Biography Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, though her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.
After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract and although she lost a well-publicized legal case, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema's most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona which has often been imitated and satirized.
Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. Married four times, she was once widowed and thrice divorced, and raised her children as a single parent. Her final years were marred by a long period of ill health, but she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer, with more than 100 films, television and theater roles to her credit. In 1999, Davis was placed second, after Katharine Hepburn, on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of all time.
Filmography Faye
2024
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Details Faye
2024
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Details Madonna: Madame X
2021
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Details Mike Wallace Is Here
2019
(archive footage)
Details Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
2018
Self (archive footage)
Details Always at The Carlyle
2018
Self (archive footage)
Details Bette Davis: Larger Than Life
2017
Self (archive footage)
Details Bette and Joan
2017
Self (archive footage)
Details Listen to Me Marlon
2015
Self (archive footage)
Details Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
2014
Self - Actress (archive footage)
Details And the Oscar Goes To...
2014
Self (archive footage)
Details Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
2013
Self (archive footage)
Details Footsteps on the Ceiling
2013
Margo Channing (archive footage)
Details The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka
2009
Self (archive footage)
Details Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
2009
Self (archive footage)
Details 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
Self (archive footage)
Details Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007
Self (archive footage)
Details Jezebel: Legend of the South
2006
Self (archive footage)
Details Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
2006
Self (archive footage)
Details Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
2006
Self (archive footage)
Details The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
2005
Self (archive footage)
Details The Adventures of Errol Flynn
2005
Queen Elizabeth (archive footage)
Details Complicated Women
2003
Self (archive footage)
Details Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
2002
Self (archive footage)
Details Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
2001
Self (archive footage)
Details Backstory: 'All About Eve'
2000
Self (archive footage)
Details The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
Self (archive footage)
Details Frank Capra's American Dream
1997
Self (archive footage)
Details Joan Crawford: Always the Star
1996
Self (archive footage)
Details Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis
1996
Self (archive footage)
Details Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
1994
Self (archive footage)
Details Wicked Stepmother
1989
Miranda Pierpoint
Details Hairway to the Stars
1989
Self [Archive Footage]
Details The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988
Self (archive footage)
Details The Whales of August
1987
Libby Strong
Details Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
1987
(archive footage)
Details As Summers Die
1986
Hannah Loftin
Details Directed by William Wyler
1986
Self
Details Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
1986
Self (from All About Eve [1950]) (archive footage)
Details Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française
1986
Herself
Details Murder with Mirrors
1985
Carrie Louise Serrocold
Details Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
1985
Self (archive footage)
Details Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984
(archive footage)
Details Right of Way
1983
Miniature Dwyer
Details Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
1983
Self
Details Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Details Showbiz Goes to War
1982
(archive footage)
Details Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
1982
(in "Deception") (archive footage)
Details A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
1982
Esther McDonald Cimino
Details Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982
Self (archive footage)
Details Family Reunion
1981
Elizabeth Winfield
Details The Watcher in the Woods
1980
Mrs. Aylwood
Details White Mama
1980
Estelle Malone
Details Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
1979
Lucy Mason
Details The Horror Show
1979
(archive footage)
Details Death on the Nile
1978
Marie Van Schuyler
Details Return from Witch Mountain
1978
Letha Wedge
Details Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette
1978
Marie Van Schuyler (archive footage)
Details The Disappearance of Aimee
1976
Minnie Kennedy
Details Burnt Offerings
1976
Aunt Elizabeth
Details Hello Mother, Goodbye!
1974
Character TBA
Details Scream, Pretty Peggy
1973
Mrs. Elliott
Details The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor
1973
Self (archive footage)
Details The Judge and Jake Wyler
1972
Judge Meredith
Details The Scopone Game
1972
'A vecchia
Details Bunny O'Hare
1971
Bunny O'Hare
Details Connecting Rooms
1970
Wanda Fleming
Details The Anniversary
1968
Mrs. Taggart
Details Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
1964
Charlotte Hollis
Details Where Love Has Gone
1964
Mrs. Gerald Hayden
Details Hollywood and the Stars
1964
(archive footage)
Details Dead Ringer
1964
Margaret DeLorca / Edith Phillips
Details The Empty Canvas
1963
Dino's Mother
Details The Andy Williams Christmas Show
1962
Character TBA
Details What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962
Baby Jane Hudson
Details Pocketful of Miracles
1961
Apple Annie
Details John Paul Jones
1959
Empress Catherine the Great
Details Storm Center
1956
Alicia Hull
Details The Catered Affair
1956
Mrs. Agnes Hurley
Details The Virgin Queen
1955
Queen Elizabeth I
Details The Star
1952
Margaret Elliot
Details Phone Call from a Stranger
1952
Marie Hoke
Details Another Man's Poison
1951
Janet Frobisher
Details Payment on Demand
1951
Joyce Ramsey (nee Jackson)
Details All About Eve
1950
Margo Channing
Details Beyond the Forest
1949
Rosa Moline
Details Winter Meeting
1948
Susan Grieve
Details Deception
1946
Christine Radcliffe
Details A Stolen Life
1946
Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Details The Corn Is Green
1945
Miss Lilly Christabel Moffat
Details Mr. Skeffington
1944
Fanny Trellis
Details A Present with a Future
1943
Mother
Details Old Acquaintance
1943
Kit Marlowe
Details The Voice That Thrilled the World
1943
Self (segment 'Dangerous') (archive footage)
Details Thank Your Lucky Stars
1943
Self
Details Watch on the Rhine
1943
Sara Müller
Details Show-Business at War
1943
Self
Details Stars on Horseback
1943
Character TBA
Details Now, Voyager
1942
Charlotte Vale
Details In This Our Life
1942
Stanley Timberlake Kingsmill
Details The Man Who Came to Dinner
1941
Maggie Cutler
Details Breakdowns of 1941
1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Details The Little Foxes
1941
Regina Hubbard Giddens
Details The Bride Came C.O.D.
1941
Joan Winfield
Details Shining Victory
1941
Character TBA
Details The Great Lie
1941
Maggie Patterson Van Allen
Details The Letter
1940
Leslie Crosbie
Details Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
Self
Details All This, and Heaven Too
1940
Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
Details If I Forget You
1940
Bette Davis
Details The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1939
Queen Elizabeth
Details The Old Maid
1939
Charlotte Lovell
Details Juarez
1939
Empress Carlotta von Hapsburg
Details Dark Victory
1939
Judith Traherne
Details Breakdowns of 1938
1938
Self (archive footage)
Details The Sisters
1938
Louise Elliott Medlin
Details It's Love I'm After
1937
Joyce Arden
Details That Certain Woman
1937
Mary Donnell/Mme Al Haines
Details Kid Galahad
1937
Louise 'Fluff' Phillips
Details A Day at Santa Anita
1937
Character TBA
Details Marked Woman
1937
Mary Dwight Strauber
Details Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
1936
Self
Details Satan Met a Lady
1936
Valerie Purvis
Details The Golden Arrow
1936
Daisy Appleby
Details The Petrified Forest
1936
Gabrielle "Gabby" Maple
Details A Dream Comes True
1935
Character TBA
Details Special Agent
1935
Julie Gardner
Details Front Page Woman
1935
Ellen Garfield
Details The Girl from 10th Avenue
1935
Miriam A. Brady
Details Bordertown
1935
Mrs. Marie Roark
Details Housewife
1934
Patricia Berkeley
Details Of Human Bondage
1934
Mildred Rogers
Details Fog Over Frisco
1934
Arlene Bradford
Details Jimmy the Gent
1934
Joan Martin
Details Fashions of 1934
1934
Lynn Mason
Details The Big Shakedown
1934
Norma Nelson
Details Bureau of Missing Persons
1933
Norma Roberts
Details The Working Man
1933
Jenny Hartland alias Jane Grey
Details The 42nd Street Special
1933
Self (uncredited)
Details Parachute Jumper
1933
Patricia 'Alabama' Brent
Details Just Around the Corner
1933
Ginger
Details 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
1932
Fay Wilson
Details Three on a Match
1932
Ruth Westcott
Details The Cabin in the Cotton
1932
Madge Norwood
Details The Dark Horse
1932
Kay Russell
Details The Rich Are Always with Us
1932
Malbro
Details So Big!
1932
Miss Dallas O'Mara
Details The Man Who Played God
1932
Grace Blair
Details Hell's House
1932
Peggy Gardner
Details Way Back Home
1931
Mary Lucy Duffy
Details Waterloo Bridge
1931
Janet Cronin
Details The Bad Sister
1931
Laura Madison
Details