Bette Davis
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.
219 acting credits
Acting · 219
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Perry Mason
1957
The Mike Douglas Show
1961
Golden Globe Awards
1944
Wagon Train
1957
The Virginian
1962
Hotel
1982
Tony Awards
1956
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
Late Night with David Letterman
1982
What's My Line?
1950
The Oscars
1953
Intimate Portrait
1993
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
Gunsmoke
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
Dinah!
1974
The Ford Television Theatre
1952
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
1956
It Takes a Thief
1968
Telephone Time
1956
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1959
The Kennedy Center Honors
1978
Suspicion
1957
The Hollywood Palace
1964
V.I.P. Schaukel
1971
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
The World of Hammer
1994
Death on the Nile
1978
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
1967
Reflets de Cannes
1954
Talking Pictures
2013
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
All About Eve
1950
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962
General Electric Theater
1953
Burnt Offerings
1976
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
The Letter
1940
Jezebel
1938
Pocketful of Miracles
1961
The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
1978
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
1964
Now, Voyager
1942
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
1982
Little Gloria... Happy at Last
1982
Night of 100 Stars
1982
Return from Witch Mountain
1978
The Little Foxes
1941
Mr. Skeffington
1944
Laugh-In
1977
Kid Galahad
1937
Dark Victory
1939
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood
2018
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
1997
Marked Woman
1937
Of Human Bondage
1934
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1939
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
Complicated Women
2003
The Watcher in the Woods
1980
Three on a Match
1932
Dead Ringer
1964
Juarez
1939
Deception
1946
Waterloo Bridge
1931
Hollywood Canteen
1944
Watch on the Rhine
1943
The Nanny
1965
The Horror Show
1979
Wicked Stepmother
1989
All This, and Heaven Too
1940
Skyward
1980
Beyond the Forest
1949
Ex-Lady
1933
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
Housewife
1934
Satan Met a Lady
1936
The Catered Affair
1956
Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire
2014
The Petrified Forest
1936
The Fabulous Allan Carr
2017
The Man Who Came to Dinner
1941
Morceaux de Cannes
2021
The Working Man
1933
Murder with Mirrors
1985
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
1932
Special Agent
1935
A Stolen Life
1946
Mickey's 50
1978
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
1988
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
1974
The Empty Canvas
1963
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
1982
Dangerous
1935
The Scapegoat
1959
John Paul Jones
1959
Right of Way
1983
Vito
2011
Family Reunion
1981
Listen to Me Marlon
2015
Thank Your Lucky Stars
1943
Front Page Woman
1935
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007
Seed
1931
Mike Wallace Is Here
2019
The Virgin Queen
1955
The Great Lie
1941
As Summers Die
1986
The Old Maid
1939
The Star
1952
Jimmy the Gent
1934
The Bad Sister
1931
The Men Who Made the Movies: King Vidor
1973
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
2005
Family Reunion
1981
Old Acquaintance
1943
In This Our Life
1942
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
1996
It's Love I'm After
1937
Phone Call from a Stranger
1952
Scream, Pretty Peggy
1973
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984
Where Love Has Gone
1964
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino
1982
Madame Sin
1972
The Whales of August
1987
Fashions of 1934
1934
Marilyn Monroe: Beyond the Legend
1986
The Anniversary
1968
The Sisters
1938
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
The Bride Came C.O.D.
1941
The Dark Horse
1932
Hammer: The Studio That Dripped Blood
1987
The Scopone Game
1972
The Cabin in the Cotton
1932
Breakdowns of 1937
1937
Madonna: Madame X
2021
Showbiz Goes to War
1982
That Certain Woman
1937
Payment on Demand
1951
Show-Business at War
1943
Another Man's Poison
1951
Directed by William Wyler
1986
White Mama
1980
Fog Over Frisco
1934
Winter Meeting
1948
The Disappearance of Aimee
1976
Goldwyn: The Man and His Movies
2001
Hello Mother, Goodbye!
1974
June Bride
1948
Parachute Jumper
1933
Hell's House
1932
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
1985
A Dream Comes True
1935
Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter
1979
The Man Who Played God
1932
This Is Joan Collins
2022
Storm Center
1956
Frank Capra's American Dream
1997
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
1936
The Judge and Jake Wyler
1972
Shining Victory
1941
The Girl from 10th Avenue
1935
The Corn Is Green
1945
Connecting Rooms
1970
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
2013
Breakdowns of 1938
1938
The Decorator
1965
The Rich Are Always with Us
1932
Stars on Horseback
1943
Breakdowns of 1942
1942
So Big!
1932
Stardust: The Bette Davis Story
2006
The Golden Arrow
1936
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano
1983
The Big Shakedown
1934
Footsteps on the Ceiling
2013
Breakdowns of 1939
1939
Breakdowns of 1936
1936
Breakdowns of 1941
1941
Bunny O'Hare
1971
Showbiz Ballyhoo
1982
Bordertown
1935
The Voice That Thrilled the World
1943
Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
2002
Way Back Home
1931
A Present with a Future
1943
The Travels of Kinuyo Tanaka
2009
Breakdowns of 1949
1949
Bureau of Missing Persons
1933
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
1982
Marilyn at the Movies
2011
A Day at Santa Anita
1937
Breakdowns of 1944
1944
Miss Moffat
1974
Bette Davis at the Cinémathèque Française
1986
Bride of Trailer Camp
2001
Bette Davis: Larger Than Life
2017
Backstory: 'All About Eve'
2000
The Petrified Forest: Menace in the Desert
2005
The Menace
1932
Jezebel: Legend of the South
2006
Intimate Portrait: Bette Davis
1996
The 42nd Street Special
1933
Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition
2006
Bette and Joan
2017
Death on the Nile: Making of Featurette
1978
Biography: Bette Davis — If Looks Could Kill
1994
Just Around the Corner
1933
How Real is 'The Star'?
2005
Dick Powell and Joan Blondell home movies: "No. 1, From beginning"
1936
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis
2009
All About Bette
1994
If I Forget You
1940
Hairway to the Stars
1989
Bette Davis
1972