History Creator / BetteDavis

After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Creator/WarnerBros in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she 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. (She wound up staying at Warners until 1949.)

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis [[note]]Pronounced "Betty", not like Creator/BetteMidler -- in fact, calling her "Bet" was Davis' BerserkButton, according to Creator/JoanCrawford. Named after Honoré de Balzac's ''La Cousine Bette''[[/note]] (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. 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 her roles in romantic dramas.

* HollywoodBeautyStandards: She discusses this extensively in interviews. Davis is widely considered to be less attractive than her fellow actresses.

* SmokingIsCool: Most of her movie roles featured her character smoking. The reason why she picked up smoking was because she thought it would make her look more sophisticated as an actress.

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis [[note]]Pronounced "Betty", not like Creator/BetteMidler -- in fact, calling her "Bet" was Davis' BerserkButton, according to Creator/JoanCrawford. Named after Honoré de Balzac's ''La Cousine Bette''[[/note]] (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actor of film, television and theater. 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 her roles in romantic dramas.

* HollywoodBeautyStandards: She discusses this extensively in interviews. Davis is widely considered to be less attractive than her fellow female actors.

* SmokingIsCool: Most of her movie roles featured her character smoking. The reason why she picked up smoking was because she thought it would make her look more sophisticated as an actor.

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis [[note]]Pronounced "Betty", not like Creator/BetteMidler -- in fact, calling her "Bet" was Davis' BerserkButton, according to Creator/JoanCrawford. Named after Honoré de Balzac's ''La Cousine Bette''[[/note]] (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. 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 her roles in romantic dramas.

* HollywoodBeautyStandards: She discusses this extensively in interviews. Davis is widely considered to be less attractive than her fellow actresses.

* SmokingIsCool: Most of her movie roles featured her character smoking. The reason why she picked up smoking was because she thought it would make her look more sophisticated as an actress.

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 100 film, television and theater roles to her credit. She also lucked out with the above Kim Carnes song catapulting her back into the pop culture spotlight. In 1999, Davis was placed second, behind Creator/KatharineHepburn, on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of all time.[[note]]Davis no doubt would have ''deeply'' resented finishing second behind Hepburn, as she ''already'' resented Hepburn for beating her to three Oscars. (Yes, we know she never won three Oscars. Davis resented ''that'' too.)[[/note]]

* ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'' (1978)

* ''[[Film/EscapeToWitchMountain Return from Witch Mountain]]'' (1978)

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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bette_davis.jpg]]

* ''Film/{{Deception|1946}}''

* HollywoodBeautyStandards: She discusses this extensively in interviews. Davis is widely considered to be less attractive than her fellow actress.

Davis is portrayed by Creator/SusanSarandon in the 2017 Creator/{{FX}} series ''Series/{{Feud}}: Bette and Joan'', which depicts her rocky relationship with the aforementioned Creator/JoanCrawford during the filming of ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' in 1962.

Not to be confused with Betty Davis, the funk singer who was briefly married to Music/MilesDavis.

Not to be confused with Betty Davis, singer and ex-wife of Music/MilesDavis.

** She wanted to do this for ''Film/NowVoyager'', padding her costumes out to make Charlotte look even heavier in her 'before' appearance. The studio rejected this look for being "too grotesque" and she's HollywoodHomely in the finished film.

* ''Film/{{Dangerous}}'' (1935) -- '''won'''

* ''Film/{{Jezebel}}'' (1938) -- '''won'''

Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During her career she received 10 nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won twice, and she was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Her career went through several periods of eclipse, 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.

* ''Film/{{Dangerous}}'' (1935)

* ''Film/{{Jezebel}}'' (1938)
* ''Film/DarkVictory'' (1939)

* ''Film/TheLetter'' (1940)
* ''Theatre/TheLittleFoxes'' (1941)

* ''Film/NowVoyager'' (1942)

* ''Film/MrSkeffington'' (1944)

* ''Film/AllAboutEve'' (1950)

* ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane'' (1962)

* AsHerself: In ''Hollywood Canteen''. She reportedly kept flubbing her lines on set, and joked that playing herself was hard.

** In ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane'' she decided that Jane Hudson would never wash her face and only put a new layer of make-up on every day. She patterned the look off numerous homeless ladies seen on Hollywood boulevard. When Bette's daughter saw her in the make-up for the first time, she remarked "mother, this time you've gone too far." Elsewhere averted with her co-star Joan Crawford, who struggled to look unattractive. She wanted to have full hair and make-up, despite playing a wheelchair bound woman who hadn't left her room in years. This did however give the impression that Blanche had aged better than Jane, giving her sister another reason to resent her.

* DeadpanSnarker: One of the upside of her willingness to play unsympathetic women is that they usually have the best lines.

* HollywoodBeautyStandards: She discusses this extensively in interviews. Davis is widely considered to be less attractive than her fellow actress.
* SmokingIsCool: Most of her movie roles featured her character smoking. The reason why she picked up smoking was because she thought it would her look more sophisticated as an actress.

* WhatBeautifulEyes: Bette was known for her [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bette_davisblue_eyes.png clear blue eyes]], making it understandable that the song named after them was very popular.