Bette Davis was Hollywood royalty. So if you wish.. pay homage to this wonderful yet temperamental thespian. American actress Bette Davis was born on April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts. After a brief theater career, she became one of the biggest stars in the Hollywood studio system, appearing in nearly 100 films before her death in 1989. Davis is still considered an icon for her performances in such films as All About Eve and Dark Victory, as well as for her larger-than-life persona both on and off the silver screen.
I liked the movie Now Voyager, where Bette Davis was dominated by a nasty mother, went off to spend time at a sanitarium, and transformed herself into a glamorous woman. But the ending was unbelievable. Before and After Charlotte's Return - first meeting with her mother (with Mary Wickes playing the nurse)
Bette Davis in one of her early and most defining films..Of Human Bondage (1934) This is one of Bette's earlier triumphs based on the novel by Somerset Maugham. I intend rewatching all of her early films. As they say in the classics.."aint love grand". Wow what a couple of mixed up people the Leslie Howard and Bette Davis characters were.
The scene where she says - when you kiss me, I have to wipe my mouth - wipe my mouth ! (as she wiped her mouth) Wow ! I was hooked
I hope you won't mind my mentioning Olivia De Haviland - another favourite My favourite film is 'The Heiress' - she was perfect casting
A scene A scene from my all time fave Bette film.. mezmerizing is the word I describe her performance in this B psychological classic. Who has seen the mini series FEUD about the toxic relationship between Bette and long time sparring partner Joan Crawford during production of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane..Compulsive viewing.
After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in the summer of 1930. However, her early films for Universal Studios (and as a loanout to other 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; although she lost the well-publicized legal case against Warners, it marked the beginning of her most successful period. Until the late 1940s, she was one of the most celebrated leading ladies of US cinema, known for her forceful and intense style. (Wikipedia) This I believe was due to her being a perfectionist to her craft. I see nothing wrong with that. It did, however, bring her into conflict with with studio executives and film directors, as well as many of her co-stars. Davis was the first actor, male or female, to receive 10 Academy Award nominations, winning 2, for Dangerous and Jezebel. To me this scene from Jezebel (below) encapsulates why she is unsurpassed by any other screen actress. Bette was also the first woman elected to serve as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in 1941. Her tenure, however, was brief: she “resigned in fury” after eight weeks because the board wanted her to “be a figurehead only,” she told her friend and interviewer Whitney Stine in 1978. “Because I was a woman, I had to be controlled.”....
I remember the movie Dead Ringer (1964), where Bette Davis played twin sisters. One sister murders the other and takes over her identity. About the Movie Dead Ringer
Playing twin characters is about the hardest task for an actor. Olivia De Havilland did it expertly in Dark Mirror (1946).. Bette did it twice in Dead Ringer and 18 years earlier in A Stolen Life (1946).. https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0000012/trivia