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Goodreads helps you Bette Davis in Her Own Words track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating Bette Davis in Her Own Words. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Bette Davis by Bette Davis. BBC Archive Voices: shining a light on the icons of our time. This is a unique window into the past and is a chance for us to hear those who contributed to the richness of our cultural heritage. With access to the entire archive of BBC Radio and television, we can now witness some of the most lively, entertaining and informative encounters in BBC broadcasting. Due to the age and nature of this archive material, the sound quality may vary. Get A Copy. Audio CD1 page. More Details Other Editions 2. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Bette Davisplease sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. All Languages. More filters. Sort order. Martin rated it it was amazing Aug 17, A Wieman rated it it was amazing Apr 17, Mira rated it it was amazing Aug 16, Michael rated it it was amazing Jan 10, Betty marked it as to-read Mar 23, Leslye marked it as to-read Mar 26, Aimee Clewell marked it as to-read Jun 14, Brooklyn Tayla marked it as to-read Mar 08, Tracy Lewis marked it as to-read Mar 14, Rebecca Caronna marked it as to-read Apr 05, Marti King Young Bette Davis in Her Own Words it as to-read Apr 14, Caitlin Rose Blaney marked it as to-read Apr 28, Phil Andrew marked it as to-read Sep 18, Linda marked it as to-read Oct 07, Jessica marked it as to-read Nov 13, Aria marked it as to-read Dec 08, Miranda Paredes marked it as to-read Dec 22, Nick marked it as to-read Jan 21, Crystal Luberecki marked it as to-read May 15, Tonda marked it as to-read Sep 01, Courtney marked it as to-read Dec 31, Kate Battersby marked it as to-read Jan 26, Julie Madden marked it as to-read Mar 25, Sweet Audrina marked it as to-read Jun 30, Margo Day marked it as to-read Sep 11, Jeaneane marked it as to-read Nov 26, Suzanne Sheehan marked it as to-read Jan 03, Fiona marked it as to-read Feb 15, Jill Warzyniak marked it as to-read Feb 23, There are no discussion topics on this book yet. About Bette Davis. Bette Davis. 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 romantic dramas. After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood inbut her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. Inshe 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 s, she was Bette Davis in Her Own Words of American cinema's most celebrated leading actresses, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and her 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 was the first actor to receive 10 Academy Award nominations and the Bette Davis in Her Own Words woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bette Davis in Her Own Words American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of decline, 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 film, television and theater roles to her credit. InDavis was placed second, behind Katharine Hepburn, on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of all time. Books by Bette Davis. Escape the Present with These 24 Historical Romances. You know the saying: There's no time like the present In that case, we can't Read more No trivia or quizzes yet. Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Bette Davis - Wikiquote

Opinions on Bette Davis are not scarce. Her famous feuds and boil-over temper were Bette Davis in Her Own Words, yet her close friends also knew a woman who was driven to succeed not just as an actor but as a person, within her own limits. Bette begins the book by claiming all faults as her own, all mistakes laid at no other door than her own. She was throwing formidable tantrums with no discipline when she was a toddler, she held total reign over her mother while courting attention from her highly intelligent, completely aloof father. The dog, a vicious chow who bit everyone, was the only being Bette ever remembered her father showing affection for. Bette refers to her austere Yankee upbringing many times with a mixture of pride and as a label to explain herself. No not good enough, the best. And that plain and simple is what drove Bette Davis. She had four marriages and several children, won two Oscars and had multiple awards and nominations throughout her lifetime. Bette wrote this book invery defensive about herself, her personality, her failures as she saw them; and most of Bette Davis in Her Own Words how much men contributed to her ire. So, she fought. About everything. Everything is in absolutes. Only respect for a fellow actor. Yes, courage it must have taken to live in her time period and remain true to herself. She really was who she was. It Bette Davis in Her Own Words not a riveting read, and her imperious manner bores at times; but it is fairly thorough as far as autobiographies go. She did it the hard way. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. I do not like this one bit. Others might like it I had serious problems with style or substance. Enjoyable read. Would recommend, had something special that appeals to readers. Clearly my type of book. A solid book. A lonely unicorn rating. My personal opinion doesn't even count here: an amazing book, I sweep my hat to it. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address:. Share this: Print. About Deanne I was born and raised out on the fringes of the rainy Pacific Northwest on fishing boats and cold beaches with only a dog and kittens for company, and so my love of reading and creating stories started very early. My dad would illustrate my early stories and I would listen to him ramble about European history and warfare, eagerly asking questions about Kings, Queens and our own family history. In my adult life I am wife to a brilliant and hilarious web designer and mother to two wonderfully weird children whom I am trying to pass on to my love of learning about the world. I'm an amateur genealogist, amateur photographer and amateur history major haha. I'm good at doing amateur stuff lol. During the last couple years I finally turned my life-long urge to write into a serious endeavor and finished my first novel called for now The Stone and the Stars, about a dying dystopian society, and one girl trying to escape it before it collapses. While I finish cleaning up the edges on my novel for the umpteenth time, and before I send it out into the world, I've lately begun Bette Davis in Her Own Words novel about utopia, this time on Earth. I'm Bette Davis in Her Own Words living up to the nerdy book-worm title my family 'lovingly' pinned on me from the time I was small, and finally doing that one thing I feel like I was born to do. Cliche and silly? Leave a Reply Bette Davis in Her Own Words reply Your email address will not be published. Follow Deanne's board I write, I am on Pinterest. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. How to pronounce Bette Davis |

With a career spanning 60 years and acting credits, she is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in film history. After appearing in Broadway plays, the year old Davis moved to Hollywood in After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in Of Human Bondagealthough, contentiously, she was not among the three Bette Davis in Her Own Words for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, her strong performance as a down-and-out actress Bette Davis in Her Own Words Dangerous did land her her first Bette Davis in Her Own Words Actress nomination, and she won the award. Inshe Bette Davis in Her Own Words to free herself from her contract with Warner Brothers Studio ; although she lost the legal case, Bette Davis in Her Own Words marked the start of more than a decade as one of the most celebrated leading ladies of US cinema, known for her forceful and intense style. Her portrayal of a strong-willed s southern belle in Jezebel won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress and was the first of five consecutive years she received a nomination. Davis gained Bette Davis in Her Own Words reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative and confrontational with studio executives and film directors as well as with her co-stars. Her forthright manner, idiosyncratic speech, and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona that has been often imitated. Her career went through several periods of eclipse but despite a long period of ill health she continued acting in film or on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in Hymanwho wrote the tell-all book My Mother's Keeper. Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteena club venue for food, dancing and entertainment for servicemen during World War II, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. InDavis placed second behind Katharine Hepburn on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of the classical Hollywood cinema era. InDavis' parents separated, and Davis attended, for three years, a spartan boarding school called Crestalban in Lanesborough, Massachusetts in the Berkshires. Herbert Hoover at Madison Square Garden. Davis attended Cushing Academya boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, where she met her future husband, Harmon O. Nelson, known as Ham. Ed Sikov sources Davis' first professional role to a production by the Provincetown Players of Virgil Geddes play The Earth Between ; however, the Bette Davis in Her Own Words was postponed by a year. Inyear-old Davis moved to Hollywood to screen test for Universal Studios. Davis and her mother traveled by train to Hollywood. She later recounted her surprise that nobody from the studio was there to meet her. In fact, a studio employee had waited for her, but left because he saw nobody who "looked like an actress". She failed her first screen test, but was used in several screen tests for other actors. In a interview with Dick Cavettshe related the experience with the observation, "I was the most Yankee-est, most modest virgin who ever walked the earth. They laid me on a couch, and I tested fifteen men They all had to lie on top of me and give me a passionate kiss. Oh, I thought I would die. Just thought I would die. Hastily dressed in an ill-fitting costume with a low neckline, she was rebuffed by the film director William Wylerwho loudly commented to the assembled crew, "What do you think of these dames who show their chests and think they can get jobs? Carl Laemmlethe head of Universal Studios, considered terminating Davis' employment, but cinematographer Karl Freund told him she had "lovely eyes" and would be suitable for Bad Sisterin which she subsequently made her film debut. Universal Studios renewed her contract for three months, and she appeared in a small role in Waterloo Bridgebefore being lent to Columbia Pictures for The Menaceand to Capital Films for Hell's House all After one year, and six unsuccessful films, Laemmle elected not to renew her contract. Davis addressed the issue in an interview, pointing out that many Hollywood wives earned more than their husbands, but the situation proved difficult for Nelson, who refused to allow Davis to purchase a house until he could afford to pay for it himself. Somerset Maugham 's novel, earned Davis her first major critical acclaim. Many actresses feared playing unsympathetic characters, and several had refused the role, but Davis viewed it as an opportunity to show the range of her acting skills. Her co-star, Leslie Howardwas initially dismissive of her, but as filming progressed, his attitude changed, and he subsequently spoke highly of her abilities. The director John Cromwell allowed her relative freedom: "I let Bette have her head. I trusted her instincts. The film Bette Davis in Her Own Words a success, and Davis' characterization won praise from critics, with Life writing that she gave "probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U. This prompted an announcement from the Academy president, Howard Estabrookwho said that under the circumstances, "any voter Davis appeared in Dangerous as a troubled actress, and received very good reviews. Arnot Robertson wrote in Picture Post :. I think Bette Davis would probably have been burned as a witch if she had lived two or three hundred years ago. She gives Bette Davis in Her Own Words curious feeling of being charged with power which can find Bette Davis in Her Own Words ordinary outlet. The New York Times hailed her as "becoming one of the most interesting of our screen actresses". Convinced that her career was being damaged by a succession of mediocre films, Davis accepted an offer in to appear in two films in Britain. Knowing that she was breaching her contract with Warner Bros. Eventually, Davis brought her case to court in Britain, hoping to get out of her contract. He remarked, "If anybody wants to put me into perpetual servitude on the basis of that remuneration, I shall prepare to consider it. Davis explained her viewpoint to a journalist: "I knew that, if I continued to appear in any more mediocre pictures, I would have no career left worth fighting for. Jack Warner testified, and was asked: "Whatever part you choose to call upon her to play, if she Bette Davis in Her Own Words she can play it, whether it is distasteful and cheap, she has to play it? Warner replied: "Yes, she must play it. Olivia de Havilland mounted a similar case inand won. Davis began work on Marked Womanportraying a prostitute in a contemporary gangster drama inspired by the case of Lucky Luciano. She later described him as the "love of my life", and said that making the film with him was "the time in my life of my most perfect happiness". This led to speculation in the press that she would be chosen to play Scarlett O'Haraa similar character, in Gone with the Wind. Davis expressed her desire to play Scarlett, and while David O. Selznick was conducting a search for the actress to play the role, a radio poll named her as the audience favorite. Warner offered her services to Selznick as part of a deal that also included Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havillandbut Selznick did not consider Davis as suitable, and rejected the offer, [46] while Davis did not want Flynn cast as Rhett Butler. Jezebel marked the beginning of the most successful phase of Davis' career, and over the next few years, she was listed in the annual Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money-Making Stars, which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U. In contrast to Davis' success, her husband Ham Nelson had Bette Davis in Her Own Words to establish a career for himself, and their Bette Davis in Her Own Words faltered. InNelson obtained evidence that Davis was engaged in a sexual relationship with Howard Hughesand subsequently filed for divorce, citing Davis' "cruel and inhuman manner". Davis was emotional during the making of her next film, Dark Victoryand considered abandoning it until the producer Hal B. Wallis convinced her to channel her despair into her acting. The film was among the high-grossing films of the year, and the role of Judith Traherne brought her an Academy Award nomination. In later years, Davis cited this performance as her personal favorite. The last was her first color film, and her only color film made during the height of her career. To play the elderly Elizabeth I Bette Davis in Her Own Words EnglandDavis shaved her hairline and eyebrows. During filming, she was visited on the set by the actor Charles Laughton. She Bette Davis in Her Own Words that she had a "nerve" playing a woman Bette Davis in Her Own Words her 60s, to which Laughton replied: "Never not dare to hang yourself. That's the only way you grow in your profession. You must continually attempt things that you think are beyond you, or you get into a complete rut. By this time, Davis was Warner Bros. Her image was considered Bette Davis in Her Own Words more care; although she continued to play character roles, she was often filmed in close-ups that emphasized her distinctive eyes. All This, and Heaven Too was the most financially successful film of Davis' career to that point. The Letter was considered "one of the best Bette Davis in Her Own Words of the year" by The Hollywood Reporterand Davis won admiration for her portrayal of an adulterous killer, a role originated by Katharine Cornell. In JanuaryDavis became the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but antagonized the committee members with her brash manner and radical proposals. Davis rejected the idea of her being just "a figurehead only". Faced with the disapproval and resistance of the committee, Davis resigned, and was succeeded by her predecessor Walter Wanger. It was a refreshingly different role for Davis as she played a kind, sympathetic character. William Wyler directed Davis for the third time in Lillian Hellman 's The Little Foxesbut they clashed over the character Bette Davis in Her Own Words Regina Giddens, a role originally played on Broadway by Tallulah Bankhead Davis had portrayed in film a role initiated by Bankhead on the stage once before— in Dark Victory. Wyler encouraged Davis to emulate Bankhead's interpretation of the role, but Davis wanted to make the role her own. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance, and never worked with Wyler again. Following the attack on Pearl HarborDavis spent the early months of selling war bonds. After Jack Warner criticized her tendency to cajole crowds into buying, she reminded him that her audiences responded most strongly to her "bitch" performances. She also performed for black regiments as the only white member of an acting troupe formed by Hattie McDanielwhich included Lena Horne and Ethel Waters. Hollywood's most important stars volunteered to entertain servicemen. Davis ensured that every night, a few important "names" would be there for the visiting soldiers to meet. She appeared as herself in the film Hollywood Canteenwhich used the canteen as the setting for a fictional story. Davis later commented: "There are few accomplishments in my life that I am sincerely proud of. The Hollywood Canteen is one of them. Davis showed little interest in the film Now, Voyageruntil Hal Wallis advised her that female audiences needed romantic dramas to distract them from the reality of their lives. It became one of the better known of her "women's pictures". In one of the film's most imitated scenes, Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes as he stares into Davis' eyes, and passes one to her. Film reviewers complimented Davis on her performance, the National Board of Review commenting that she gave the film "a dignity not fully warranted by the script". During the early s, several of Davis' film choices were influenced by the war, such as Watch on the Rhineby Lillian Hellman, and Thank Your Lucky Starsa lighthearted all-star musical cavalcade, with each of the featured stars donating their fees to the Hollywood Canteen. Davis performed a novelty song, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old", which became a hit record after the film's release. Old Acquaintance reunited her with Miriam Hopkins in a story of two old friends who Bette Davis in Her Own Words with the tensions created when one of them becomes a successful novelist. Davis felt that Hopkins tried to upstage her throughout the film. Director Vincent Sherman recalled the intense competition and animosity between the two actresses, and Davis often joked that she held back nothing in a scene in which she was required to shake Hopkins in a fit of anger.