Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (/ˈbÉ›ti/; April 5, 1908 â€" October 6,
1989) was an American actress. With a career spanning 60 years and 100
acting credits, she is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in
film history. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic
characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film
genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films,
suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater
successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards,
she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations.After appearing
in Broadway plays, the 22-year old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930.
After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough
playing a vulgar waitress in Of Human Bondage (1934), although,
contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy
Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her strong
performance as a down-and-out actress in Dangerous (1935) did land her
her first Best Actress nomination, and she won the award.In 1937, she
tried to free herself from her contract with Warner Brothers Studio;
although she lost the legal case, it marked the start of more than a
decade as one of the most celebrated leading ladies of US cinema,
known for her forceful and intense style. Her portrayal of a
strong-willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel (1938) won her a second
Academy Award for Best Actress and was the first of five consecutive
years she received a nomination. The others were for Dark Victory
(1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941) and Now, Voyager
(1942). Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be
highly combative and confrontational with studio executives and film
directors as well as with her co-stars. Her forthright manner,
idiosyncratic speech, and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public
persona that has been often imitated.She is perhaps most known for her
role as a Broadway star in All About Eve (1950), which earned her
another Oscar nomination and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best
Actress. Her last Oscar nomination was for What Ever Happened to Baby
Jane? (1962), also starring her rival Joan Crawford. Her career went
through several periods of eclipse but despite a long period of ill
health she continued acting in film or on television until shortly
before her death from breast cancer in 1989. She admitted that her
success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships,
as she married four times, divorced three times, raised her children
as a single parent and had a daughter, B. D. Hyman, who wrote the
tell-all book My Mother's Keeper.
1989) was an American actress. With a career spanning 60 years and 100
acting credits, she is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in
film history. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic
characters, and was famous for her performances in a range of film
genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical films,
suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater
successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards,
she was the first thespian to accrue ten nominations.After appearing
in Broadway plays, the 22-year old Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930.
After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough
playing a vulgar waitress in Of Human Bondage (1934), although,
contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy
Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her strong
performance as a down-and-out actress in Dangerous (1935) did land her
her first Best Actress nomination, and she won the award.In 1937, she
tried to free herself from her contract with Warner Brothers Studio;
although she lost the legal case, it marked the start of more than a
decade as one of the most celebrated leading ladies of US cinema,
known for her forceful and intense style. Her portrayal of a
strong-willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel (1938) won her a second
Academy Award for Best Actress and was the first of five consecutive
years she received a nomination. The others were for Dark Victory
(1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941) and Now, Voyager
(1942). Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be
highly combative and confrontational with studio executives and film
directors as well as with her co-stars. Her forthright manner,
idiosyncratic speech, and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public
persona that has been often imitated.She is perhaps most known for her
role as a Broadway star in All About Eve (1950), which earned her
another Oscar nomination and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best
Actress. Her last Oscar nomination was for What Ever Happened to Baby
Jane? (1962), also starring her rival Joan Crawford. Her career went
through several periods of eclipse but despite a long period of ill
health she continued acting in film or on television until shortly
before her death from breast cancer in 1989. She admitted that her
success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships,
as she married four times, divorced three times, raised her children
as a single parent and had a daughter, B. D. Hyman, who wrote the
tell-all book My Mother's Keeper.
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