Hollywood icon and star of the silver screen Bette Davis was born on this day in 1908 (April 5).
The actress, whose famous films including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and All About Eve brought her worldwide acclaim, and is one of the most successful performers of all time – and one of the most nominated.
However her life was just as interesting off-screen as those of the characters she played, including a famous ‘feud’ with actress Joan Crawford that was documented in a 2017 TV mini series.
As part of the Golden Icons series, Daily Star takes a closer look inside the life of one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses of all time.
Hollywood stardom and studio battle
(Image: Getty Images)
Bette Davis is one of the most renowned Hollywood stars of all time, with a career spanning over 50 years and 100 appearances in some of the world’s greatest films and TV series.
She was also the first star to be nominated for 10 Academy Awards – a feat that only few, including Jack Nicholson, Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and Meryl Streep, have managed to follow.
Bette made her critically acclaimed break out in the 1934 film Of Human Bondage, and later went on to appear in films including Dangerous, Jezebel and Now, Voyager.
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In 1936, Davis was locked in a court battle with Warner Brothers studios after she felt that her career was being damaged by being made to appear in films that weren’t very successful.
She also wanted to be relived of her contract with Warner Brothers.
Although she did not win the case, she went on to have huge success with the studio until she left Warner Brothers in 1949.
(Image: NBC via Getty Images)
One of her most famous roles followed a year later, when she played a Broadway star in All About Eve in 1950, which earned her another Academy Award nomination and a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
Along with films and TV series including What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Perry Mason and The Whales of August, Bette cemented her status as one of the silver screen greats.
Joan Crawford feud
(Image: Getty Images)
The feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford is one of Hollywood’s most famous rivalries.
Their ongoing feud would span decades, and is reported to have began when Joan Crawford joined Warner Brothers Studios in 1943, with both Joan and Bette often auditioning for the same roles.
Entertainment Weekly also reported that the feud grew after Joan Crawford ‘eclipsed’ Bette Davis’ success in the film Ex-Lady.
(Image: Love Sunday)
A huge publicity campaign announcing Bette Davis’ next phase of stardom was planned by Warner Brothers Studios, but on the same day, Joan Crawford eclipsed this campaign by announcing her divorce from Douglas Fairbanks Jnr.
Joan later married Franchot Tone, who was said to be Bette Davis’ ‘unrequited love’, with Bette saying in a 1987 interview with Daily Mail that she had “never forgiven her for that, and never will.”
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She added: “I fell in love with Franchot, professionally and privately,” saying: “Everything about him reflected his elegance, from his name to his manners.”
It is also reported that Joan mocked the dress that Bette Davis wore to the 1936 Academy Awards, and that after Joan sent gifts such as flowers to Bette’s dressing room at Warner Brothers, all the gifts were subsequently returned by the actress.
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However in 1962, the famous feud came to a head on screen when the actresses starred opposite one another in the critically acclaimed What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? about a former star, played by Joan Crawford, who is terrorised her older sister (Bette Davis) at their home.
Reports have claimed that the actresses’ feud became physical on set, with Bette reported to have hit Joan in the head during one of the scenes, but Harpers Bazaar reported that Bette said she “barely touched her”.
In another scene where Bette had to drag Joan out of a bed, conflicting reports say that Joan put rocks in her pocket and added weights to her body to make filming the scene more difficult for Bette.
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The film was critically acclaimed and Bette was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress off the back of her performance.
Publicly Joan told reporters: “I always knew Bette would be chosen, and I hope and pray that she wins.”
Despite their ongoing feud however, Bette Davis did reveal that she respected Joan as an actress, saying in an interview with Vanity Fair: “I was not Miss Crawford’s biggest fan, but, wisecracks to the contrary, I did and still do respect her talent.”
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Their rivalry was later documented in the 2017 TV mini series Feud, starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon as Joan Crawford and Bette Davis respectively.
Speaking of the documentary, Patrick Holland, Controller of BBC Two said: “It features some wonderful performances, a flawless recreation of period and a delicious unravelling of a personal drama that had a massive impact on modern cinema. Feud is a real treat.”
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However since then, Bette Davis’ personal assistant Kathryn Sermak has spoken about about the feud, telling Closer Weekly: “Everybody always tries to make a big to-do about her and Joan Crawford. But Miss D. would always say that Joan was very professional.
“They took a gamble [on Baby Jane]. They created the hype and it paid off! It revived both their careers and they were thrilled.”
Love life and famous daughter
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Away from the cinema screens, Bette Davis had three children called Babara, Michael and Margot, and was married four times.
She first married Harmon Oscar Nelson in 1932, but the couple divorced six years later in 1938, with Bette later marrying Arthur Farnsworth in 1940.
However, personal tragedy struck when Arthur Farnsworth died three years after they married in 1943.
(Image: Bettmann Archive)
Bette was later married to William Grant Sherry from 1945-1950, before marrying Gary Merrill in 1950, who she was with for over 10 years until 1960.
The star’s daughter with William Grant Sherry, Barbara Davis or ‘B.D’, also followed in her mother’s footsteps as an actress, and is reported to have joined Bette as a child on the set of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
B.D later had a small starring role in the film as the daughter of the former Hollywood star’s neighbours.
However, B.D left acting and became an author and an American pastor, marrying Jeremy Hyman in 1963 with who she had two sons.
(Image: Bettmann Archive)
She later released a book about Bette Davis called My Mother’s Keeper, which was critical of her mother, but Closer Weekly reported B.D as saying: “I wrote the book because I love her and I want to reach her. This is essentially a public letter to my mother.”
Reflecting on her relationship with B.D, Bette Davis’ personal assistant Kathryn told Closer Weekly: “Miss D. loved B.D. more than anything in the world. Anything she asked for, B.D. got.
“That book was so out of the blue. Miss D. was blindsided.”
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Bette Davis also gave interviews following its release, telling Bryant Gumbel in 1987: “We can hardly have a close relationship like that after a book like that is written about you. I lost her. . .Realising she had written this book about me was as catastrophic as the stroke.”
Speaking about herself as a mother, she added: “I loved my children very, very much. . . I think I was a good mother. My son does too. That’s a comfort, that one child agrees.”
Her son Michael has since co-founded the Bette Davis Foundation, which awards scholarships to aspiring actors in his mother’s honour.
Health battle and tragic death
(Image: Getty Images)
During the early eighties, Bette Davis suffered a number of health problems including being diagnosed with breast cancer in 1983, with the actress undergoing a mastectomy soon after.
The star later suffered a series of strokes, but underwent physical therapy and continued to act in acclaimed films and TV series including The Whales of August.
Six years later in 1989, Bette collapsed at the American Cinema Awards, later discovering that her cancer had returned.
Bette later died on October 6, 1989 at the age of 81 years old and was buried alongside her mother and sister.
Stars from the world of entertainment paid tribute to the actress, with Olivia de Havilland, who worked with Davis in four films, saying: “She was a remarkable person to work with, highly professional, innovative, brilliant and quick.
“She was very well-disciplined. I thought she had some marvellous personal qualities, and I was very fond of her.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
