Bette Davis

On and off stage, drama was her life! Bette Davis raised her art form to new levels.

One of the most talented actresses to grace Hollywood, (Ruth Elizabeth) Bette Davis was a woman before her time. Forthright, opinionated she (perhaps indicative of Welsh ancestry) could hold a grudge for years but was as generous and forgiving as she was stubborn. During her career she played many roles honing her impressive dramatic skills with each new part. We remember her playing spiteful women with such gusto one has to remember, she was just acting! Was her parents marriage inspiration for the ‘dragon’ she often portrayed?

Certainly her broken home would have effected her, remember, a marriage breakdown meant more then than now. With a string of Oscar awards and nominations any film Bette appeared in during the 1930’s and 40’s was a box office smash. She continued to act in films and on TV right into the 1980’s succumbing to cancer in 1989.

Much of her best work is available on DVD and Video, her performances retain a quality Hollywood seems to have forgotten, presence.

connection: Bette Davis has Welsh connections from here father Harlow Davies whose family hail from Wales. She even visited Wales when in Britain acting to trace her family roots

Bette Davis was one of the greatest acting talents the screen has ever known. She was also one who aroused controversy: her legal battles with Warner Brothers; her four husbands; the shocking book written by her daughter. In this fascinating, in-depth biography Barbara Leaming has had numerous conversations with those closest to Bette Davis – her friends, lovers, associates and family members (including her daughter) – and has also drawn on Davis’s personal diaries, scrapbooks and unpublished letters. The result is a fascinating portrait that redefines one of Hollywood’s most misunderstood legends. - amazon.co.uk Click HERE for more information.

comment by:BestBet She thought Wales was beautiful.

All About Eve Bette Davis, a soured but still resplendent stage diva, who takes Eve under her wing. ("I'll admit I've seen better days but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail--like a salted peanut", she tells her lover.) The plotting and double-dealing on the screen, described in Sam Staggs' All About All About Eve: The Complete Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made, were matched by what went on behind the scenes. Davis heartily loathed fellow actress Celeste Holm who--ironically enough--plays her best friend. She fell in love with another co-star, the handsome, good-looking Gary Merrill, whom she later married. Backstage dramas are often self-indulgent and stagy affairs, but this one dazzles. -- Geoffrey Macnab, amazon.co.uk Click HERE for more information.

Dark Victory Howards End is E M Forster's beautifully subtle story of the criss-crossing paths of the privileged and those they disdain and of a remarkable pair of women who can see beyond class distinctions. Dramatic and tragic but also surprisingly funny, this James Ivory film focuses on a pair of unmarried sisters (Emma Thompson, who won an Oscar, and Helena Bonham Carter) --Marshall Fine Click HERE for more information.

Jezebel Never had Davis been so convinsing at being a spoilt cow as she is in this wonderfull Melodrama of the 1930's. Henry Fonda is almost equally as good, playing Davis's fiance. Jealousy, rage, wickedness and moral honour give this film a truely memorable flavour of the middle classes of the period. Watch out for the 'Red Dress' scene its painfully powerfull. A great film and made even better by a excellent performance from an Oscar winning Davis --amazon.co.uk Click HERE for more information.