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