
as Self (archive footage)
1982
Night of 100 Stars
as Self
1982
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
as Esther McDonald Cimino
1982
Late Night with David Letterman
as Self - Guest
1982
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
as Self (archive footage)
1982
Family Reunion
as Elizabeth Winfield
1981
Family Reunion
as Elizabeth Winfield
1981
Skyward
as Billie Dupree
1980
The Watcher in the Woods
as Mrs. Aylwood
1980
White Mama
as Estelle Malone
1980
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
as Lucy Mason
1979
The Horror Show
as (archive footage)
1979
The Kennedy Center Honors
as Self
1978
Mickey's 50
as Self
1978
Death on the Nile
as Marie Van Schuyler
1978
Return from Witch Mountain
as Letha Wedge
1978
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
as Widow Fortune
1978
The Disappearance of Aimee
as Minnie Kennedy
1976
Burnt Offerings
as Aunt Elizabeth
1976
Dinah!
as Self
1974
Miss Moffat
as Miss Moffat
1974
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
as Mother
1974
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
as Mother
1974
Scream, Pretty Peggy
as Mrs. Elliott
1973
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
as Self
1973
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor
as Self (archive footage)
1973
The Judge and Jake Wyler
as Judge Meredith
1972
The Scopone Game
as 'A vecchia
1972
Madame Sin
as Madame Sin
1972
Bunny O'Hare
as Bunny O'Hare
1971
Connecting Rooms
as Wanda Fleming
1970
The Dick Cavett Show
as Self - Guest
1968
The Anniversary
as Mrs. Taggart
1968
It Takes a Thief
as Bessie Grindel
1968
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
as Self
1967
The Nanny
as Nanny
1965
The Decorator
as Liz
1965
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
as Charlotte Hollis
1964
Where Love Has Gone
as Mrs. Gerald Hayden
1964
Dead Ringer
as Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
1964
The Hollywood Palace
as Self
1964
The Empty Canvas
as Dino's Mother
1963
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
as Baby Jane Hudson
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self
1962
The Merv Griffin Show
as Self
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self (archive footage)
1962
The Virginian
as Celia Miller
1962
Pocketful of Miracles
as Apple Annie
1961
The Mike Douglas Show
as Self - Co-Host
1961
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
as Sarah Whitney
1959
The Scapegoat
as Countess
1959
John Paul Jones
as Empress Catherine the Great
1959
Suspicion
as Mrs. Wilfred Ellis
1957
Perry Mason
as Constant Doyle
1957
Wagon Train
as Ella Lindstrom
1957
Wagon Train
as Madame Elizabeth McQueeny
1957
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
as Self
1956
Storm Center
as Alicia Hull
1956
The Catered Affair
as Mrs. Agnes Hurley
1956
Telephone Time
1956
Tony Awards
as Self - Presenter
1956
The 20th Century Fox Hour
as Marie Hoke
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Miss Fox
1955
Gunsmoke
as Etta Stone
1955
The Virgin Queen
as Queen Elizabeth I
1955
Reflets de Cannes
as Self
1954
The Oscars
as Self
1953
General Electric Theater
as Miss Burrows
1953
General Electric Theater
as Christine Marlowe
1953
The Star
as Margaret Elliot
1952
The Ford Television Theatre
as Dolley Madison
1952
Phone Call from a Stranger
as Marie Hoke
1952
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Mrs. Minnie Kennedy, Aimee's mother
1951
Another Man's Poison
as Janet Frobisher
1951
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Irene Van Buren
1951
Payment on Demand
as Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
1951
All About Eve
as Margo Channing
1950
What's My Line?
as Self
1950
Breakdowns of 1949
as Self
1949
Beyond the Forest
as Rosa Moline
1949
June Bride
as Linda Gilman
1948
Winter Meeting
as Susan Grieve
1948
Deception
as Christine Radcliffe
1946
A Stolen Life
as Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
1946
The Corn Is Green
as Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
1945
Breakdowns of 1944
as Self
1944
Hollywood Canteen
as Self
1944
Mr. Skeffington
as Fanny Trellis
1944
Golden Globe Awards
as Self - Presenter
1944
Old Acquaintance
as Kit Marlowe
1943
The Voice That Thrilled the World
as Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
1943
Thank Your Lucky Stars
as Self
1943
Watch on the Rhine
as Sara Müller
1943
Show-Business at War
as Self
1943
Stars on Horseback
1943
Breakdowns of 1942
as Self
1942
Now, Voyager
as Charlotte Vale
1942
In This Our Life
as Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
1942
The Man Who Came to Dinner
as Maggie Cutler
1941
Breakdowns of 1941
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1941
The Little Foxes
as Regina Hubbard Giddens
1941
The Bride Came C.O.D.
as Joan Winfield
1941
Shining Victory
1941
The Great Lie
as Maggie Patterson Van Allen
1941
The Letter
as Leslie Crosbie
1940
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
as Self
1940
All This, and Heaven Too
as Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
1940
Breakdowns of 1939
as Self
1939
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
as Queen Elizabeth
1939
The Old Maid
as Charlotte Lovell
1939
Juarez
as Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
1939
Dark Victory
as Judith Traherne
1939
Breakdowns of 1938
as Self (archive footage)
1938
The Sisters
as Louise Elliott Medlin
1938
Jezebel
as Julie Marsden
1938
Breakdowns of 1937
as Self
1937
It's Love I'm After
as Joyce Arden
1937
That Certain Woman
as Mary Donnell
1937
Kid Galahad
as Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
1937
A Day at Santa Anita
as Bette Davis (uncredited)
1937
Marked Woman
as Mary Dwight Strauber
1937
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
1936
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
as Self
1936
Satan Met a Lady
as Valerie Purvis
1936
The Golden Arrow
as Daisy Appleby
1936
The Petrified Forest
as Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
1936
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning"
1936
A Dream Comes True
1935
Dangerous
as Joyce Heath
1935
Special Agent
as Julie Gardner
1935
Front Page Woman
as Ellen Garfield
1935
The Girl from 10th Avenue
as Miriam A. Brady
1935
Bordertown
as Mrs. Marie Roark
1935
Housewife
as Patricia Berkeley
1934
Of Human Bondage
as Mildred Rogers
1934
Fog Over Frisco
as Arlene Bradford
1934
Jimmy the Gent
as Joan Martin
1934
Fashions of 1934
as Lynn Mason
1934
The Big Shakedown
as Norma Nelson
1934
Bureau of Missing Persons
as Norma Roberts
1933
Ex-Lady
as Helen Bauer
1933
The Working Man
as Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
1933
The 42nd Street Special
as Self (uncredited)
1933
Parachute Jumper
as Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
1933
Just Around the Corner
as Ginger
1933
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
as Fay Wilson
1932
Three on a Match
as Ruth Westcott
1932
The Cabin in the Cotton
as Madge Norwood
1932
The Dark Horse
as Kay Russell
1932
The Rich Are Always with Us
as Malbro
1932
So Big!
as Miss Dallas O'Mara
1932
The Man Who Played God
as Grace Blair
1932
Hell's House
as Peggy Gardner
1932
The Menace
as Peggy Lowell
1932
Way Back Home
as Mary Lucy Duffy
1931
Waterloo Bridge
as Janet Cronin
1931
Seed
as Margaret Carter
1931
The Bad Sister
as Laura Madison
1931