|
Famous
as:
|
Hollywood
Actress of stage, screen and television |
|
Born:
|
5
April 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.A. |
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Birth
Name:
|
Ruth
Elizabeth Davis |
|
Parents:
|
Howell
Morrell Davis and Ruth
Favor |
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Siblings:
|
Barbara
Davis |
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Nationality:
|
American
(of Welsh and Scottish descent) |
|
Height:
|
5'3.5"
(1.61m) |
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Eyes:
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Blue |
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Hair:
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Brown |
|
Education:
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Cushing
Academy; Mariarden School of Dancing;
Robert Milton-John
Murray Anderson School of the Theatre, New York. |
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Occupation:
|
Actress,
Author, Producer |
|
Career:
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First
professional performance:
The Earth Between Off-Broadway, 1923. |
|
Broadway
debut: Broken Dishes (1929) |
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First
Film: The Bad Sister (1931) |
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Last
Film: Wicked Stepmother (1989) |
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Wrote
several books including:
This'N That and
The
Lonely Life |
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Recorded
an album Miss Bette Davis |
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Produced
the film A Stolen Life (1946) |
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Achievements:
|
Starred
in over 100 films including:
Now, Voyager (1942);
Mr
Sheffington
(1944);
All About Eve (1950);
Whatever happened
to Baby Jane
(1962) |
|
2
Academy Awards:
For playing Joyce
Heath in Dangerous (1935)
For playing Julie
Marsden in Jezebel (1938) |
|
11
Academy Award nominations. |
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Holds
the record for the most consecutive Academy Award nominations by an actress
(1938,1939,1940,1941,1942) |
|
In
1941 became the first female president of The Motion Picture Academy
of Arts & Sciences. |
|
1979
won an Emmy Award forStrangers: The story of a mother and daughter |
|
3
Emmy Award nominations |
|
First
actress to receive AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1977 |
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Founder
of Hollywood Canteen for visiting servicemen in World War II. For this
she was
awarded the Distinguished
Civilian Service Medal in 1980 |
|
By
1942 she was the highest paid woman in America. |
|
Miscellaneous:
|
Reputed
to have given the name Oscar to the Academy Awards |
|
A
Kim Carnes song
Bette Davis Eyes (written by Donna Weiss and Jackie
DeShannon)
was #1 for 9 weeks
in America in 1981. Bette Davis was also mentioned in Madonna's hit song
Vogue. |
|
Two
stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame |
|
Played
Queen Elizabeth I twice:
Private Lives of
Elizabeth & Essex (1939) and The Virgin Queen (1955) |
|
Every
year at Cushing Academy an award is given in her name to one male and female
scholar-athlete for
exceptional accomplishment. |
|
With
Kathryn Sermak, Michael Merril (Bette's adopted son) established The
Bette Davis Foundation.
This provides financial
assistance to promising young actors and actresses. |
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Marital
Status:
|
Married
four times:
1. Harmon
Nelson on 18 August 1932. Divorced 1938.
2. Arthur
Farnworth on 31 December 1940. Killed
in a fall, 28 August 1950.
3. William
Grant Sherry on 30 November 1945. Divorced
1950.
4. Gary
Merrill
on 28 of August 1950. Divorced
1960. |
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Children:
|
One
biological daughter,
Barbara Davis Sherry
(B. D. Hyman) with third husband William
Grant Sherry born in 1947. In 1985 she published a tell-all
book on her mother called
My Mother's Keeper. She is now a Christian
minister and works in the media. Bette adopted two children with Gary Merrill,
Margotand
Michael.
Margot was severely retarded and was eventually institutionalised. |
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Died:
|
6
October 1989 in an American hospital in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France |
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Cause of Death:
|
Breast
cancer |
Buried:
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Forest
Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
On her tombstone is
written She did it the hard way. |
