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Bette Davis Facts
| Sign | Aries |
| Born |
Apr 5, 1908 Lowell, MA |
| Died |
Oct 6, 1989 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Age | Died at 81 |
| Total Facts | 81 |
Played twin Sisters Kate and Patricia Bosworth in "A Stolen Life (1946) and Margaret DeLorca and Edith Phillips in "Dead Ringer (1964)" In both she played a good and bad twin and, in both movies, one of the sisters met a tragic death.
Ranked #15 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]
Returned to work three months after giving birth to her daughter Barbara Merrill in order to begin filming June Bride (1948).
Salary for 1941, $252,333.
Salary for 1948, $365,000.
She came to Cardiff in 1975 for a theatre tour and went to the Welsh Valleys in search of relatives - and found them. She had been learning Welsh in order to come to Wales; however, she only used the words "Nos Da" (meaning "good night") while in the country and had forgotten all the other phrases she had learned.
She claimed to have given the Academy Award the nickname "Oscar" after her first husband, Harmon Nelson, whose middle name was Oscar, although she later withdrew that claim. Most sources say it was named by Academy librarian and eventual executive director Margaret Herrick, who thought the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar.
She considered her debut screen test for Universal Pictures to be so bad that she ran screaming from the projection room.
She said that among the jokes told about her, her favorite came from impressionist Charles Pierce who, dressed as her, demanded of the audience, "Someone give me a cigarette". When the request was granted the performer threw it on the floor and shouted "LIT!".
She suffered a stroke and had a mastectomy in 1983.
She was elected as first female president of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in October 1941. She resigned less then two months later, publicly declaring herself too busy to fulfill her duties as president while angrily protesting in private that the Academy had wanted her to serve as a mere figurehead.
She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture.
She was of English, French, and Welsh descent.
She was voted the 10th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
She was voted the 25th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Premiere Magazine.
The Hudson house seen in 1962 horror classic "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?" (starring Bette Davis & Joan Crawford) still stands in the upscale Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. And it still looks very much like it did in the movie. You'll find it at 172 N. McCadden Place, between Beverly Blvd and west 1st Street, about two miles east of Farmers Market.
The Kim Carnes recording of the song, "Bette Davis Eyes" (written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974), spent nine non-consecutive weeks on top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was Billboard's number one single of 1981. The single also peaked at number twenty-six on the dance charts. The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a number one hit in 31 countries, including Germany, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Japan, and Brazil, but it achieved more moderate success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number ten. The music video was directed by Russell Mulcahy.
The United States Postal Service honored Bette Davis with a commemorative postage stamp in 2008, marking the 100th anniversary of her birth. The stamp features an image of her in the role of Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950).
Was close friends with Greer Garson, Ginger Rogers, George Brent, Henry Fonda, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Claude Rains, Olivia de Havilland and Gladys Cooper.
Was first offered the role of Luke's mother in Cool Hand Luke (1967), but refused the bit part. Jo Van Fleet accepted the role.
Was named #2 on The Greatest Screen Legends actress list by the American Film Institute.
Was one of two actresses (with Faye Dunaway) to have two villainous roles ranked in the American Film Institute's 100 Years of The Greatest Heroes and Villains, as Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes (1941) at #43 and as Baby Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) at #44.
Was originally offered the role of Sandra Kovak, the hot-tempered talented pianist, in The Great Lie (1941). However Davis declined, instead giving the part to her good friend Mary Astor in order to take on the less showier role of Maggie Patterson as she knew that it would make Astor, whose career had not fully recovered due to the transition from silent films to "talkies", a huge star. Davis was right, as Astor went on to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.
Was originally sought for the part of "Shirley Drake" in Career (1959).
When Bette learned that her new brother-in-law was a recovering alcoholic, she sent the couple a dozen cases of liquor for a wedding present.
When she died in 1989, she reportedly left an estate valued between $600,000 and $1 million, consisting mainly of a condominium apartment she owned in West Hollywood. 50% of her estate went to her son, Michael Merrill, and the remaining 50% went to her secretary and companion, Kathryn Sermack. Her daughter, Barbara Merrill aka B.D. Hyman, was left nothing due to her lurid book about life with her mother. During her long life, she spent the majority of her wealth supporting her mother, three children, and four husbands.
When she died, her false eyelashes were auctioned off, fetching a price of $600. Previously, she had said that her biggest secret was brown mascara.
When she first came to Hollywood as a contract player, Universal Pictures wanted to change her name to Bettina Dawes. She informed the studio that she refused to go through life with a name that sounded like "Between the Drawers".
While filming Death on the Nile (1978), aboard ship, no one was allowed his or her own dressing room, so she shared a dressing room with Angela Lansbury & Maggie Smith.
While she was the star pupil at John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School in New York, another of her classmates was sent home because she was "too shy". It was predicted that this girl would never make it as an actress. The girl was Lucille Ball.
While touring the talk show circuit to promote What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), she told one interviewer that when she and Joan Crawford were first suggested for the leads, Warner studio head Jack L. Warner replied: "I wouldn't give a plugged nickel for either of those two old broads." Recalling the story, Davis laughed at her own expense. The following day, she reportedly received a telegram from Crawford: "In future, please do not refer to me as an old broad!".