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List of Bette Davis performances
List of film appearances by actress Bette Davis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This is a complete filmography of Bette Davis. She began acting in films in 1931, incipiently as a contract player with Universal Studios, where she made her film debut in Bad Sister. She was initially seen as unappealing by studio executives, and was assigned to a string of B-movies early in her career.
Davis made a transition to Warner Bros. in 1932, and made her breakthrough performance in The Man Who Played God, opposite George Arliss. She continued in a succession of films, but did not gain further recognition until she agreed to star in John Cromwell's adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage on a loan-out to RKO. The role of Mildred Rogers had been rejected by several actresses, but Davis achieved critical acclaim for her performance. Outrage was expressed by her omission at the Academy Awards to the point where there was a write-in vote, which is unofficially acknowledged. Dangerous (1935) became the first time she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, although many felt it was a consolation prize for not winning for Of Human Bondage.
In 1936, convinced her career would be ruined by appearing in mediocre films, Davis walked out on her Warner Brothers contract, and decided to make films in England. Davis explained her viewpoint to a journalist, saying: "I knew that, if I continued to appear in any more mediocre pictures, I would have no career left worth fighting for." She eventually settled her disagreements with Warner Brothers, and returned to the studio in 1937. During this time, she starred in the films The Petrified Forest (1936) and Marked Woman (1937), among others. In 1938, Warner Brothers cast her in Jezebel (1938). It was a critical and box office success, and earned her another Best Actress Academy Award alongside her Best Supporting Actress winning co-star, Fay Bainter.
Davis was at the peak of her career in the late 1930s and early-to-mid 1940s, at a time when she was one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood and turned down parts she found inferior. She began a record-setting five consecutive Oscar nominations with Jezebel, followed by her acclaimed performance in Dark Victory (1939); and earned further plaudits for her performances in The Old Maid (also 1939) and the remake of The Letter (1940, Oscar nomination). Davis also earned acclaim for her portrayal of Elizabeth I of England in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Davis later appeared in the melodramas The Little Foxes (Oscar nom) and The Great Lie (both 1941); and in the comedy film The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942).
One of Davis' biggest successes at Warner Bros. was Now, Voyager (1942), which earned her another Academy Award nomination. For the first time in six consecutive years, Davis was overlooked for an Oscar nomination for her 1943 films Watch on the Rhine and Old Acquaintance. But the following year, she earned another nomination for Mr. Skeffington (1944), which was succeeded by The Corn Is Green (1945) and A Stolen Life (1946).
Davis's later films for Warner Bros., including Winter Meeting (1948) and Beyond the Forest (1949), failed at the box office.[1] As her popularity waned, Warner Brothers dropped her contract in 1949, and from thereafter on, she occupied a freelance career.
Davis received a career revival in All About Eve (1950) for 20th Century-Fox. She played an aging Broadway star, Margo Channing, who is manipulated by an obsessed fan. The film was one of the biggest hits of 1950, and she was again nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to Judy Holliday. Although Davis earned strong reviews and another nomination for her performance in The Star (1952, nom), her career waned throughout the remainder of the decade. Other 1950s films include Another Man's Poison (1951); plus Storm Center and The Catered Affair (both 1956).
In the 1960s, Davis received yet another revival in popularity. Although her appearance in Pocketful of Miracles (1961) was negatively received, she earned praise for her portrayal of the faded child star, Jane Hudson, in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which garnered her a final nomination for an Academy Award. She retained a cult status throughout the remainder of her career, and appeared in several other thriller films, such as Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte and Dead Ringer (both 1964); as well as The Nanny (1965). She also starred in the film The Anniversary (1968).
The 1970s saw Davis veer more into television by the end of the decade, in addition to various film genres. She starred such films as Connecting Rooms (1970); Burnt Offerings (1976, which won her a Saturn Award); and Death on the Nile (1978); while on television, she starred in The Disappearance of Aimee (1977) and Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979), earning her second Emmy nomination for the latter.
By the 1980s, her film output had waned slightly, but not entirely, beginning the decade off with The Watcher in the Woods (1980). She concentrated more on television, starring in White Mama (1980); A Piano for Mrs. Cimino and Little Gloria... Happy at Last (both 1982); Right of Way (1983); and As Summers Die (1986). As for films, she was lauded for her performance in The Whales of August (1987), opposite Lillian Gish.
Davis starred in her final film Wicked Stepmother (1989), although she felt that the script was poor. The film had production problems, with Davis often quarreling with Larry Cohen, and she withdrew from the film shortly after production began. After 58 years of acting, she made her final appearance on an April 20 broadcast of Late Night with David Letterman.
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Film
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
Short films appearing as herself
Box Office Ranking
- 1939 - 6th (US)
- 1940 - 9th (US)
- 1941 - 8th (US)
- 1942 - 15th (US), 7th (UK)
- 1943 - 13th (US), 8th (UK)
- 1944 - 10th (US), 5th (UK)
- 1945 - 14th (US), 2nd (UK)
- 1946 - 15th (US), 5th (UK)
- 1947 - 5th (UK)
- 1951 - 7th (UK)
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Lux Radio Theatre appearances
– Command Performance - 1942 - Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Count Basie
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Stage
Television
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
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Special appearances
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See also
Bibliography
- Vermilye, Jerry (1973). Bette Davis. New York, Pyramid Publications. ISBN 978-0-515-02932-1.
- Ringgold, Gene (1966). The Films of Bette Davis. Cadillac Publishing Co. ISBN 0-8065-0953-8.
- List of Bette Davis performances at IMDb
- List of Bette Davis performances at the TCM Movie Database
- Bette Davis Broadway stage credits at the Internet Broadway Database
- Bette Davis official website
- Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: Lux Radio Theater
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References
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