Bette Davis

Bette Davis (1908-1989) was an Academy Award-winning film actor known for her dramatic intensity, distinctive staccato delivery, large expressive eyes (inspiring the 1981 song "Bette Davis Eyes"), and versatile portrayals of a range of strong women (from slatterns to socialites, from temperamental actresses to teachers and governesses). She played Queen Elizabeth I in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and The Virgin Queen (1955), while other films included Petrified Forest (with Humphrey Bogart), Jezebel (with Henry Fonda), All About Eve (with Marilyn Monroe), Now, Voyager (with Mary Wickes), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (with Jimmy Durante, one of her few comedy turns).

Davis also achieved stage success, notably on Broadway in Night of the Iguana, and co-founded the Hollywood Canteen during World War II. Following her turn in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, she starred in a spate of mostly psychological horror films (such as Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte and The Nanny), while TV work included spotlights on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, and Perry Mason (as a guest attorney).

References

• During the chaotic, tornado-induced ending of Sesame Street’s "A Brief History of Motion Pictures," Davis' star from the Hollywood Walk of Fame is swept through the set.

• In a 1999 interview with TV Guide, Miss Piggy cites Davis as one of her mentors (among other such notables as Katharine Hepburn and Jackie Chan).

• The pitch documents for a proposed Furry Arms series includes well-known quotes from assorted famous individuals, repurposed as their reactions to staying at the titular hotel. Davis is quoted as saying, "What a dump!," a line from her 1949 film Beyond the Forest.