View source for Bette Davis

{{Short description|American actress (1908–1989)}}
{{similar names|Betty Davis (disambiguation){{!}}Betty Davis}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Bette Davis
| image              = BetteDavis1935.jpg
| caption            = Davis in 1935
| birth_name         = Ruth Elizabeth Davis
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1908|4|5}}
| birth_place        = [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1989|10|6|1908|4|5}}
| death_place        = [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], France
| resting_place      = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills]]
| occupation         = Actress
| years active       = 1929–1989
| works              = [[List of Bette Davis performances|Full list]]
| party              = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse             = {{ubl|{{marriage|Harmon Oscar Nelson|1932|1938|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Arthur Farnsworth|1940|1943|end=died}}|{{marriage|William Grant Sherry|1945|1950|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|[[Gary Merrill]]|1950|1960|end=divorced}}}}
| children           = 3, including [[B. D. Hyman]]
| awards             = [[List of awards and nominations received by Bette Davis|Full list]]
| signature          = Bette Davis signature, April 22nd, 1949.svg
}}
{{Bette Davis sidebar}}
'''Ruth Elizabeth''' "'''Bette'''" '''Davis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɛ|t|i}}; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was known for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to [[historical film|historical]] and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in [[romantic drama]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last= Michele Bourgoin|first= Suzanne |title= Encyclopedia of World Biography|year= 1998 |publisher= Gale |isbn=0787622214|page=119}}</ref> She won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] twice, was the first person to accrue ten [[Academy Award nomination]]s (and one write-in) for acting, and was the first woman to receive a [[AFI Life Achievement Award|Lifetime Achievement Award]] from the [[American Film Institute]]. In 1999, Davis was placed second on the American Film Institute's [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars|list of the greatest female stars]] of [[classic Hollywood cinema]], behind [[Katharine Hepburn]].

After appearing in [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] plays, Davis moved to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in 1930, but her early films for [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] were unsuccessful. She joined [[Warner Bros.]] in 1932 and had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in ''[[Of Human Bondage (1934 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' (1934). Contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year, and she won it the following year for her performance in ''[[Dangerous (1935 film)|Dangerous]]'' (1935). In 1936, due to poor film offers, 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. She was praised for her role in ''[[Marked Woman]]'' (1937) and won a second Academy Award for her portrayal of a strong-willed 1850s [[Southern belle]] in ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]'' (1938), the first of five consecutive years in which she received a Best Actress nomination; the others for ''[[Dark Victory]]'' (1939), ''[[The Letter (1940 film)|The Letter]]'' (1940), ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]'' (1941), and ''[[Now, Voyager]]'' (1942).

A period of decline in the late 1940s was redeemed with her role as a fading Broadway star in ''[[All About Eve]]'' (1950), which has often been cited as her best performance. She received Best Actress nominations for this film and for ''[[The Star (1952 film)|The Star]]'' (1952), but her career struggled over the rest of the decade. Her last nomination came for her role as the psychotic former child star [[Baby Jane Hudson|Jane Hudson]] in the [[psychological horror]] film ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]'' (1962). In the latter stage of her career, Davis played character parts in films like ''[[Death on the Nile (1978 film)|Death on the Nile]]'' (1978) and shifted her focus to roles in television. She led the miniseries ''[[The Dark Secret of Harvest Home]]'' (1978), won an [[Emmy Award]] for ''[[Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter]]'' (1979), and was nominated for her performances in ''[[White Mama]]'' (1980) and ''[[Little Gloria... Happy at Last]]'' (1982). Her last complete cinematic part was in the drama ''[[The Whales of August]]'' (1987).

Davis was known for her forceful and intense style of acting and her physical transformations. She gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and confrontations with studio executives, film directors, and co-stars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style, and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona which has often been imitated. Davis was the co-founder of the [[Hollywood Canteen]], and was the first female president of the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]. 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 three times 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 film, television, and theater roles to her credit.

==Life and career==
{{Citations needed|date=March 2025}}
===1908–1929: Childhood and early acting career===
Ruth Elizabeth Davis, known from early childhood as "Betty", was born on April 5, 1908,<ref name="Sikov2008">{{cite book |last=Sikov |first=Ed |url=https://archive.org/details/darkvictorylifeo00edsi |title=Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8050-8863-2 |pages=210–211 |url-access=registration}}</ref> in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]], the daughter of Harlow Morrell Davis (1885–1938), a law student from [[Augusta, Maine]], and subsequently a patent attorney, and Ruth Augusta (née Favór; 1885–1961), from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.<ref>ancestry.com Massachusetts 1840–1915 birth records, page 448 of book registered in Somerville</ref> Davis's younger sister was Barbara Harriet (1909–1979).<ref>ancestry.com Massachusetts Birth Records 1840–1915, page 1235</ref>
In 1915, after Davis's parents separated, Davis and her sister Barbara attended a spartan boarding school named Crestalban in [[Lanesborough, Massachusetts]], for three years.<ref>Sikov (2007), pp. 14–15</ref> To fund this her mother moved to New York City and found a job as a [[governess]].<ref name="Grace Carter1">{{cite book|title=Bette Davis|first=Grace|last=Carter|publisher=New Word City|isbn=9781640190740|year=2017|chapter=1 – "It happened between a clap of thunder and a streak of lightning"}}</ref>

In the fall of 1921, her mother, Ruth Davis, rented an apartment on 144th Street and Broadway and moved the children to New York City.<ref name="Grace Carter1"/> Ruth enrolled herself in the [[Clarence Hudson White#The Clarence H. White School of Modern Photography|Clarence White School of Photography]], and her children in the local public school. She then worked as a portrait photographer.<ref name="Grace Carter1"/>

The young Betty Davis later changed the spelling of her first name to Bette after Bette Fischer, a character in [[Honoré de Balzac]]'s ''[[La Cousine Bette]]''.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 34</ref> During their time in New York, Davis became a [[Girl Scouts of the USA|Girl Scout]] where she became a patrol leader.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/darkvictorylifeo00siko | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/darkvictorylifeo00siko/page/16 16] | quote=Bette Davis Girl Scout. | title=Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis| publisher=Macmillan | isbn=978-0805088632| last1=Sikov| first1=Ed| year=2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVF8dddede8C&q=%22Ruth+Elizabeth+Davis+became+a+Girl+Scout%22&pg=PA16|quote=Ruth Elizabeth Davis became a Girl Scout|title=Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis|first=Ed|last=Sikov|year= 2008|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0805088632|access-date=May 16, 2020|via=Google Books}}</ref>  Her patrol won a competitive dress parade for [[Lou Hoover]] at Madison Square Garden.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVF8dddede8C&q=%22There+was+a+contest%E2%80%94a+competitive+dress+parade+for+Mrs.+Herbert+Hoover+at+Madison+Square+Garden%E2%80%94and+Ruth+Elizabeth%E2%80%99s+patrol+necessarily+won%22&pg=PA16|title=Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis|first=Ed|last=Sikov|quote=There was a contest{{snd}}a competitive dress parade for Mrs. Herbert Hoover at Madison Square Garden{{snd}}and Ruth Elizabeth's patrol necessarily won|year= 2008|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0805088632|access-date=May 16, 2020|via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[File:Broken Dishes.jpg|thumb|left|Bette Davis and [[Donald Meek]] in ''Broken Dishes'' (1929). "I was now a bona fide Broadway actress—in a hit," Davis wrote.<ref name="Lonely">{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Bette |date=1962 |title=The Lonely Life |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |page=115 |isbn=}}</ref>]]
Davis attended [[Cushing Academy]], a boarding school in [[Ashburnham, Massachusetts]], where she met her future husband, Harmon O. Nelson, known as Ham.<ref name="Grace Carter1"/> In 1926, a then 18-year-old Davis saw a production of [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[The Wild Duck]]'' with [[Blanche Yurka]] and [[Peg Entwistle]]. Davis later recalled, "The reason I wanted to go into theater was because of an actress named Peg Entwistle."<ref>{{cite news|title=Bette Davis: I'm Liberated Because of Belief in Myself.|date=November 11, 1976|work=Newsday}}</ref> Bette Davis interviewed with [[Eva Le Gallienne]] to be a student at her 14th Street theater. However, she felt Davis was not serious enough to attend her school,<ref name=":2">{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Bette |title=The Lonely Life |publisher=G. P. Putman's Sons |year=1962 |pages=50–51}}</ref> and described her attitude as "insincere" and "frivolous".<ref>Spada (1993), p. 40</ref>

Davis auditioned for [[George Cukor]]'s stock theater company in Rochester, New York. Though he was not very impressed, he gave Davis her first paid acting assignment – a one-week stint playing the part of a chorus girl in the play ''[[Broadway (play)|Broadway]]''. [[Ed Sikov]] sources Davis's first professional role to a 1929 production by the [[Provincetown Players]] of [[Virgil Geddes]]' play ''The Earth Between''; however, the production was postponed by a year.<ref name="SikovDavis">{{cite book|title=Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis|date=2008|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0805088632|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVF8dddede8C&q=%22Bette%20Davis%22%20%20%22the%20earth%20between%22&pg=PA30|access-date=April 27, 2018}}</ref> In 1929, Davis was chosen by [[Blanche Yurka]] to play Hedwig, the character she had seen Entwistle play in ''The Wild Duck''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zeruk |first=James |date=2013 |title=Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide: A Biography |publisher=[[McFarland & Company, Inc.]] |page=70 |isbn=978-0-7864-7313-7}}</ref> After performing in Philadelphia, Washington, and Boston, she made her Broadway debut in 1929 in ''Broken Dishes'' and followed it with ''Solid South''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bette-Davis |title=Bette Davis |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=October 2, 2019 |website=britannica.com |access-date=October 14, 2019}}</ref>

===1930–1936: Early years in Hollywood===
After appearing on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in New York, the 22-year-old Davis moved to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] in 1930 to screen test for [[Universal Studios Hollywood|Universal Studios]]. She was inspired to pursue a career as a film actress after seeing [[Mary Pickford]] in ''[[Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921 film)|Little Lord Fauntleroy]]''. Davis and her mother traveled by train to Hollywood. She later recounted her surprise that no-one from the studio was there to meet her. In fact, a studio employee had waited for her, but left because he saw no-one  who "looked like an actress". Davis failed her first screen test, but was used in several screen tests for other actors. 

In a 1971 interview with [[Dick Cavett]], she related the experience with the observation, "I was the most Yankee-est, most modest virgin who ever walked the earth. They laid me on a couch, and I tested fifteen men{{nbsp}}... They all had to lie on top of me and give me a passionate kiss. Oh, I thought I would die. Just thought I would die."<ref>Stine (1974), pp. 2–3</ref> A second test was arranged for Davis, for the 1931 film ''[[A House Divided (1931 film)|A House Divided]]''. Hastily dressed in an ill-fitting costume with a low neckline, she was rebuffed by the film director [[William Wyler]], who loudly commented to the assembled crew, "What do you think of these dames who show their chests and think they can get jobs?".<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 68</ref>

[[File:Bette Davis 1933.jpg|thumb|upright|Bette Davis in ''[[Bureau of Missing Persons]]'' (1933)]]
[[Carl Laemmle]], the head of Universal Studios, considered terminating Davis's employment, but cinematographer [[Karl Freund]] told him she had "lovely eyes" and would be suitable for ''[[Bad Sister (1931 film)|Bad Sister]]'' (1931), in which she subsequently made her film debut.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 67</ref> Her nervousness was compounded when she overheard the chief of production, [[Carl Laemmle Jr.|Carl Laemmle, Jr.]], comment to another executive that she had "about as much sex appeal as [[Slim Summerville]]", one of the film's male co-stars.<ref>Stine (1974), p. 10</ref> The film was not a success, and her next role in ''[[Seed (1931 film)|Seed]]'' (1931) was too brief to attract attention.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

Universal Studios renewed her contract for three months, and she appeared in a small role in ''[[Waterloo Bridge (1931 film)|Waterloo Bridge]]'' (1931), before being lent to [[Columbia Pictures]] for ''[[The Menace (1932 film)|The Menace]]'', and to Capital Films for ''[[Hell's House]]'' (all 1932). After one year, and six unsuccessful films, Laemmle elected not to renew her contract.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://emanuellevy.com/profile/davis-bette-centennial-1908-1989-part-one-2/|title=Davis, Bette: Centennial (1908–1989): Part One {{!}} Emanuel Levy|website=emanuellevy.com|date=March 24, 2008 |language=en-US|access-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref>

Davis was preparing to return to New York when actor [[George Arliss]] chose Davis for the lead female role in the [[Warner Bros.]] picture ''[[The Man Who Played God (1932 film)|The Man Who Played God]]'' (1932).  For the rest of her life, Davis credited him with helping her achieve her "break" in Hollywood. ''The Saturday Evening Post'' wrote, "She is not only beautiful, but she bubbles with charm", and compared her to [[Constance Bennett]] and [[Olive Borden]].<ref>Stine (1974), p. 20</ref> Warner Bros. signed her to a five-year contract, and she remained with the studio for the next 18 years.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

Davis's first marriage was to Harmon Oscar Nelson<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cieply |first=Michael |date=June 26, 2022 |title=So, Once And For All (We Hope), Bruce Davis Settles Why They Call It 'Oscar' |work=Deadline |url=https://deadline.com/2022/06/once-for-all-bruce-davis-settles-why-they-call-it-oscar-1235052129/ |access-date=May 21, 2023 |quote=Since the 'O' in Harmon O. Nelson stood for Oscar}}</ref> on August 18, 1932, in Yuma, Arizona.<ref>Yuma, Arizona Marriage Applications, 1932 August–November</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2019}} Their marriage was scrutinized by the press; his $100 a week earnings (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|100|1932|r=-2}}}} per week in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars) compared unfavorably with Davis's reported $1,000 a week income (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1000|1932|r=-3}}}} per week in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barile |first=Louise A. |date=2023-11-01 |title=How Bette Davis' Romances and 4 Marriages Were More Dramatic Than Any Movie Role |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bette-davis-romances-4-marriages-181127947.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref> Davis addressed the issue in an interview, pointing out that many Hollywood wives earned more than their husbands, but the situation proved difficult for Nelson, who refused to allow Davis to purchase a house until he could afford to pay for it himself.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 94–98</ref>  Nelson was able to enforce his wishes because, at the time, the husband had the management and control of the community property, which included the wife's earnings, and the wife could not obtain credit without her husband's consent.<ref>See former Cal. Civ. Code s. 172 (renumbered 1969, repealed 1975)</ref> Davis had two abortions during the marriage, each at Nelson's insistence.<ref>Moseley, Roy. ''Bette Davis''. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2003. p. 103.</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2025-01-22 |title=Inside Bette Davis's 4 Marriages—Including the One That Ended Over Books |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/inside-bette-davis-4-marriages-144724997.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>

Davis played Helen Bauer in the 1933 [[Pre-Code Hollywood|pre-Code]] drama ''[[Ex-Lady]]'' alongside [[Gene Raymond]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ex-Lady |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2445/ex-lady#articles-reviews |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929223911/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2445/Ex-Lady/#articles-reviews |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 29, 2012 |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Turner Classic Movies |language=en}}</ref> However, the film was overshadowed by fellow actress [[Joan Crawford]]'s divorce from her first husband, [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]], leading to its failure at the box office.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1933-05-08 |title=Milestones, May 8, 1933 - TIME |url=https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745463,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122141625/https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745463,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-11-22 |access-date=2025-03-23 }} [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745463,00.html Alt URL] </ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Baxter |first=Robin |date=2024-01-01 |title=The insane feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-insane-feud-of-bette-davis-and-joan-crawford/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Far Out Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Though Crawford had no malicious intent toward Davis, Davis was nonetheless angered by this turn of events, which led her to resent Crawford and began a lifelong feud between the two actresses.<ref name=":6" />

[[File:Bette davis of human bondage.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Davis in ''[[Of Human Bondage (1934 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' (1934)]]
After more than 20 film roles, she had her critical breakthrough playing the role of the vicious and [[slattern]]ly Mildred Rogers in the RKO Radio production of ''[[Of Human Bondage (1934 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' (1934), a film adaptation of [[W. Somerset Maugham]]'s novel. It earned Davis her first major critical acclaim, although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] that year. Many actresses feared playing unsympathetic characters, and several had refused the role, but Davis viewed it as an opportunity to show the range of her acting skills. Her co-star, [[Leslie Howard]], was initially dismissive of her,<ref name=":7" /> but as filming progressed, his attitude changed, and he subsequently spoke highly of her abilities. 

The film's director, [[John Cromwell (director)|John Cromwell]], allowed her relative freedom. "I let Bette have her head. I trusted her instincts." Davis insisted that she be portrayed realistically in her death scene, and said, "The last stages of consumption, poverty, and neglect are not pretty, and I intended to be convincing-looking."<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 102–107</ref>

The film was a success, and Davis's characterization earned praise from critics, with ''Life'' writing that she gave "probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress".<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 57</ref> Davis anticipated that her reception would encourage Warner Bros. to cast her in more important roles, and was disappointed when [[Jack L. Warner]] refused to lend her to Columbia Studios to appear in ''[[It Happened One Night]]'', and instead cast her in the melodrama ''[[Housewife (film)|Housewife]]''.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 102</ref> When Davis was not nominated for an Academy Award for ''Of Human Bondage'', ''The Hollywood Citizen News'' questioned the omission, and [[Norma Shearer]], herself a nominee, joined a campaign to have Davis nominated. This prompted an announcement from the Academy president, [[Howard Estabrook]], who said that under the circumstances, "any voter...may write on the ballot his or her personal choice for the winners", thus allowing, for the only time in the Academy's history, the consideration of a candidate not officially nominated for an award.<ref name="Wiley">Wiley (1987), p. 55</ref> The uproar led, however, to a change in academy voting procedures the following year, wherein nominations were determined by votes from all eligible members of a particular branch, rather than by a smaller committee,<ref>Spada (1993), p. 107</ref> with results independently tabulated by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse.<ref>Wiley (1987), p. 58</ref> The next year, [[A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)|''A Midsummer Night's Dream'']] became the only film to win a write-in Oscar, for [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1936 |title=The 8th Academy Awards 1936 |date=October 8, 2014 |publisher=Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences |access-date=August 14, 2023}}</ref>

The next year, her performance as a down-and-out troubled actress in ''[[Dangerous (1935 film)|Dangerous]]'' (1935) received very good reviews and landed Davis her first Best Actress nomination and win. [[E. Arnot Robertson]] wrote in ''Picture Post'' that, "I think Bette Davis would probably have been burned as a witch if she had lived two or three hundred years ago. She gives the curious feeling of being charged with power which can find no ordinary outlet".<ref>''[[Picture Post]]'', November 2, 1946, as quoted in {{cite book |last=Noble |first=Peter |date=1948 |title=Bette Davis: A Biography |location=London |publisher=Skelton Robinson}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' hailed her as "becoming one of the most interesting of our screen actresses".<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 65</ref> She won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for the role, but commented that it was belated recognition for ''Of Human Bondage'', calling the award a "consolation prize".<ref>{{cite book |last=Baxter |first=John |date=1968 |title=Hollywood in the Thirties |location=London |publisher=A. Zwemmer Limited |page=128 |isbn=0-498-06927-3}}</ref> For the rest of her life, Davis maintained that she gave the statue its familiar name of "Oscar" because its posterior resembled that of her husband, whose middle name was Oscar,<ref>Sikov (2007), p. 80</ref><ref>Chandler (2006), pp. 101, 263</ref> although, the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] officially makes reference to another story.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/statuette|title=Oscar Statuette|date=July 25, 2014|publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=March 8, 2017}}</ref>

Davis had not expected to win the award, so she had worn only a plain dress. At the [[8th Academy Awards]], where she received the award, fellow attendee Joan Crawford said to her, "Dear Bette! What a lovely frock." She had attended with her second husband, [[Franchot Tone]], whom Davis had been in love with, but Crawford had married in 1935. Both of these events led to more contention between the two actresses, who had already clashed in 1933. Later on, when they shared dressing rooms near to each other, Crawford tried to make a truce with Davis by sending her gifts, all of which Davis returned.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" />

In her next film, ''[[The Petrified Forest]]'' (1936), Davis co-starred with Leslie Howard and [[Humphrey Bogart]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1936-01-01 |title=The Petrified Forest |url=https://variety.com/1935/film/reviews/the-petrified-forest-1200411139/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>

====Warner Bros' legal case against Bette Davis====
In the spring of 1936, Davis asked Warner Bros. to loan her out to RKO to make ''[[Mary of Scotland (film)|Mary of Scotland]]''. Warner Bros. refused and assigned Davis two films that were written specifically for her: ''[[God's Country and the Woman]]'', and [[Mountain Justice (1937 film)|''Mountain Justice'']]. However, as ''God's Country and the Woman'' was going into production, Davis refused to work, and demanded a salary increase on her contract with Warner Bros.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hopper |first1=Hedda |title=Battle Goes Marry On |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1432DBB4AA9B7B12%40GB3NEWS-172740A14FBABF6F%402428354-1724A5736CAD2805%401-1724A5736CAD2805%40?h=183&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=12&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=July 4, 1936 |publisher=The San Antonio Light}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Sheilah |title=Walkout By Bette Davis |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A13D5DA85AE05A305%40GB3NEWS-1489915A4742624B%402428351-148837AF000507E8%4045-148837AF000507E8%40?h=9&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20suspension&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1935&rgtoDate=1939&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=zlgistlbqlzrjxomqlshdwegyzjpxtjf_wma-gateway017_1685723535943 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=July 1, 1936 |publisher=The Evening Star}}</ref> At the time, Davis was earning $1,250 per week. Jack Warner offered Davis an increased salary of $2,250 per week, which Davis refused. Davis's agent, Mike Levee, said: "She's a very stubborn young lady. I asked her how much she wanted, and she said $3,500 a week, plus all radio rights and permission to make outside pictures. I told her, 'Whoa, that's too much!'"<ref name="Movie Contract Wizard">{{cite news |title=Movie Contract Wizard |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A11A73E5827618330%40GB3NEWS-12ACF9CF5EEBFB99%402429125-12AC533EDF73CC9A%4034-12AC533EDF73CC9A%40?h=14&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=lawsuit%20warners&kwexc=&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1939&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=oruyaxhpeocfcbuilcrkjqdarfbuzxwi_wma-gateway015_1685721751605 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=August 14, 1938 |publisher=The Sunday Oregonian}}</ref>

Meanwhile, due to Davis's refusal to continue with ''God's Country and the Woman'', Warner Bros. was incurring excessive production costs because the film was being made in [[Technicolor]], and the Technicolor cameras were rented.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hebert |first1=F |title=New Orleans States |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1228C1EBC5FDC894%40GB3NEWS-156E89853881F407%402428361-156E3A079438864E%403-156E3A079438864E%40?h=192&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=12&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=July 11, 1936 |publisher=New Orleans States}}</ref>  In late June, the studio put Davis on suspension for refusal to work, and replaced her in the film with [[Beverly Roberts]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Greensboro Daily News |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A11EA68DA9EC1533C%40GB3NEWS-140FA504871D4A7F%402428369-140F95013041046A%4010-140F95013041046A%40?h=201&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=13&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=July 19, 1936}}</ref><ref name="Hollywood Chatter">{{cite news |title=Hollywood Chatter |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A13D09C142C972071%40GB3NEWS-14ADD1F21718EB06%402428475-14AA7352C1C7159D%405-14AA7352C1C7159D%40?h=12&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=lawsuit%20warners&kwexc=&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1939&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=oruyaxhpeocfcbuilcrkjqdarfbuzxwi_wma-gateway015_1685721751605 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=November 2, 1936 |publisher=Illinois State Journal}}</ref>

During negotiations with Warner Bros. regarding her salary and signing Davis for the female lead in ''Danton'', Davis abruptly traveled to England with her husband, Harmon Nelson, on a "vacation". However, in England, Davis signed a contract with British film production company Toplitz, to make the film ''I'll Take the Low Road'' in England with [[Maurice Chevalier]] for a $50,000 salary.<ref>{{cite news |title=Times Union |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A15B07E3FB3E0B2AB%40GB3NEWS-16FB398FC9AFDC92%402428389-16F92D7CDA863BEC%403-16F92D7CDA863BEC%40?h=221&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=14&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=August 8, 1936}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Davis Has Warners Ready To Sign |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A14D0CCD0844E0A90%40GB3NEWS-189CC2AA1943BFFE%402428400-189A1007A7C536CB%4013-189A1007A7C536CB%40?h=235&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=15&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=August 19, 1936 |publisher=The Knickerbocker Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=I Cover Hollywood |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A15B07E3FB3E0B2AB%40GB3NEWS-16FB39DFF91F143A%402428403-16F92D8E5264CA33%405-16F92D8E5264CA33%40?h=238&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=15&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=August 22, 1936 |publisher=Times Union}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Seattle Daily Times |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A127D718D1E33F961%40GB3NEWS-1299D79292A0E172%402428406-1299D1B1B517081E%4011-1299D1B1B517081E%40?h=241&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=16&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=August 25, 1936}}</ref>

On September 9, 1936, Warner Brothers filed a legal injunction against Davis in England which forbade her from appearing in film productions without their consent.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bette Davis Is Enjoined |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1432DBB4AA9B7B12%40GB3NEWS-1727A8FA2C5B4F25%402428421-1727A415D9B2B229%4010-1727A415D9B2B229%40?h=254&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=16&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=September 9, 1936 |publisher=The San Antonio Light}}</ref> While on a shopping spree in Paris, Davis publicly declared to the press that she intended to defy Warner Bros' legal injunction and make the film in England.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bette Davis Defies Injunction |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A14DB39C1C40322B4%40GB3NEWS-15E2423133224564%402428423-15E23EB5EF21D351%4030-15E23EB5EF21D351%40?h=256&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=17&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=September 11, 1936}}</ref> 

On October 14, 1936, the British court held a hearing regarding the studio's injunction against Davis. Mr Justice Branson issued his [[Warner Brothers Pictures Inc v Nelson|decision]] on October 19, ruling in favor of Warner Bros. Justice Branson dismissed Davis's representative's claims that she was an "underpaid slave" held under a "life sentence", and ruled that Davis was in breach of her contract to Warner "for no discoverable reason except that she wanted more money".<ref>{{cite news |title=Bette Davis Restrained By Court |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A1773BDF75FF7A17E%40GB3NEWS-17980CA76DFEA790%402428461-17980A6757F21C62%4020-17980A6757F21C62%40?h=307&fname=bette&lname=davis&fullname=&kwinc=warners%20england&kwexc=&sort=old&rgfromDate=1936&rgtoDate=1938&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&page=20&sid=vwvftkqfjllrfropqdzimraokrvpldfk_wma-gateway010_1685724923833 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=October 19, 1936 |publisher=The Evening Gazette}}</ref>

Davis was ordered to pay Warner Bros. $80,000 in restitution,<ref name="Movie Contract Wizard" /> and was also ordered to pay the studio's legal fees for filing the injunction in England.<ref name="Hollywood Chatter" />  The British press offered little support to Davis, calling her overpaid and ungrateful.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 124–125</ref>

===1937–1941: Success with Warner Bros.===
[[File:Jezebel-1938-Bette-Davis.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Davis in ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]'' (1938)]] 
In 1937, Davis starred with [[Humphrey Bogart]] in ''[[Marked Woman]]'', a contemporary gangster drama inspired by the case of [[Lucky Luciano]], and a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career. She was awarded the [[Volpi Cup]] at the 1937 [[Venice Film Festival]] for her performance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/history/volpi.html|title=The awards of the Venice Film Festival|publisher=La Biennale di Venezia|access-date=December 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707193035/http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/history/volpi.html|archive-date=July 7, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Davis's portrayal of a strong-willed 1850s [[Southern belle]] in ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]'' (1938) won her a second [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]. This was the first of five consecutive years in which she received the Best Actress nomination. During production, Davis entered a relationship with director [[William Wyler]]. She later described him as the "love of my life", and said that making the film with him was "the time in my life of my most perfect happiness".<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 121</ref> The film was a success.

This led to speculation in the press that she would be chosen to play [[Scarlett O'Hara]], a similar character, in ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''. Davis expressed her desire to play Scarlett, and while [[David O. Selznick]] was conducting a search for the actress to play the role, a radio poll named her as the audience favorite. Warner offered her services to Selznick as part of a deal that also included [[Errol Flynn]] and [[Olivia de Havilland]], but Selznick did not consider Davis as suitable, and rejected the offer.<ref>Haver (1980), p. 243</ref> Davis, on the other hand, did not want Flynn cast as [[Rhett Butler]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Newcomer [[Vivien Leigh]] was cast as Scarlett O'Hara, de Havilland landed a role as Melanie, and both of them were nominated for the Oscars, with Leigh winning.

''Jezebel'' marked the beginning of the most successful phase of Davis's career, and over the next few years, she was listed in the annual Quigley Poll of the [[Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll|Top Ten Money-Making Stars]], which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. for the stars who had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quigleypublishing.com/MPalmanac/Top10/Top10_lists.html |title=The 2006 Motion Picture Almanac, Top Ten Money-Making Stars |work=Quigley Publishing Company |access-date=August 24, 2008 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114130743/http://www.quigleypublishing.com/MPalmanac/Top10/Top10_lists.html |archive-date=January 14, 2013 }}</ref>

[[File:Bette Davis - Errol Flynn.jpg|thumb|Davis with [[Errol Flynn]] in ''[[The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex]]'' (1939). At the time she played 60-year-old [[Elizabeth I]], she was only 30 years old.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0vDe2LfqoEC&dq=bette+davis+affair+howard+hughes&pg=PA53 |title=Bette Davis |date=2010-03-22 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9989-2 |pages=54 |language=en}}</ref>|261x261px]]
In contrast to Davis's success, her husband Ham Nelson had failed to establish a career for himself, and their relationship faltered. In 1938, Nelson obtained evidence that Davis was engaged in a sexual relationship with [[Howard Hughes]], and subsequently filed for divorce, citing Davis's "cruel and inhuman manner".<ref>{{cite book |last= Spada |first= James |title= More Than a Woman |year= 1993 |publisher= Little, Brown, and Company |isbn= 0-316-90880-0 |pages= 144–148}}</ref> He also claimed she read books and her film manuscripts too often.<ref name=":4" /> By this time they had been living distant lives, as Davis's career often kept her preoccupied.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1938-12-07 |title=DIVORCES BETTE DAVIS; Husband, H. O. Nelson, Testifies She Read Books Too Much |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/12/07/archives/divorces-bette-davis-husband-h-o-nelson-testifies-she-read-books.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0vDe2LfqoEC&dq=bette+davis+affair+howard+hughes&pg=PA53 |title=Bette Davis |date=2010-03-22 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9989-2 |pages=53 |language=en}}</ref> "I was married to Ham only in name...When we were together, there was nothing left between us," biographer [[David Thomson (writer)|David Thomson]] quoted her saying. "Any happy days we had had were in our memories almost entirely before we married. The terrible distance when we were together was harder to bear than when we were apart. We no longer communicated with each other at all. And our sex life had disappeared, a woman who's been with just one man for a long time is practically a virgin again."<ref name=":5" /> Nelson remarried in 1946 and died in 1975.<ref name=":4" />

Nevertheless, Davis had wanted desperately for the marriage to work out and was devastated when it failed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0vDe2LfqoEC&dq=bette+davis+affair+howard+hughes&pg=PA53 |title=Bette Davis |date=2010-03-22 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9989-2 |pages=55 |language=en}}</ref> She was emotional during the making of her next film, ''[[Dark Victory]]'' (1939), and considered abandoning it until the producer [[Hal B. Wallis]] convinced her to channel her despair into her acting. The film was among the high-grossing films of the year, and the role of Judith Traherne, a spirited heiress suffering from a [[malignant brain tumor]], brought her an Academy Award nomination. In later years, Davis cited this performance as her personal favorite.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 131</ref> ''Dark Victory'' featured [[Ronald Reagan]] and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles.

Davis appeared in three other box-office hits in 1939: ''[[The Old Maid (1939 film)|The Old Maid]]'' with [[Miriam Hopkins]], ''[[Juarez (film)|Juarez]]'' with [[Paul Muni]], and ''[[The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex]]'' with Errol Flynn. The last was her first color film, and her only color film made during the height of her career. To play the elderly [[Elizabeth I of England]], Davis shaved her hairline and eyebrows. During filming, Davis was visited on the set by the actor [[Charles Laughton]]. She commented that she had a "nerve" playing a woman in her 60s, to which Laughton replied: "Never not dare to hang yourself. That's the only way you grow in your profession. You must continually attempt things that you think are beyond you, or you get into a complete rut." Recalling the episode many years later, Davis remarked that Laughton's advice had influenced her throughout her career.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 141</ref>

[[File:Tracy Davis Publicity Photo Academy Award 1939.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis with [[Spencer Tracy]] at the 1939 [[Academy Awards]]|left]]
By this time, Davis was Warner Bros.' most profitable star, and she was given the most important of their female leading roles. Her image was considered with more care; although she continued to play character roles, she was often filmed in close-ups that emphasized her distinctive eyes. ''[[All This, and Heaven Too]]'' (1940) was the most financially successful film of Davis's career to that point.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

''[[The Letter (1940 film)|The Letter]]'' (1940) was considered "one of the best pictures of the year" by ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and Davis won admiration for her portrayal of an adulterous killer, a role originated onstage by [[Katharine Cornell]].<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 105</ref> During this time, she was in a relationship with her former co-star [[George Brent]], who proposed marriage. Davis refused, as she had met Arthur Farnsworth, a New England innkeeper, and Vermont dentist's son. Davis and Farnsworth were married at Home Ranch, in [[Rimrock, Arizona]], in December 1940, her second marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19401230&id=tgQyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3478,481968|title=Bette Davis Marries Vermont Dentist's Son at Arizona Ranch|via=Google News Archive Search|date=January 2, 1941|location=Reading, PA |publisher=Reading Eagle|access-date=October 3, 2014}}</ref>

In January 1941, Davis became the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences but antagonized the committee members with her brash manner and radical proposals. Davis rejected the idea of her being just "a figurehead only". Faced with the disapproval and resistance of the committee, Davis resigned and was succeeded by her predecessor [[Walter Wanger]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/bette-davis-birthday|title=How Bette Davis Became a Hollywood Icon By Refusing to Conform at Every Turn|last=Bianco|first=Marcie|work=HWD|access-date=October 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref>

Davis starred in three movies in 1941, the first being ''[[The Great Lie]]'', with George Brent. It was a refreshingly different role for Davis as she played a kind, sympathetic character. William Wyler also directed Davis for the third time in [[Lillian Hellman]]'s ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]'' (1941), but they clashed over the character of Regina Giddens, a role originally played on Broadway by [[Tallulah Bankhead]] (Davis had portrayed in film a role initiated by Bankhead on the stage once before{{snd}}in ''Dark Victory''). Wyler encouraged Davis to emulate Bankhead's interpretation of the role, but Davis wanted to make the role her own. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance, and never worked with Wyler again.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=Gabriel|title=William Wyler: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Most Celebrated Director|date=2013|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=Lexington|isbn=978-0-8131-4209-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=np73uKbqL3UC&pg=PT202}}</ref>
[[File:Bette Davis in The Little Foxes.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis often played unlikable characters such as Regina Giddens in ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]'' (1941).]]

===1942–1944: War years===
In 1943, Davis told an interviewer that she had molded her film career on her motto, "I love tragedy," and ironically, until [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], she had been recognized as the American favorite of Japanese moviegoers—because to them, she "represented the admirable principle of sad self-sacrifice."<ref name="Flanner">{{cite magazine |last1=Flanner |first1=Janet |title=Cotton-Dress Girl |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1943/02/20/cotton-dress-girl |magazine=The New Yorker |publisher=Conde Nast |access-date=April 6, 2023}}</ref>

In 1942, numerous Hollywood entertainment industry members joined forces to form the [[Hollywood Canteen]].<ref name="mitchtorr">{{Cite book |title=The Hollywood Canteen: Where the Greatest Generation Danced With the Most Beautiful Girls in the World |last1=Mitchell |first1=Lisa |publisher=BearManor Media |date=July 11, 2013 |isbn=978-1593934095 |location=Albany, Georgia |pages=13–15 |last2=Torrence |first2=Bruce |others=Foreword by [[Joan Leslie]] |chapter=Chapter 1 – The Heart of the Matter: How It Began |quote=When John Garfield sat down for that commissary lunch with Bette Davis, he told her about what he had seen in New York—and of his strong belief that Hollywood must have its own Canteen as soon as possible. }}</ref> Davis and [[John Garfield]] were the driving force who were credited with founding the canteen, along with the aid of 42 unions and guilds in the industry, plus thousands of celebrity volunteers from the [[Hollywood Victory Committee]] and beyond.<ref>{{cite news |last=Graham |first=Sheila |date=December 20, 1942 |title=Hollywood Canteen Joy To Many Lonely Lads: Started By Bette Davis and John Garfield and Enthusiastically Supported By All the Stars in the Movie Capital, It Is the Mecca For Every Soldier and Sailor Passing Through |pages=A15 |work=The Hartford Courant |access-date=August 5, 2023 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/559727344|id={{ProQuest|559727344}} }}</ref><ref name="Sikov2008" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Harrison |first=Scott |date=March 6, 2017 |title=From the Archives: Entertaining the troops at Hollywood Canteen |url=https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-entertaining-troops-canteen-20170302-story.html |access-date=August 5, 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The Canteen offered food, dancing and entertainment for [[Soldier|servicemen]] and was staffed by members of the entertainment industry. Davis served as Canteen president through the end of the war.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Considine |first=Shaun |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=MhT-DQAAQBAJ&pg=GBS.PT48.w.0.0.0.0.2&hl=en |title=Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud |date=January 25, 2017 |publisher=Graymalkin Media |isbn=978-1-63168-107-3 |edition=Ebook |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=February 9, 1945 |title=Davis Reelected Canteen Prexy |pages=5 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2320416795  |id={{ProQuest|2320416795}} }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 19, 1944 |title=Bette Davis Heads Canteen Third Year |pages=19 |work=Daily Boston Globe |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/840200228 |id={{ProQuest|840200228}} }}</ref>  
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:BetteDavisArmyBall.jpg|thumb|Davis attending the 1983 Army Ball where she was presented the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal]] -->In 1983, Davis received the [[Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award|Distinguished Civilian Service Medal]] from the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] for her work with the Hollywood Canteen.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 13, 1983 |title="Medal is given to Bette Davis" |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/537875698 |website=The Baltimore Sun|id={{ProQuest|537875698}} }}</ref>

She appeared as herself in the film ''[[Hollywood Canteen (film)|Hollywood Canteen]]'' (1944), which used the canteen as the setting for a fictional story. [[Warner Bros.]] donated 40% of proceeds from the film to both the Hollywood Canteen and the [[Stage Door Canteen]] in [[Manhattan]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 12, 1943 |title=Bette Davis in Canteen Film |pages=8 |work=The Herald Tribune |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1267877319 |id={{ProQuest|1267877319}} }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1941-1950. F4 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780520215214 |pages=1071}}</ref>

Davis showed little interest for the role of repressed spinster Charlotte Vale in the drama film ''[[Now, Voyager]]'' (1942), until Hal Wallis advised her that female audiences needed romantic dramas to distract them from the reality of their lives. It became one of the better known of her "women's pictures". In one of the film's most imitated scenes, [[Paul Henreid]] lights two cigarettes as he stares into Davis's eyes, and passes one to her. Film reviewers complimented Davis on her performance, the [[National Board of Review]] commenting that she gave the film "a dignity not fully warranted by the script".<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 120</ref> She received her seventh [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Oscar]] nomination for ''Now, Voyager''. That same year, she was also cast against type opposite [[Monty Woolley]] in the hit comedy ''[[The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942 film)|The Man Who Came to Dinner]]'' (1942).

[[File:Bette Davis in Now, Voyager publicity still.png|thumb|left|upright|Davis in ''[[Now, Voyager]]'' (1942), one of her most iconic roles]]
During the early 1940s, several of Davis's film choices were influenced by the war, such as ''[[Watch on the Rhine]]'' (1943), by Lillian Hellman, and ''[[Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943 film)|Thank Your Lucky Stars]]'' (1943), a lighthearted all-star musical cavalcade. Davis performed a novelty song, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old." ''[[Old Acquaintance]]'' (1943) reunited her with Miriam Hopkins in a story of two old friends who deal with the tensions created when one of them becomes a successful novelist. Davis felt that Hopkins tried to upstage her throughout the film. Director [[Vincent Sherman]] recalled the intense competition and animosity between the two actresses, and Davis often joked that she held back nothing in a scene in which she was required to shake Hopkins in a fit of anger.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 198–200</ref>

In August 1943, Davis' husband, Arthur Farnsworth, collapsed while walking along a Hollywood street and died two days later. An autopsy revealed that his fall had been caused by a skull fracture he had suffered two weeks earlier having accidentally fallen down a flight of stairs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 27, 1943 |title=FARNSWORTH DIED AFTER 2 ACCIDENTS; Autopsy Reveals Bette Davis' Husband Cracked Skull Before He Fell in Street (Published 1943) |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/08/27/archives/farnsworth-died-after-2-accidents-autopsy-reveals-bette-davis.html |access-date=March 13, 2024 |language=en}}</ref> A finding of accidental death was reached. Highly distraught, Davis attempted to withdraw from her next film ''[[Mr. Skeffington]]'' (1944), but Jack Warner, who had halted production following Farnsworth's death, persuaded her to continue. Although she had gained a reputation for being forthright and demanding, her behavior during filming of ''Mr. Skeffington'' was said to be erratic and out of character. She alienated Vincent Sherman by refusing to film certain scenes and insisting that some sets be rebuilt. She improvised dialogue, which made the writer [[Julius J. Epstein|Julius Epstein]] rewrite scenes at her whim. Davis later explained her actions with the observation "When I was most unhappy, I lashed out rather than whined." Some reviewers criticized Davis for the excess of her performance; [[James Agee]] wrote that she "demonstrates the horrors of egocentricity on a marathonic scale".<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 218–225</ref> Despite these reviews, ''Mr. Skeffington'' was another box-office hit and earned Davis another Academy Award nomination.<ref>Spada, p. 201</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 17th Academy Awards {{!}} 1945 |date=October 4, 2014 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1945 |access-date=September 9, 2023}}</ref>

===1945–1949: Career setbacks===
[[File:Bette davis the corn is green.jpg|thumb|upright|In ''[[The Corn Is Green (1945 film)|The Corn Is Green]]'' (1945)]]

In 1945, Davis married artist William Grant Sherry, her third husband, who also worked as a masseur. She had been drawn to him because he claimed he had never heard of her and so was not intimidated by her.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 254–255</ref>

The same year, Davis made ''[[The Corn Is Green (1945 film)|The Corn Is Green]]'' (1945), based on [[The Corn Is Green|the play]] by [[Emlyn Williams]]. Davis played Miss Moffat, an English teacher who saves a young Welsh miner ([[John Dall]]) from a life in the coal pits by offering him education. The part had been played in the theater by [[Ethel Barrymore]] (who was 61 at the play's premiere), but Warner Bros. felt that the film version should depict the character as a younger woman. Davis disagreed, and insisted on playing the part as written, and wore a gray wig and padding under her clothes, to create a dowdy appearance.<ref name="Spada, p. 227">Spada, p. 227</ref> The critic E. Arnot Robertson observed:{{blockquote|Only Bette Davis...could have combated so successfully the obvious intention of the adaptors of the play to make frustrated sex the mainspring of the chief character's interest in the young miner.<ref name="ringgold" />}} She concluded that "the subtle interpretation she insisted on giving" kept the focus on the teacher's "sheer joy in imparting knowledge".<ref name="ringgold">Ringgold, p. 133</ref> The film was well received by critics, and made a profit of $2.2 million.<ref name="Spada, p. 227"/>

Her next film, ''[[A Stolen Life (film)|A Stolen Life]]'' (1946), was the only film that Davis made with her own production company, BD Productions.<ref>Sikov, p. 250</ref> Davis played dual roles as twins. The film received poor reviews, and was described by Bosley Crowther as "a distressingly empty piece";<ref>Ringgold, p. 135</ref> but, with a profit of $2.5 million, it was one of her biggest box office successes.<ref>Spada (1993), p. 236</ref> Her next film was ''[[Deception (1946 film)|Deception]]'' (1946), the first of her films to lose money.<ref>Spada (1993), p. 241</ref>
In 1947, at the age of 39, Davis gave birth to daughter [[B.D. Hyman|Barbara Davis Sherry]] (known as B.D.), and later wrote in her memoir that she became absorbed in motherhood and considered ending her career. As she continued making films, however, her relationship with her daughter B.D. began to deteriorate, and her popularity with audiences steadily declined.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 246–247</ref>

[[File:Bette davis beyond the forest.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Beyond the Forest]]'' (1949) was the last film Davis made for Warner Bros. after 17 years with the studio.]]
In 1948, Davis was cast in the melodrama ''[[Winter Meeting]]''. Although she initially was enthusiastic, she soon learned that Warner had arranged for "softer" lighting to be used to disguise her age. She recalled that she had seen the same lighting technique "on the sets of Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis, and I knew what they meant".<ref>Spada (1993), p. 250</ref> To add to her disappointment, she was not confident in the abilities of her leading man – [[Jim Davis (actor)|Jim Davis]] in his first major screen role. She disagreed with changes made to the script because of censorship restrictions, and found that many of the aspects of the role that initially appealed to her had been cut. The film was described by Bosley Crowther as "interminable", and he noted that "of all the miserable dilemmas in which Miss Davis has been involved...this one is probably the worst". It failed at the box office, and the studio lost nearly $1 million.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 250–251</ref>

While making ''[[June Bride]]'' (1948), Davis clashed with co-star [[Robert Montgomery (actor)|Robert Montgomery]], later describing him as "a male [[Miriam Hopkins]]...an excellent actor, but addicted to scene-stealing".<ref>Chandler (2006), pp. 247–248</ref> The film marked her first comedy in several years, and earned her some positive reviews, but it was not particularly popular with audiences, and returned only a small profit.

Despite the lackluster box-office receipts from her more recent films, in 1949, she negotiated a four-film contract with Warner Bros. that paid $10,285 per week and made her the highest-paid woman in the United States.<ref>Spada (1993), p. 257</ref> However, Jack Warner had refused to allow her script approval, and cast her in ''[[Beyond the Forest]]'' (1949). Davis reportedly loathed the script and begged Warner to recast the role, but he refused. After the film was completed, her request to be released from her contract was honored.

The reviews of the film were scathing. Dorothy Manners, writing for the ''Los Angeles Examiner'', described the film as "an unfortunate finale to her brilliant career".<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 143</ref> [[Hedda Hopper]] wrote: "If Bette had deliberately set out to wreck her career, she could not have picked a more appropriate vehicle."<ref>Spada (1993), p. 285</ref> The film contained the line "What a dump!", which became closely associated with Davis after it was referenced in [[Edward Albee]]'s ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'', and impersonators began to use it in their acts. [[Arthur Blake (American actor)|Arthur Blake]] was a famous female impersonator of the post [[World-War II]] era who was particularly known for his performances as Bette Davis; notably impersonating her in the 1952 film ''[[Diplomatic Courier]]''.<ref name="Spoken">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSU1e-XStVcC&q=%22Arthur%20Blake%22|title=Spoken Word: Postwar American Phonograph Culture|pages=126–129|first=Jacob|last=Smith|year=2011|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0520948358}}</ref>

===1949–1960: Starting a freelance career===
[[File:Bette Davis and Gary Merrill in All About Eve.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis posing as Margo Channing in a promotional image for ''[[All About Eve]]'' (1950): She is pictured with [[Gary Merrill]], to whom she was married from 1950 to 1960, her fourth, and final, husband.]]

Davis filmed ''The Story of a Divorce'' (released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1951 as ''[[Payment on Demand]]'').  She played a Broadway star in ''[[All About Eve]]'' (1950), which earned her another Oscar nomination and won her the [[Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress]]. Davis read the script, described it as the best she had ever read, and accepted the role. Within days, she joined the cast in San Francisco to begin filming. During production, she established what became a lifelong friendship with her co-star [[Anne Baxter]] and a romantic relationship with her leading man [[Gary Merrill]], which led to marriage. The film's director [[Joseph L. Mankiewicz]] later remarked: "Bette was letter perfect. She was syllable-perfect. The director's dream: the prepared actress."<ref>Staggs (2000), p. 80</ref>

Critics responded positively to Davis's performance, and several of her lines became well-known, particularly "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night". She was again nominated for an Academy Award, and critics such as Gene Ringgold described her Margo as her "all-time best performance".<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 150</ref> [[Pauline Kael]] wrote that much of Mankiewicz's vision of "the theater" was "nonsense", but commended Davis, writing "[the film is] saved by one performance that is the real thing: Bette Davis is at her most instinctive and assured. Her actress – vain, scared, a woman who goes too far in her reactions and emotions – makes the whole thing come alive."<ref>Kael (1982), p. 13</ref> 

Davis won a [[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actress award]] from the [[Cannes Film Festival]], and the [[New York Film Critics Circle Award]]. She also received the [[San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards|San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award]] as Best Actress, having been named by them as the Worst Actress of 1949 for ''Beyond the Forest''. During this time, she was invited to leave her hand prints in the forecourt of [[Grauman's Chinese Theatre]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/photos/id/122544/rec/24|title=Bette Davis, Grauman's Chinese Theater :: Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection|website=tessa.lapl.org|access-date=March 11, 2019}}</ref>

On July 3, 1950, Davis's divorce from William Sherry was finalized. On July 28, she married Gary Merrill, her fourth and final husband. With Sherry's consent, Merrill adopted B.D., Davis's daughter with Sherry. In January 1951, Davis and Merrill adopted a five-day-old baby girl they named Margot Mosher Merrill (born January 6, 1951 - died May 5, 2022),<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&pg=PA153|title=Notable American Women|isbn=978-0674014886|last1=Ware|first1=Susan|year=2004|publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://arabella-and-co.com/17/bdavis.htm|title=Arabella Spotlight|access-date=November 26, 2015|archive-date=December 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225060433/http://arabella-and-co.com/17/bdavis.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Twitter.com [https://twitter.com/_BetteDavis/status/1523735001422254080 Bette Davis Estate on Twitter]</ref> after the character Margo Channing. 

In 1952, they adopted a baby boy, Michael, born February 5, 1952.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAhtNiAl3YsC&pg=PA197|title=Fade to Black|isbn=978-0711995123|last1=Donnelley|first1=Paul|year=2003|publisher=Omnibus }}</ref> Davis and Merrill lived with their three children on an estate on the coast of [[Cape Elizabeth, Maine]]. Davis and Merrill also stayed at [[Homewood Inn]] in [[Yarmouth, Maine]], for six months.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Bette |title=The Lonely Life: An Autobiography |publisher=Hatchette Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-0316441292}}</ref> After semi-retirement in the mid-1950s, Davis again starred in several movies during her time in Maine, including ''[[The Virgin Queen (1955 film)|The Virgin Queen]]'' (1955), in which she again played [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Barker|first1=Matt|title=Bette's Maine Interlude|url=http://www.portlandmonthly.com/portmag/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bette-davis.pdf|website=Portland Monthly|publisher=Portland Magazine|access-date=August 11, 2017}}</ref>

The family traveled to England, where Davis and Merrill starred in the murder-mystery film ''[[Another Man's Poison]]'' (1951). When it received lukewarm reviews and failed at the box office, Hollywood columnists wrote that Davis's comeback had petered out, and an Academy Award nomination for ''[[The Star (1952 film)|The Star]]'' (1952) did not halt her decline at the box office.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfwMkz8vpIgC&q=bette+davis+the+star+1952+reviews&pg=PA45|title=The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each|last=Bubbeo|first=Daniel|date=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786462360|language=en}}</ref> In it, she played a character who many thought took to be a parody of Davis's rival Joan Crawford.<ref name=":6" />

In 1952, Davis appeared in the Broadway revue ''[[Two's Company (musical)|Two's Company]]'', directed by [[Jules Dassin]]. She was uncomfortable working outside of her area of expertise; she never had been a musical performer, and her limited theater experience had been more than 20 years earlier. She was also severely ill and was operated on for [[osteomyelitis]] of the jaw.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_-ijenEQn8C&q=bette+davis+jaw+surgery&pg=PA120|title=Bette Davis: The Performances That Made Her Great|last=McNally|first=Peter|date=2008|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786434992|language=en}}</ref> Margot was diagnosed as severely brain-damaged due to an injury sustained during or shortly after her birth. Though Davis tried to care for Margot,<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Mosthof |first1=Mariella |last2=Suglia |first2=Casey |date=2021-04-26 |title=Bette Davis Kept Her Youngest Daughter Out Of The Spotlight |url=https://www.romper.com/entertainment/who-is-margot-merrill-bette-davis-daughter |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Romper |language=en}}</ref> she eventually placed her daughter in an institution around the age of 3.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.romper.com/p/where-are-bette-davis-kids-now-the-actress-had-three-children-46109|title=Bette Davis' Kids Are All Grown Up Now|last=Lippo|first=Caralynn|date=March 26, 2017|website=Romper|language=en|access-date=December 5, 2018}}</ref> Davis and Merrill began arguing frequently, and B.D. later recalled episodes of alcohol abuse and domestic violence.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 310–315</ref>

Few of Davis's films of the 1950s were successful, and many of her performances were condemned by critics. ''The Hollywood Reporter'' wrote of mannerisms "that you'd expect to find in a nightclub impersonation of [Davis]", while the London critic Richard Winninger wrote
{{blockquote|Miss Davis, with more say than most stars as to what films she makes, seems to have lapsed into egoism. The criterion for her choice of film would appear to be that nothing must compete with the full display of each facet of the Davis art. Only bad films are good enough for her.<ref>Carr (1979), p. 193</ref>}}

Her films of this period included ''[[Storm Center]]'' (1956) and ''[[The Catered Affair]]'' (1956). As her career declined, her marriage continued to deteriorate until she filed for divorce in 1960. The following year, her mother died. During the same time, she tried television, appearing in three episodes of the popular NBC Western ''[[Wagon Train]]'' as three different characters in 1959 and 1961; her first appearance on TV had been February 25, 1956, on ''[[General Electric Theatre]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bette Davis Debut |publisher=Broadcasting-Telecasting |date=January 2, 1956 |number=81 |url=http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1956/1956-01-02-BC.pdf}}</ref>

In 1959, she starred alongside [[Alec Guinness]] in the film ''[[The Scapegoat (1959 film)|The Scapegoat]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jul/29/bette-daviss-20-greatest-performances-ranked |title=Bette Davis’s 20 greatest performances – ranked! |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 July 2021 |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter}}</ref>

In 1960, Davis, a registered Democrat, appeared at the [[1960 Democratic National Convention]] in Los Angeles, where she met future President [[John F. Kennedy]], whom she greatly admired.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://carlanthonyonline.com/2012/07/26/ronald-reagan-bette-davis-oppositional-co-stars|title=Ronald Reagan & Bette Davis: Politically Oppositional Co-Stars|website=carlanthonyonline.com|access-date=April 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321131301/http://carlanthonyonline.com/2012/07/26/ronald-reagan-bette-davis-oppositional-co-stars/|archive-date=March 21, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Outside of acting and politics, Davis was an active and practicing [[Episcopalian]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Starr |first=Kevin |url=https://archive.org/details/dreamendurescali0000star/page/274/mode/2up?q=Bette+Davis |title=The Dream Endures: California Enters the 1940s |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0199923939 |pages=274 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

===1961–1970: Renewed success===
[[File:Bette davis baby jane trailer.jpg|thumb|left|Davis received her final Academy Award nomination for her role as demented [[Baby Jane Hudson|"Baby Jane" Hudson]] in ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]'' (1962).]]

In 1961, Davis opened in the Broadway production ''[[The Night of the Iguana]]'' to mostly mediocre reviews, and left the production after four months due to "chronic illness". She then joined [[Glenn Ford]] and [[Hope Lange]] for the [[Frank Capra]] film ''[[Pocketful of Miracles]]'' (1961), a remake of Capra's 1933 film, ''[[Lady for a Day]]'', based on a story by [[Damon Runyon]]. Exhibitors protested her star billing as they considered it would negatively impact the box office performance and, despite the appearance of Ford, the film failed at the box office.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=May 15, 1968|page=1|last=Beaupre|first=Lee|title=Rising Skepticism On Stars}}</ref>

Her last Oscar nomination was for the [[Grand Guignol]] horror film ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]'' (1962), which also starred Joan Crawford. Crawford showed interest in the script and considered Davis for the part of the demented former child star [[Baby Jane Hudson]]. Davis believed it could appeal to the same audience that had recently made [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' (1960) a success. She negotiated a deal that would pay her 10 percent of the worldwide gross profits in addition to her salary, along with the conditions that she play Jane, and that Crawford was not sleeping in the same bed as the director, [[Robert Aldrich]]. The film became one of the year's big successes.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 353–355</ref><ref name=":6" />

Davis and Crawford played two aging sisters, one a former child star (Davis) and the other an accomplished film actress (Crawford) who were forced by circumstance to share a decaying Hollywood mansion. Aldrich explained that Davis and Crawford were each aware of how important the film was to their respective careers. Regardless of their personal feelings toward one another, Davis and Crawford spoke highly of each other's acting talent. Crawford said Davis was a "fascinating actress", but they never became friends as they only worked on that one film together and had few opportunities outside that association. Davis also said Crawford was a good, professional actress. Despite the alleged "feud," Crawford heavily promoted Davis's performance. Crawford told reporter Wayne Allen, "I'll predict here and now that Miss Davis will win an Oscar for it."<ref>{{cite news |title=The State Journal-Register |url=https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A13D09C142C972071%40GB3NEWS-152B1B244BB2CD42%402437994-1528D17B7A57164D%4012-1528D17B7A57164D%40?h=1&fname=joan&lname=crawford&fullname=&kwinc=i%27ll%20predict%20here%20and%20now%20davis&kwexc=&rgfromDate=1962&rgtoDate=1962&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=wevgppgkgboddvmakyufehrnxmhrjgyf_wma-gateway012_1685757453063 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issue=November 25, 1962}}</ref> 

However, on set, the two actresses constantly argued, and called Aldrich nightly to complain about one another. Davis reportedly called Crawford obscene words while she was within earshot. They also physically attacked each other: in a scene where Jane drags [[Blanche Hudson|Blanche]] (Crawford's character), Crawford made herself as heavy as possible to make the scene agonizing for Davis, who was struggling with back problems. In another scene where Jane beats Blanche, Davis hit Crawford as hard as she could. At the [[35th Academy Awards]], where Davis was nominated for her last Academy Award for Best Actress, actress [[Anne Bancroft]] won instead, for [[The Miracle Worker (1962 film)|''The Miracle Worker'']]. As Bancroft was absent from the ceremony, Crawford accepted the Oscar in her place, while Davis looked on in horror. Crawford had arranged this, persuading several actresses who could not to attend to allow her to collect their award should they win, likely to slight Davis. Davis and Crawford were later attached to star in ''[[Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte]]'' (1964), but Crawford later quit production, owing it to an illness. However, the real reason was to avoid Davis. She was replaced by [[Olivia de Havilland]], a close friend of Davis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bonhams : The Collection of Olivia de Havilland |url=https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28371/the-collection-of-olivia-de-havilland/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=www.bonhams.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":3" /> Their alleged feud was eventually turned into the 2017 limited series [[Feud (TV series)|''Feud'']] by [[Ryan Murphy (writer)|Ryan Murphy]].<ref name=":3">{{cite magazine |date=February 22, 2017 |title=A Timeline of the Real Feud Between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford |url=https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a20666/feud-bette-davis-joan-crawford-timeline/ |magazine=[[Harper's Bazaar]]}}</ref>

Davis also received her only [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts|BAFTA]] nomination for this performance. Crawford did as well, but both lost to [[Patricia Neal]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bette Davis - Awards |url=https://www.bafta.org/awards/search?search=bette+davis&type= |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Bafta |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Patricia Neel - Awards |url=https://www.bafta.org/awards/search?search=patricia+neal&type= |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Bafta |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Joan Crawford - Awards |url=https://www.bafta.org/awards/search?search=joan+crawford&type= |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Bafta |language=en}}</ref> Daughter Barbara (credited as B.D. Merrill) played a small role in the film, and when she and Davis visited the Cannes Film Festival to promote it, Barbara met Jeremy Hyman, an executive for [[Seven Arts Productions]]. After a short courtship, she married Hyman at the age of 16, with Davis's permission. They had two sons and were married until Hyman's death in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Urquhart-White |first=Alaina |date=2017-04-17 |title=B.D. Davis & Jeremy Hyman Are Still Married Decades After They First Met |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/bd-davis-jeremy-hyman-are-still-married-decades-after-they-first-met-51237 |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=Bustle |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandler |first=Charlotte |url=https://archive.org/details/girlwhowalkedhom00char/page/238 |title=The girl who walked home alone : Bette Davis, a personal biography |publisher=New York : Applause Theatre & Cinema Books |others=Internet Archive |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7432-6208-8 |pages=238–240}}</ref>

[[File:Bette Davis William Hopper Perry Mason 1963.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis and [[William Hopper]] in the ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' episode "[[The Case of Constant Doyle]]" (1963)]]
In October 1962, it was announced that four episodes of the CBS-TV series ''[[Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason]]'' would feature special guest stars who would cover for [[Raymond Burr]] during his convalescence from surgery. A ''Perry Mason'' fan, Davis was the first of the guest stars. "[[The Case of Constant Doyle]]" began filming on December 12, 1962,<ref name="Bette Davis NYT">{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Val |date=October 30, 1962 |title=Bette Davis Hired for 'Perry Mason' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/10/30/archives/bette-davis-hired-for-perry-mason-four-others-to-replace-burr.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=August 29, 2016 }}</ref> and aired January 31, 1963.<ref name="CTVA 6">{{cite web |url=http://ctva.biz/US/Legal/PerryMason_06_%281962-63%29.htm |title= Perry Mason, Season 6 (CBS) (1962–1963) | publisher=Classic TV Archive | access-date=August 29, 2016 }}</ref>

In 1962, Davis appeared as Celia Miller on the TV western ''[[The Virginian (TV series)|The Virginian]]'' in the episode titled "The Accomplice."

In September 1962, Davis placed an advertisement in ''Variety'' under the heading of "Situations wanted – women artists", which read: "Mother of three – 10, 11, & 15 – divorcee. American. Thirty years' experience as an actress in Motion Pictures. Mobile still, and more affable than rumor would have it. Wants steady employment in Hollywood. (Has had Broadway.)"<ref>{{cite news
| title = Situations wanted-women artists
| work = Variety
| date = September 21, 1962 }}</ref> Davis said that she intended it as a joke, and she sustained her comeback over the course of several years.

''[[Dead Ringer (film)|Dead Ringer]]'' (1964) was a crime drama in which she played twin sisters. The film was an American adaptation of the Mexican film ''[[La Otra (film)|La Otra]]'', starring [[Dolores del Río]].<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 324</ref> ''[[Where Love Has Gone (film)|Where Love Has Gone]]'' (1964) was a romantic drama based on a [[Harold Robbins]] novel. Davis played the mother of [[Susan Hayward]], but filming was hampered by heated arguments between Davis and Hayward.<ref>Spada (1993), p. 376</ref>

''[[Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte]]'' (1964) was Robert Aldrich's follow-up to ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?''. Aldrich planned to reunite Davis and Crawford, but the latter withdrew allegedly due to illness soon after filming began. She was replaced by Olivia de Havilland. The film was a considerable success, and brought renewed attention to its veteran cast, which included [[Joseph Cotten]], [[Mary Astor]], [[Agnes Moorehead]], and [[Cecil Kellaway]].

The following year, Davis was cast as the lead in an [[Aaron Spelling]] sitcom, ''The Decorator''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Experimental television, test films, pilots, and trial series |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |year=1997 |page=135 |publisher=McFarland |access-date=August 19, 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8VkAAAAMAAJ|isbn=0-7864-0178-8}}</ref> A pilot episode was filmed, but was not shown, and the project was terminated. By the end of the decade, Davis had appeared in the British films ''[[The Nanny (1965 film)|The Nanny]]'' (1965), ''[[The Anniversary (1968 film)|The Anniversary]]'' (1968), and ''[[Connecting Rooms]]'' (1970), none of which were reviewed well, and her career again stalled.<ref name=":1" />

===1971–1983: Later career===
[[File:Lo scopone scientifico (1972) Bette Davis.png|thumb|Davis in ''[[The Scientific Cardplayer]]'' (1972)]]

In the early 1970s, Davis was invited to appear in New York City in a stage presentation titled ''Great Ladies of the American Cinema''. Over five successive nights, a different female star discussed her career, and answered questions from the audience; [[Myrna Loy]], [[Rosalind Russell]], [[Lana Turner]], [[Sylvia Sidney]], and Joan Crawford were the other participants. Davis was well-received, and was invited to tour Australia with the similarly themed ''Bette Davis in Person and on Film''; its success allowed her to take the production to the United Kingdom.<ref>Chandler (2006), pp. 258–259</ref>

In 1972, Davis played the lead role in two television films that were each intended as pilots for upcoming series for ABC and NBC, ''[[Madame Sin]]'', with [[Robert Wagner]], and ''[[The Judge and Jake Wyler]]'', with [[Doug McClure]] and [[Joan Van Ark]], but in each case, the network decided against producing a series.

She appeared in the stage production ''Miss Moffat'', a musical adaptation of her film ''The Corn Is Green'', but after the show was panned by the Philadelphia critics during its pre-Broadway run, she cited a back injury, and abandoned the show, which closed immediately.

She played supporting roles in [[Luigi Comencini]]'s ''[[The Scientific Cardplayer|Lo Scopone scientifico]]'' (1972) with Joseph Cotten and Italian actors [[Alberto Sordi]] and [[Silvana Mangano]]; ''[[Burnt Offerings (film)|Burnt Offerings]]'' (1976), a Dan Curtis film, for which she won the award for [[Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] at the [[Saturn Awards]]; and ''[[The Disappearance of Aimee]]'' (1976); but she clashed with [[Karen Black]] and [[Faye Dunaway]], the stars of the two latter productions, because she felt that neither extended her an appropriate degree of respect and that their behavior on the film sets was unprofessional.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 414 (Karen Black), 416 (Faye Dunaway)</ref>

[[File:DavisTaylor.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis (left) and [[Elizabeth Taylor]] in late 1981 during a show celebrating Taylor's life]]
In 1977, Davis became the first woman to receive the American Film Institute's [[AFI Life Achievement Award|Lifetime Achievement Award]]. The televised event included comments from several of Davis's colleagues, including William Wyler, who joked that given the chance, Davis would still like to re-film a scene from ''The Letter'' to which Davis nodded. [[Jane Fonda]], [[Henry Fonda]], [[Natalie Wood]], and Olivia de Havilland were among the performers who paid tribute, with de Havilland commenting that Davis "got the roles I always wanted".<ref>Spada (1993), p. 424</ref> That same year, Davis's lifelong rival Joan Crawford died. Davis reportedly stated, "You should never say bad things about the dead; you should only say good… Joan Crawford is dead. Good."<ref name=":3" /> 

Following the telecast, she found herself in demand again, often having to choose between several offers. She accepted roles in the television miniseries ''[[The Dark Secret of Harvest Home]]'' (1978) and the theatrical film ''[[Death on the Nile (1978 film)|Death on the Nile]]'' (1978), an [[Agatha Christie]] murder mystery. The bulk of her remaining work was for television. She won an [[Emmy Award]] for ''[[Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter]]'' (1979) with [[Gena Rowlands]], and was nominated for her performances in ''[[White Mama]]'' (1980) and ''[[Little Gloria...Happy at Last]]'' (1982). She also played supporting roles in the Disney films ''[[Return from Witch Mountain]]'' (1978) and ''[[The Watcher in the Woods (1980 film)|The Watcher in the Woods]]'' (1980).

Davis's name became well known to a younger audience when [[Kim Carnes]]'s song "[[Bette Davis Eyes]]" (written by [[Donna Weiss]] and [[Jackie DeShannon]]) became a worldwide hit and the best-selling record of 1981 in the U.S., where it stayed at number one on the music charts for more than two months. Davis's grandson was impressed that she was the subject of a hit song and Davis considered it a compliment, writing to both Carnes and the songwriters, and accepting the gift of [[Music recording sales certification|gold and platinum records]] from Carnes, and hanging them on her wall.<ref>Davis (1987), p. 112</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nmjetV92THsC&pg=PA49 |title=The women of Warner Brothers: the ... |access-date=April 14, 2010|isbn=978-0-7864-1137-5|year=2002|last1=Bubbeo |first1=Daniel |publisher=McFarland }}</ref>

She continued acting for television, appearing in ''[[Family Reunion (1981 film)|Family Reunion]]'' (1981) with her grandson J. Ashley Hyman, ''[[A Piano for Mrs. Cimino]]'' (1982), for which she won the Best Actress Award at [[Monte-Carlo Television Festival|The Monte Carlo Television Festival]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tvfestival.com/img/history/documents/1983/1983_palmares.pdf |title=Golden Nymph Award Winners |publisher=Féstival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo |access-date=August 14, 2023}}</ref> and ''[[Right of Way (film)|Right of Way]]'' (1983) with [[James Stewart]]. In 1983, she was awarded the [[Women in Film Los Angeles|Women in Film]] Crystal Award.<ref name=WIF>{{cite web|title=Past Recipients: Crystal Award |url=http://wif.org/past-recipients |work=Women In Film |access-date=May 10, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724120329/http://www.wif.org/past-recipients |archive-date=July 24, 2011 }}</ref>

===1983–1985: Illness and ''My Mother's Keeper''===
Her career went through several periods of eclipse, but despite a long period of ill health she continued acting in film and on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in 1989.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=April 14, 2017 |title='Feud:' 10 Things to Know About the Bette Davis Tell-All 'My Mother's Keeper' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/feud-my-mothers-keeper-primer-993125 |access-date=March 11, 2019 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en}}</ref> She admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In 1983, after filming the pilot episode for the television series ''[[Hotel (American TV series)|Hotel]]'', Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a [[mastectomy]]. Within two weeks of her surgery, she had four strokes which caused paralysis in the left side of her face and in her left arm, and left her with slurred speech. She commenced a lengthy period of physical therapy, and aided by her personal assistant Kathryn Sermak gained partial recovery from the paralysis. Even late in life, Davis smoked 100 cigarettes per day.<ref name="filmcomment">{{cite web|url=http://www.filmcomment.com/article/i-killed-bette-davis/|title=I Killed Bette Davis|first=Larry|last=Cohen|work=[[Film Comment]]|date=July 2012}}</ref>

==== ''My Mother's Keeper'' ====
{{Main articles|My Mother's Keeper}}

In 1978, Davis's longtime rival Joan Crawford's daughter [[Christina Crawford|Christina]] published a memoir titled ''[[Mommie Dearest]]''. Davis defended Crawford, saying, "I was not Miss Crawford's biggest fan but, wisecracks to the contrary, I did and still do respect her talent. What she did not deserve was that detestable book written by her daughter." She then went on to express the horror she would feel if her daughter, B. D. Hyman, did something like that to her.<ref name=":3" />

During this time, her relationship with Hyman deteriorated when Hyman became a [[born-again Christian]] and attempted to persuade Davis to follow suit. With her health stable, she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie mystery ''[[Murder with Mirrors]]'' (1985). Upon her return, she learned that Hyman had published ''[[My Mother's Keeper]]'', in which she chronicled a difficult mother-daughter relationship and depicted scenes of Davis's overbearing and drunken behavior.<ref name=":0" />

Several of Davis's friends commented that Hyman's depiction of events was not accurate; one said, "So much of the book is out of context". [[Mike Wallace]] re-broadcast a ''[[60 Minutes]]'' interview he had filmed with Hyman a few years earlier in which she commended Davis on her skills as a mother and said that she had adopted many of Davis's principles in raising her own children.

[[File:Ronald Reagan with Bette Davis 1987.jpg|thumb|Davis with President [[Ronald Reagan]], her co-star in 1939's ''[[Dark Victory]]'', in 1987, two years before her death]]
Critics of Hyman noted that Davis financially supported the Hyman family for several years and had recently saved them from losing their house. Despite the acrimony of their divorce years earlier, Gary Merrill also defended Davis. Interviewed by CNN, Merrill said that Hyman was motivated by "cruelty and greed". Davis's adopted son Michael Merrill ended contact with Hyman, and refused to speak to her again, as did Davis, who disinherited her.<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 451–457</ref>

In her second memoir ''[[This 'n That]]'' (1987), Davis wrote: "I am still recovering from the fact that a child of mine would write about me behind my back, to say nothing about the kind of book it is. I will never recover as completely from B.D.'s book as I have from the stroke. Both were shattering experiences." Her memoir concluded with a letter to her daughter, in which she addressed her several times as Hyman, and described her actions as "a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given". She concluded with a reference to the title of Hyman's book, "If it refers to money, if my memory serves me right, I've been your keeper all these many years. I am continuing to do so, as my name has made your book about me a success."<ref>Davis (1987), pp. 10, 197–198</ref>

=== 1986–1989: Final works and awards ===
[[File:BetteDavisTheWhalesofAugust.jpg|thumb|Davis, aged 79, completed her penultimate role in ''[[The Whales of August]]'' (1987), which brought her acclaim during a period in which she was beset with failing health and personal trauma.]]
Davis appeared in the television film ''[[As Summers Die]]'' (1986), and in [[Lindsay Anderson]]'s film ''[[The Whales of August]]'' (1987), in which she played the blind sister of [[Lillian Gish]]. Though in poor health at the time, Davis memorized her own and everyone else's lines as she always had.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/22/movies/placating-the-stars-of-whales.html|title=Placating the Stars of 'Whales'|date=October 22, 1987|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The film earned good reviews, with one critic writing: "Bette crawls across the screen like a testy old hornet on a windowpane, snarling, staggering, twitching – a symphony of misfired synapses."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097815,00.html|title=Grand Old Lillian Gish Makes a Big Splash in the Whales of August|access-date=October 25, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095527/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097815,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Davis became an honoree of the [[Kennedy Center Honors]] for her contribution to films in 1987.

Her last performance was the title role in [[Larry Cohen]]'s ''[[Wicked Stepmother]]'' (1989). By this time, her health was failing, and after disagreements with Cohen, she walked off the set. The script was rewritten to place more emphasis on [[Barbara Carrera]]'s character, and the reworked version was released after Davis's death.<ref name="filmcomment" />

After abandoning ''Wicked Stepmother'', and with no further film offers (though she was keen to play the [[centenarian]] in Craig Calman's ''The Turn of the Century'', and worked with him on adapting the stage play to a feature-length screenplay), Davis appeared on several talk shows, and was interviewed by [[Johnny Carson]], [[Joan Rivers]], [[Larry King]], and [[David Letterman]], discussing her career, but refusing to discuss her daughter. Her appearances were popular; Lindsay Anderson observed that the public enjoyed seeing her behaving "so bitchy": "I always disliked that because she was encouraged to behave badly. And I'd always hear her described by that awful word, feisty."<ref>Spada (1993), p. 472</ref>

During 1988 and 1989, Davis was honored for her career achievements, receiving the [[Legion of Honor]] from France, the [[Campione d'Italia]] from Italy, and the [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts|Film Society of Lincoln Center Lifetime Achievement Award]]. She appeared on British television in a special broadcast from the [[Southbank Centre|South Bank Centre]], discussing film and her career.

== Death and will ==
[[File:Bette Davis Tomb.JPG|thumb|upright|Davis's crypt at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]] in Los Angeles]]
Davis collapsed during the American Cinema Awards ceremony in 1989 and later discovered that her cancer had returned. She recovered sufficiently to travel to Spain, where she was honored at the [[San Sebastián International Film Festival]]. During her visit, her health rapidly deteriorated. Too weak to make the long journey back to the U.S., she traveled to France, where she died of [[metastasized]] breast cancer on October 6, 1989, at the [[American Hospital of Paris|American Hospital]] in [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]]. Davis was 81 years old. A memorial tribute was held by invitation only at Burbank Studio's stage 18, where a work light was turned on signaling the end of production.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-11-04-ca-345-story.html|title=A Simple Tribute to Screen Legend Bette Davis on Stage 18 : Movies: Friends gather at Burbank Studios to honor stormy actress who "reveled" in her stardom|last=Thomas|first=Kevin|date=November 4, 1989|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=March 11, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>

A private funeral was held on October 12, 1989, held at First Christian Church of North Hollywood.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1989-10-12 |title=Bette Davis buried in private ceremony |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/10/12/Bette-Davis-buried-in-private-ceremony/8280624168000/ |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=[[UPI]] |language=en}}</ref> Following the funeral, she was entombed in the Davis family sarcophagus at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)|Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery]] in Los Angeles, alongside her mother Ruthie and sister Bobby, with her name in larger letters. On her tombstone is written: "She did it the hard way", an epitaph that she mentioned in her memoir ''Mother Goddam'' as having been suggested to her by Joseph L. Mankiewicz shortly after they had filmed ''All About Eve''.<ref name="goddamprologueIX">Stine (1974), prologue ix</ref>

Her estate was valued between $600,000 and $1,000,000 at the time of her death. She left about half of the estate to her adopted son, Michael Merrill, and the other half to her assistant and close friend, Kathryn Sermack. Her adopted daughter Margot Merrill and daughter B. D. Hyman (along with Hyman's two sons) were excluded from her will. Davis and Hyman had been estranged ever since the latter published ''My Mother's Keeper'' in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1989-11-07 |title=Bette Davis Estate Near $1 Million; 2 Daughters, Grandsons Left Out |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-11-07-mn-913-story.html#:~:text=Bette%20Davis%20Estate%20Near%20$1,Left%20Out%20-%20Los%20Angeles%20Times |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Margot died in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MARGOT MERRILL Obituary (2022) - Brookline, MA - Boston Globe |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/margot-merrill-obituary?id=34825083 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref>

== Reception and legacy ==
===Roles and performances===
As early as 1936, [[Graham Greene]] summarized Davis: {{blockquote|Even the most inconsiderable film...seemed temporarily better than they were because of that precise, nervy voice, the pale ash-blond hair, the popping, neurotic eyes, a kind of corrupt and phosphorescent prettiness.... I would rather watch Miss Davis than any number of competent pictures.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-june-1936/15/the-cinema|title=The Cinema » 19 Jun 1936|website=The Spectator Archive}}</ref>}}
[[File:BetteDavisVote64.jpg|thumb|Davis registering to vote in 1964]]
Pauline Kael notes that Davis made herself lovable and famous by turning herself into "a caricature of a harpy."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael (paperback) |url=https://www.loa.org/books/348-the-age-of-movies-selected-writings-of-pauline-kael-paperback/ |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=Library of America |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1964, Jack Warner spoke of the "magic quality that transformed this sometimes bland and not beautiful little girl into a great artist",<ref name="goddamprologueIX" /> and in a 1988 interview, Davis remarked that, unlike many of her contemporaries, she had forged a career without the benefit of beauty.<ref name="MeetingMissDavis">{{cite web|first=Jim |last=Emerson |url=http://www.cinepad.com/bettedavis.htm |title=Meeting Miss Davis |publisher=Jeeem's Cinepad |access-date=August 24, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512012121/http://www.cinepad.com/bettedavis.htm |archive-date=May 12, 2008 }}</ref> She admitted she was terrified during the making of her early films, and that she became tough by necessity. "Until you're known in my profession as a monster, you are not a star", she said, "[but] I've never fought for anything in a treacherous way. I've never fought for anything but the good of the film."<ref name="Movietalk">Shipman (1988), p. 13</ref> During the making of ''All About Eve'' (1950), Joseph L. Mankiewicz told her of the perception in Hollywood that she was difficult, and she explained that when the audience saw her on screen, they did not consider that her appearance was the result of numerous people working behind the scenes. If she was presented as "a horse's ass...forty feet wide, and thirty feet high", that is all the audience "would see or care about".<ref>Spada (1993), p. 272</ref> 
[[File:Bette Davis star.png|thumb|left|Davis's star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] for her achievements in television]]

While lauded for her achievements, Davis and her films were sometimes derided. Pauline Kael described ''Now, Voyager'' (1942) as a "shlock classic",<ref>Kael (1982), p. 421</ref> and by the mid-1940s, her sometimes mannered and histrionic performances had become the subject of caricature. Edwin Schallert, for the ''Los Angeles Times'', praised Davis's performance in ''Mr. Skeffington'' (1944), while observing, "The mimics will have more fun than a box of monkeys imitating Miss Davis". Dorothy Manners, at the ''Los Angeles Examiner'', said of her performance in the poorly received ''Beyond the Forest'' (1949): "No night club caricaturist has ever turned in such a cruel imitation of the Davis mannerisms as Bette turns on herself in this one." ''Time'' magazine noted that Davis was compulsively watchable, even while criticizing her acting technique, summarizing her performance in ''Dead Ringer'' (1964) with the observation, "Her acting, as always, isn't really acting: It's shameless showing off. But just try to look away!"<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 178</ref>

Her film choices were often unconventional: Davis sought roles as manipulators and killers in an era when actresses usually preferred to play sympathetic characters, and she excelled in them. She favored authenticity over glamour, and was willing to change her own appearance if it suited the character.<ref name="Movietalk" />

[[File:Grauman's Chinese Theatre, bette davis.JPG|thumb|upright|Davis's signature and handprints at [[Grauman's Chinese Theatre]]]]
As she entered old age, Davis was acknowledged for her achievements. John Springer, who had arranged her speaking tours of the early 1970s, wrote that despite the accomplishments of many of her contemporaries, Davis was "the star of the thirties and into the forties", achieving notability for the variety of her characterizations and her ability to assert herself, even when her material was mediocre.<ref>Springer (1978), p. 81</ref> Individual performances continued to receive praise; in 1987, Bill Collins analyzed ''The Letter'' (1940), and described her performance as "a brilliant, subtle achievement", and wrote: "Bette Davis makes Leslie Crosbie one of the most extraordinary females in movies."<ref>Collins (1987), p. 135</ref> 

In a 2000 review for ''All About Eve'' (1950), Roger Ebert noted: "Davis was a character, an icon with a grand style; so, even her excesses are realistic."<ref>{{cite web | first = Roger | last = Ebert | url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20000611/REVIEWS08/6110301/1023 | title = Review of ''All About Eve'' | publisher = RogerEbert.com | date = June 11, 2000 | access-date = August 24, 2008 | archive-date = July 9, 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070709051542/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20000611%2FREVIEWS08%2F6110301%2F1023 | url-status = dead }}</ref> In 2006, ''Premiere'' magazine ranked her portrayal of Margo Channing in the film as fifth on their list of 100 Greatest Performances of All Time, commenting: "There is something deliciously audacious about her gleeful willingness to play such unattractive emotions as jealousy, bitterness, and neediness."<ref>{{cite journal|title=100 Greatest Performances of All Time|journal=Premiere|date=April 2006}}</ref> While reviewing ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962) in 2008, Ebert asserted that, "No one who has seen the film will ever forget her."<ref>{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080216/REVIEWS08/14917937/1023 |title=What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) |publisher=RogerEbert.com |date=February 16, 2008 |access-date=December 29, 2011 |archive-date=September 20, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920074936/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080216%2FREVIEWS08%2F14917937%2F1023 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1977, Davis became the first woman to be honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award.<ref>Sikov (2007), p. 405</ref> In 1999, the [[American Film Institute]] published its list of the "[[AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars]]", which was the result of a film-industry poll to determine the "50 Greatest American Screen Legends" in order to raise public awareness and appreciation of classic film. Of the 25 actresses listed, Davis was ranked at number two, behind Katharine Hepburn.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/stars.aspx | title = AFI's 100 Years, 100 Stars, Greatest Film Star Legends |publisher = American Film Institute | access-date = August 24, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080822055357/http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/stars.aspx| archive-date = August 22, 2008}}</ref>

===Memorials===
A few months before her death in 1989, Davis was one of several actors featured on the cover of ''Life'' magazine. In a film retrospective that celebrated the films and stars of 1939, ''Life'' concluded that Davis was the most significant actress of her era, and highlighted ''Dark Victory'' (1939) as one of the more important films of the year.<ref name="life">"Hollywood 1939–1989, Today's Stars Meet the Screen Legends". ''Life''. Spring 1989.</ref> Her death made front-page news throughout the world as the "close of yet another chapter of the Golden Age of Hollywood". [[Angela Lansbury]] summarized the feeling of those of the Hollywood community who attended her memorial service, commenting, after a sample from Davis's films was screened, that they had witnessed "an extraordinary legacy of acting in the twentieth century by a real master of the craft" that should provide "encouragement and illustration to future generations of aspiring actors".<ref>Spada (1993), pp. 480–481</ref>

The [[United States Postal Service]] honored Davis with a commemorative postage stamp in 2008, marking the 100th anniversary of her birth.<ref>{{cite news
 |title        = Bette Davis Stars in 2008 Postage Stamps
 |publisher    = Fox News
 |date         = December 27, 2007
|url          = https://www.foxnews.com/story/bette-davis-stars-in-2008-postage-stamps
 |access-date   = August 24, 2008
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081220063912/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318649,00.html
 |archive-date = December 20, 2008
|url-status     = live
}}</ref> The stamp features an image of her in the role of Margo Channing in ''All About Eve''. The First Day of Issue celebration took place September 18, 2008, at [[Boston University]], which houses an extensive Davis archive. Featured speakers included her son Michael Merrill and [[Lauren Bacall]]. In 1997, the executors of her estate, Merrill and Kathryn Sermak, her former assistant, established The Bette Davis Foundation, which awards college scholarships to promising actors and actresses.<ref name="BetteDavisofficialsite">{{cite web | url =http://www.bettedavis.com/about/bio.htm | title = Bette Davis official site| publisher=Estate of Bette Davis| access-date = August 24, 2008| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080723014931/http://www.bettedavis.com/about/bio.htm <!--Added by H3llBot-->| archive-date =July 23, 2008}}</ref>

In 2017, Sermak published the memoir ''Miss D & Me: Life With the Invincible Bette Davis'', a book Davis had requested Sermak to write, detailing their years spent together.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kathryn-sermak/miss-d-and-me/|title=Miss D and Me &#124; Kirkus Reviews|via=www.kirkusreviews.com}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
* In 1981, the song "[[Bette Davis Eyes]]", performed by [[Kim Carnes]], won two [[Grammy Award]]s ([[Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year]] and [[Record of the Year]]) and spent a total of nine weeks at the top of the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]. Davis wrote letters to [[Kim Carnes|Carnes]] and the writers of the song, [[Donna Weiss]] and [[Jackie DeShannon]], to thank them for making her "a part of modern times", and said that her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, Davis sent them roses.<ref>{{cite book|first= Fred |last= Bronson |year= 1992 |title= Billboard Book of Number One Hits |edition= 3rd |publisher= Billboard Publications, Inc. |location= New York, NY |page= [https://archive.org/details/billboardbookofn0000bron/page/543 543] |isbn= 0-8230-8298-9 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/billboardbookofn0000bron/page/543}}</ref>

* Other references to Davis are made in [[Bob Dylan]]'s "[[Desolation Row]]", in the song "Celluloid Heroes" by [[the Kinks]], in the 1990 [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]] song "[[Vogue (Madonna song)|Vogue]]", in “Silver Screen Romance” by American rock band [[Good Charlotte]], and in "Girl on TV" by the boy band [[LFO (American band)|LFO]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/47696/|title=LFO - Girl On Tv Lyrics - SongMeanings|website=SongMeanings|date=July 10, 2002 }}</ref>  There is also the line "I don't know how you came to get the Bette Davis knees, but worst of all young man, you've got industrial disease" in the hit song 'Industrial Disease' by the band Dire Straits (1982).

* Davis attracted a following in the [[gay subculture]], and was frequently imitated by [[Drag queen|female impersonator]]s such as [[Arthur Blake (American actor)|Arthur Blake]] and [[Charles Pierce (female impersonator)|Charles Pierce]].<ref>{{cite web| title = Charles Pierce as Bette Davis| url = http://www.bochynski.com/charlespierce/davis.htm#top| publisher=Bochynski.com| access-date = August 24, 2008}}</ref> Attempting to explain her popularity with gay audiences, the journalist Jim Emerson wrote: "Was she just a camp figurehead because her brittle, melodramatic style of acting hadn't aged well? Or was it that she was 'Larger Than Life', a tough broad who had survived? Probably some of both."<ref name= MeetingMissDavis />

* In [[House of Wax (2005 film)|''House of Wax'']] (2005), in her attempt to blend in with the other wax figures in the local movie house, the lead female character has to sit through a scene from ''Whatever Happened to Baby Jane .''<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 6, 2005|title=House of Wax (2005)|url=https://www.popmatters.com/house-of-wax-2496246355.html|access-date=October 23, 2020|website=PopMatters|language=en}}</ref>

* The alleged feud between Davis and Joan Crawford is the subject of the 1989 book ''[[Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud]]''.<ref name="nypost">{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2017/02/26/why-bette-davis-and-joan-crawfords-feud-lasted-a-lifetime|title=Why Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's Feud Lasted a Lifetime|first=Robert |last=Rorke|work=[[New York Post]]|date=February 26, 2017|access-date=February 26, 2017}}</ref> It was later depicted in the 2017 television series ''[[Feud (TV series)|Feud: Bette and Joan]]'', with [[Susan Sarandon]] as Davis and [[Jessica Lange]] as Crawford.<ref name="variety">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/feud-ryan-murphy-fx-anthology-jessica-lange-susan-sarandon-1201758686|title=''Feud'': Ryan Murphy Lands Third FX Anthology With Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange|first=Elizabeth|last=Wagmeister|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=May 5, 2016|access-date=May 5, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/fx-premiere-dates-feud-the-americans-archer-1201959126|title=FX Sets Premiere Dates for ''Feud'', ''The Americans'', ''Archer''|work=Variety|first=Debra|last=Birnbaum|date=January 12, 2017|access-date=January 12, 2017}}</ref>

* The Bette Davis Picnic Area is in [[Griffith Park]] in Los Angeles. It was named after Davis because she once lived in one of the homes along Rancho Avenue, across the street from the park.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bette Davis Picnic Area, Griffith Park |url=https://www.pbssocal.org/departures-field-guides/bette-davis-picnic-area-griffith-park |website=PBSsocal.org |date=March 30, 2011 |access-date=1 March 2025}}</ref>

== Academy Awards ==
{{Transcluded section|List of awards and nominations received by Bette Davis|part=yes}}

[[File:Bette Davis in Dark Victory trailer.jpg|thumb|Davis in the trailer for ''[[Dark Victory]]'' (1939), in which she gave one of her 11 Oscar-nominated performances]]
Davis established several [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] milestones. Among them, she became the first person to earn five consecutive Academy Award nominations for acting, all in the Best Actress category (1938–1942).<ref name=Consecutive>{{cite web |url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/Help/Statistics?file=Act-ConsecutiveNoms.pdf |title=Persons With Acting Nominations in 3 or More Consecutive Years |work=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |date=March 1, 2018 |access-date=August 15, 2018}}</ref> Her record has only been matched by one other performer, [[Greer Garson]], who also earned five consecutive nominations in the Best Actress category (1941–1945), including three years when both these actresses were nominated.<ref name=Consecutive/>

In 1962, Bette Davis became the first person to secure 10 Academy Award nominations for acting. One could argue her 10th nomination was in 1952, and her 11th in 1962, as her write-in nomination for "Of Human Bondage" remains a source of contention. She came in 3rd in the voting, ahead of official nominee Grace Moore. Since then, only three people have surpassed this figure—[[Meryl Streep]] (with 21 nominations and three wins), [[Katharine Hepburn]] (12 nominations and 4 wins), and [[Jack Nicholson]] (12 nominations and 3 wins)—while [[Laurence Olivier]] matched her (10 nominations and 1 win).<ref>{{cite web | title = Persons with 5 or More Acting Nominations | publisher = Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | url = http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Act-5ormoreNoms.pdf | access-date = December 10, 2015 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160122144658/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Act-5ormoreNoms.pdf | archive-date = January 22, 2016 }}</ref>

[[Steven Spielberg]] purchased Davis's Oscars for ''Dangerous'' (1935) and ''Jezebel'' (1938), when they were offered for auction for $207,500 and $578,000, respectively, and returned them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.<ref>[http://www.reelclassics.com/Scrapbook/dangerous-scrapbook.htm "Classic Movie Scrapbook: Dangerous."] Reel Classics.com. Accessed May 24, 2008.</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1448988.stm "Spielberg buys Bette Davis' Oscar."] BBC.co.uk. July 20, 2001. Accessed May 24, 2008.</ref>

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
!Year
!Category
!Film
!Result
|-
| [[7th Academy Awards|1934]]
| rowspan="11"|[[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| ''[[Of Human Bondage (1934 film)|Of Human Bondage]]''
| {{nom}} (Write-in)
|-
| [[8th Academy Awards|1935]]
| ''[[Dangerous (1935 film)|Dangerous]]''
| rowspan="2" {{Won}}
|-
| [[11th Academy Awards|1938]]
| ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]''
|-
| [[12th Academy Awards|1939]]
| ''[[Dark Victory]]''
| rowspan="8" {{Nom}}
|-
| [[13th Academy Awards|1940]]
| ''[[The Letter (1940 film)|The Letter]]''
|-
| [[14th Academy Awards|1941]]
| ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]''
|-
| [[15th Academy Awards|1942]]
| ''[[Now, Voyager]]''
|-
| [[17th Academy Awards|1944]]
| ''[[Mr. Skeffington]]''
|-
| [[23rd Academy Awards|1950]]
| ''[[All About Eve]]''
|-
| [[25th Academy Awards|1952]]
| ''[[The Star (1952 film)|The Star]]''
|-
| [[35th Academy Awards|1962]]
| ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]''
|}
[[File:Bette davis bad sister.jpg|thumb|Davis in [[Bad Sister (1931 film)|''Bad Sister'']], her 1931 film debut]]

==Selected filmography==
{{hatnote|{{Main list|List of Bette Davis performances}}|reason=Hatnotes are supposed to indent from the content below them; this rectifies that situation, when the content is itself an indented list.}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* ''[[Bad Sister (1931 film)|Bad Sister]]'' (1931, debut)
* ''[[20,000 Years in Sing Sing]]'' (1932)
* ''[[The Man Who Played God (1932 film)|The Man Who Played God]]'' (1932)
* ''[[So Big (1932 film)|So Big!]]'' (1932)
* ''[[Three on a Match]]'' (1932)
* ''[[Of Human Bondage (1934 film)|Of Human Bondage]]'' (1934)
* ''[[Bordertown (1935 film)|Bordertown]]'' (1935)
* ''[[Dangerous (1935 film)|Dangerous]]'' (1935)
* ''[[The Petrified Forest]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Marked Woman]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Dark Victory]]'' (1939)
* ''[[Juarez (film)|Juarez]]'' (1939)
* ''[[The Old Maid (1939 film)|The Old Maid]]'' (1939)
* ''[[The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex]]'' (1939)
* ''[[All This, and Heaven Too]]'' (1940)
* ''[[The Letter (1940 film)|The Letter]]'' (1940)
* ''[[The Great Lie]]'' (1941)
* ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]'' (1941)
* ''[[The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942 film)|The Man Who Came to Dinner]]'' (1941)
* ''[[Now, Voyager]]'' (1942)
* ''[[Old Acquaintance]]'' (1943)
* ''[[Watch on the Rhine]]'' (1943)
* ''[[Mr. Skeffington]]'' (1944)
* ''[[The Corn Is Green (1945 film)|The Corn Is Green]]'' (1945)
* ''[[Deception (1946 film)|Deception]]'' (1946)
* ''[[A Stolen Life (film)|A Stolen Life]]'' (1946)
* ''[[June Bride]]'' (1948)
* ''[[Beyond the Forest]]'' (1949)
* ''[[All About Eve]]'' (1950)
* ''[[Another Man's Poison]]'' (1951)
* ''[[Payment on Demand]]'' (1951)
* ''[[The Star (1952 film)|The Star]]'' (1952)
* ''[[The Catered Affair]]'' (1956)
* ''[[Storm Center]]'' (1956)
* ''[[Pocketful of Miracles]]'' (1961)
* ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]'' (1962)
* ''[[Dead Ringer (film)|Dead Ringer]]'' (1964)
* ''[[Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte]]'' (1964)
* ''[[The Nanny (1965 film)|The Nanny]]'' (1965)
* ''[[The Anniversary (1968 film)|The Anniversary]]'' (1968)
* ''[[Connecting Rooms]]'' (1970)
* ''[[Burnt Offerings (film)|Burnt Offerings]]'' (1976)
* ''[[Death on the Nile (1978 film)|Death on the Nile]]'' (1978)
* ''[[The Watcher in the Woods (1980 film)|The Watcher in the Woods]]'' (1980)
* ''[[White Mama]]'' (1980~TV)
* ''[[Little Gloria... Happy at Last]]'' (1982~TV)
* ''[[A Piano for Mrs. Cimino]]'' (1982~TV)
* ''[[The Whales of August]]'' (1987)
* ''[[Wicked Stepmother]]'' (1989, final role)
}}

== See also ==
* [[List of awards and nominations received by Bette Davis]]
* [[Motion Picture Production Code]] (Hays Code)
* [[Classical Hollywood cinema]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book |last=Bret |first = David |title = Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr |publisher = Carroll & Graf Publishers | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-7867-1868-9}}
* {{cite book |last= Carr |first= Larry |title= More Fabulous Faces: The Evolution and Metamorphosis of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Dolores del Río, Carole Lombard and Myrna Loy |year= 1979 |publisher= Doubleday and Company |isbn= 0-385-12819-3 }}
* {{cite book |last= Chandler |first= Charlotte |title= The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography |year= 2006 |publisher= Simon and Schuster |isbn= 978-0-7432-6208-8 |url= https://archive.org/details/girlwhowalkedhom00char }}
* {{cite book |last= Collins |first= Bill |title= Bill Collins Presents "The Golden Years of Hollywood" |year= 1987 |publisher= The MacMillan Company of Australia |isbn= 0-333-45069-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Considine |first=Shaun| title = Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud |publisher=Backinprint.com |isbn= 978-0-595-12027-7 |year= 2000}}
* {{cite book |last=Davis |first=Bette |title=The Lonely Life: An Autobiography |url=https://archive.org/details/lonelylifeautobi00davi |url-access=registration |year=1962 |location=New York |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |isbn=978-0-425-12350-8 |oclc=387221}}
* {{cite book |last1= Davis |first1= Bette |first2=Michael |last2=Herskowitz |title= This 'N That |url= https://archive.org/details/thisnthat00davi |url-access= registration |year= 1987 |publisher= G. P. Putnam's Sons |isbn= 0-345-34453-7}}
* {{cite book |last= Guiles |first= Fred Lawrence |title= Joan Crawford, The Last Word |year= 1995 |publisher= Conrad Goulden Books |isbn= 1-85793-268-4}}
* {{cite book |last= Haver |first= Ronald |author-link=Ronald Haver |title= David O. Selznick's Hollywood |year= 1980 |publisher= Bonanza Books |isbn= 0-517-47665-7}}
* {{cite book |last= Kael |first= Pauline |title= 5001 Nights at the Movies |year= 1982 |publisher= Zenith Books |isbn= 0-09-933550-6}}
* {{cite book |last= Ringgold |first= Gene |title= The Films of Bette Davis |year= 1966 |publisher= Cadillac Publishing Co |isbn= 0-8065-0953-8 |url= https://archive.org/details/bettedavisherfil00ring }}
* {{cite book |last=Sermak |first=Kathryn |date=2017 |title=Miss D. and me: Life with the Invincible Bette Davis |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0316507844}}
* {{cite book |last= Shipman |first= David |title= Movie Talk |year= 1988 |publisher= St. Martin's Press |isbn= 0-312-03403-2}}
* {{cite book |last= Sikov |first= Ed |title= Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis |year= 2007 |publisher= Henry Holt and Company |isbn= 978-0-8050-7548-9 |url= https://archive.org/details/darkvictorylifeo00siko }}
* {{cite book |last= Spada |first= James |title= More Than a Woman: An Intimate Biography of Bette Davis |year= 1993 |publisher= Little, Brown and Company |isbn= 0-316-90880-0 }}
* {{cite book |last= Sperling |first= Cass Warner |author2=Milner, Cork Milner|author3=Warner, Jack Jr. |title= Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story |year= 1998 |publisher= Prima Publishing |isbn=0-8131-0958-2}}
* {{cite book |last1= Springer |first1= John |first2=Jack |last2=Hamilton |title= They Had Faces Then |year= 1978 |publisher= Citadel Press |isbn= 0-8065-0657-1 }}
* {{cite book |last= Staggs |first= Sam |title= All About "All About Eve" |year= 2000 |publisher= St. Martin's Press |isbn= 0-312-27315-0}}
* {{cite book |last1= Stine |first1= Whitney |first2= Bette |last2= Davis |title= Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis |year= 1974 |publisher= W.H. Allen and Co. Plc. |isbn= 1-56980-157-6 |url= https://archive.org/details/sharontatemanso00king }}
* {{cite book |last1= Wiley |first1= Mason |first2=Damien |last2=Bona |title= Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards |year= 1987 |publisher= Ballantine Books |isbn= 0-345-34453-7}}
* {{cite book |last= Zeruk |first= James |title= Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide: A Biography |year=2014 |publisher= McFarland & Co. |isbn= 978-0-7864-7313-7}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{official website|https://www.bettedavis.com/}} - operated by the Estate of Bette Davis
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes person}}
* {{TCMDb name}}
* {{AFI person | id= 20235-Bette-Davis | title= Bette Davis }}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{Playbill person}}
* {{TV Guide person}}
* [http://www.thenedscottarchive.com/galleries/film-stars.html#bettedavis Portraits from "The Little Foxes", 1941] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305004019/http://thenedscottarchive.com/galleries/film-stars.html#bettedavis |date=March 5, 2016 }} by [[Ned Scott]]
* [http://www.news-sentinel.com/living/2017/10/24/tinseltown-talks-kathryn-sermak-recounts-living-with-bette-davis/ Kathryn Sermak recounts living with Bette Davis, interview October, 2017, News-Sentinel, accessed October 25, 2017.]

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo}}
{{s-bef|before= [[Walter Wanger]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences#Presidents of the Academy|President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|years = 1941}}
{{s-aft|after = Walter Wanger}}
{{s-end}}

{{Navboxes
|title = [[List of awards and nominations received by Bette Davis|Awards for Bette Davis]]
|list =
{{AcademyAwardBestActress 1927-1940}}
{{AFI Life Achievement Award}}
{{British Film Institute Fellowship}}
{{Prix d'interprétation féminine 1946-1959}}
{{Cecil B. DeMille Award 1952-1975}}
{{Donostia Award}}
{{EmmyAward MiniseriesLeadActress 1976-2000}}
{{Lincoln Center Gala Tribute}}
{{Honorary César}}
{{Kennedy Center Honorees 1980s}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress}}
{{Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress}}
{{Volpi Cup for Best Actress}}
}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Bette}}
[[Category:Bette Davis| ]]
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