campos gutierrez linda wong |
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 deal 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 competitiveness 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
In August Davis husband Arthur Farnsworth collapsed while walking along a Hollywood street and died two days later An autopsy revealed that his fall had been caused by a skull fracture he had suffered two weeks earlier Davis testified before an inquest that she knew of no event that might have caused the injury A finding of accidental death was reached Highly distraught Davis attempted to withdraw from her next film Mr Skeffington but Jack Warner who had halted production following Farnsworth s death convinced her to continue Although she had gained a reputation for being forthright and demanding her behavior during filming of Mr Skeffington was erratic and out of character She alienated Vincent Sherman by refusing to film certain scenes and insisting that some sets be rebuilt She improvised dialogue causing confusion among other actors and infuriated the writer Julius Epstein who was called upon to rewrite scenes at her whim Davis later explained her actions with the observation "when I was most unhappy I lashed out rather than whined " Some reviewers criticized Davis for the excess of her performance James Agee wrote that she "demonstrates the horrors of egocentricity on a marathonic scale " but despite the mixed reviews she received another Academy Award nomination
Professional setbacks – edit
In The Corn Is Green Despite the studio s suggestion that Davis play the role as a young woman the year old insisted on aging her appearance to fit the part In Davis married artist William Grant Sherry who also when necessary worked as a masseur She had been drawn to him because he claimed he had never heard of her and was therefore not intimidated by her The same year Davis refused the title role in Mildred Pierce a role for which Joan Crawford won an Academy Award and instead made The Corn Is Green based on a play by Emlyn Williams Davis played Miss Moffat an English teacher who saves a young Welsh miner John Dall from a life in the coal pits by offering him education The part had been played in the theatre by Ethel Barrymore but Warner Bros felt that the film version should depict the character as a younger woman Davis disagreed and insisted on playing the part as written and wore a gray wig and padding under her clothes to create a dowdy appearance The film was well received by critics and made a profit of million The critic E Arnot Robertson observed that "only Bette Davis
could have combated so successfully the obvious intention of the adaptors of the play to make frustrated sex the mainspring of the chief character s interest in the young miner " She concluded that "the subtle interpretation she insisted on giving" kept the focus on the teacher s "sheer joy in imparting knowledge "
Her next film A Stolen Life was the first and only film that Davis made with her own production company BD Productions Davis played dual roles as twins The film received poor reviews and was described by Bosley Crowther as "a distressingly empty piece " but with a profit of million it was one of her biggest box office successes In the U S Treasury named Davis as the highest paid woman in the country with her share of the film s profit accounting for most of her earnings Her next film was Deception the first of her films to lose money
Possessed had been tailor made for Davis and was to have been her next project after Deception However she was pregnant and went on maternity leave Joan Crawford played her role in Possessed and was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress In at the age of Davis gave birth to a daughter Barbara Davis Sherry known as B D and later wrote in her memoir that she became absorbed in motherhood and considered ending her career However her relationship with Sherry began to deteriorate and she continued making films but her popularity with audiences was steadily declining
Among the film roles offered to Davis following her return to film making was Rose Sayer in The African Queen When informed that the film was to be shot in Africa Davis refused the part telling Jack Warner "If you can t shoot the picture in a boat on the back lot then I m not interested " Katharine Hepburn played the role and was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress Davis was also offered a role in a film version of the Virginia Kellogg prison drama Women Without Men Originally intended to pair Davis with Joan Crawford Davis made it clear that she would not appear in any "dyke movie " It was filmed as Caged and the lead roles were played by Eleanor Parker who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress and Agnes Moorehead She lobbied Jack Warner to make two films Ethan Frome and a biography of Mary Todd Lincoln however Warner vetoed each proposal
Beyond the Forest was the last film Davis made for Warner Bros after years with the studioIn Davis was cast in the melodrama Winter Meeting and although she was initially enthusiastic she soon learned that Warner had arranged for "softer" lighting to be used to disguise her age She recalled that she had seen the same lighting technique "on the sets of Ruth Chatterton and Kay Francis and I knew what they meant " She began to regret accepting the role and to add to her disappointment she was not confident in the abilities of her leading man James Davis in his first major screen role She disagreed with amendments made to the script because of censorship restrictions and found that many of the aspects of the role that had initially appealed to her had been cut The film was later described by Bosley Crowther as "interminable " and he noted that "of all the miserable dilemmas in which Miss Davis has been involved this one is probably the worst" It failed at the box office and the studio lost nearly one million dollars
While making June Bride Davis clashed with co star Robert Montgomery later describing him as "a male Miriam Hopkins an excellent actor but addicted to scene stealing " The film marked her first comedy in several years and earned her some positive reviews but it was not particularly popular with audiences and returned only a small profit Despite the lackluster box office receipts from her more recent films in she negotiated a four film contract with Warner Bros which paid per week and made her the highest paid woman in the United States Jack Warner refused to allow her script approval however and cast her in Beyond the Forest Davis reportedly loathed the script and begged Warner to recast the role but he refused After the film was completed Warner released Davis from her contract at her request The reviews that followed were scathing Dorothy Manners writing for the Los Angeles Examiner described the film as "an unfortunate finale to her brilliant career " Hedda Hopper wrote "If Bette had deliberately set out to wreck her career she could not have picked a more appropriate vehicle " The film contained the line "What a dump " which became closely associated with Davis after it was referenced in Edward Albee s Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and impersonators began to use it in their acts In later years Davis often used it as her opening line at speaking engagements
Starting a freelance career – edit
Davis posing as Margo Channing in a promotional image for All About Eve She is pictured with Gary Merrill to whom she was married from to her fourth and final husband By Davis and Sherry were estranged and Hollywood columnists were writing that Davis career was at an end She filmed The Story of a Divorce released by RKO Radio Pictures in as Payment on Demand but had received no other offers Shortly before filming was completed the producer Darryl F Zanuck offered her the role of the aging theatrical actress Margo Channing in All About Eve Claudette Colbert for whom the part had been written had severely injured her back and she was unable to continue Davis read the script described it as the best she had ever read and accepted the role Within days she joined the cast in San Francisco to begin filming During production she established what would become a lifelong friendship with her co star Anne Baxter and a romantic relationship with her leading man Gary Merrill which led to marriage The film s director Joseph L Mankiewicz later remarked "Bette was letter perfect She was syllable perfect The director s dream the prepared actress "
Critics responded positively to Davis performance and several of her lines became well known particularly "Fasten your seatbelts it s going to be a bumpy night " She was again nominated for an Academy Award and critics such as Gene Ringgold described her Margo as her "all time best performance " Pauline Kael wrote that much of Mankiewicz vision of "the theater" was "nonsense" but commended Davis writing " the film is saved by one performance that is the real thing Bette Davis is at her most instinctive and assured Her actress—vain scared a woman who goes too far in her reactions and emotions—makes the whole thing come alive " Davis won a Best Actress award from the Cannes Film Festival and the New York Film Critics Circle Award She also received the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award as "Best Actress" having been named by them as the "Worst Actress" of for Beyond the Forest During this time she was invited to leave her handprints in the forecourt of Grauman s Chinese Theatre
On July Davis divorce from William Sherry was finalized and on July she married Gary Merrill With Sherry s consent Merrill adopted B D Davis daughter with Sherry and in Davis and Merrill adopted a baby girl they named Margot The family traveled to England where Davis and Merrill starred in a murder mystery film Another Man s Poison When it received lukewarm reviews and failed at the box office Hollywood columnists wrote that Davis comeback had petered out and an Academy Award nomination for The Star did not halt her decline
Davis and Merrill adopted a baby boy Michael in and Davis appeared in a Broadway revue Two s Company directed by Jules Dassin She was uncomfortable working outside of her area of expertise she had never been a musical performer and her limited theater experience had been more than years earlier She was also severely ill and was operated on for osteomyelitis of the jaw Margot was diagnosed as severely brain damaged due to an injury sustained during or shortly after her birth and was eventually placed in an institution Davis and Merrill began arguing frequently with B D later recalling episodes of alcohol abuse and domestic violence
Few of Davis films of the s were successful and many of her performances were condemned by critics The Hollywood Reporter wrote of mannerisms "that you d expect to find in a nightclub impersonation of Davis " while the London critic Richard Winninger wrote "Miss Davis with more say than most stars as to what films she makes seems to have lapsed into egoism The criterion for her choice of film would appear to be that nothing must compete with the full display of each facet of the Davis art Only bad films are good enough for her " Her films of this period included The Virgin Queen Storm Center and The Catered Affair As her career declined her marriage continued to deteriorate until she filed for divorce in The following year her mother died During the same time she tried television appearing in three episodes of the popular NBC western Wagon Train as three different characters in and her first appearance on TV had been February on General Electric Theatre
In Davis a registered Democrat appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles California where she met future President John F Kennedy whom she greatly admired
Renewed success – edit
Davis received her final Academy Award nomination for her role as demented Baby Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane opposite Joan CrawfordIn Davis opened in the Broadway production The Night of the Iguana to mostly mediocre reviews and left the production after four months due to "chronic illness " She then joined Glenn Ford and Ann Margret for the Frank Capra film A Pocketful of Miracles a remake of Capra s film Lady for a Day based on a story by Damon Runyon She accepted her next role in the Grand Guignol horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
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after reading the script and believing it could appeal to the same audience that had recently made Alfred Hitchcock s Psycho a success She negotiated a deal that would pay her percent of the worldwide gross profits in addition to her salary The film became one of the year s biggest successes
Davis and Joan Crawford played two aging sisters former actresses forced by circumstance to share a decaying Hollywood mansion The director Robert Aldrich explained that Davis and Crawford were each aware of how important the film was to their respective careers and commented "It s proper to say that they really detested each other but they behaved absolutely perfectly " After filming was completed their public comments against each other allowed the tension to develop into a lifelong feud When Davis was nominated for an Academy Award Crawford contacted the other Best Actress nominees who were unable to attend the ceremonies and offered to accept the award on their behalf should they win which was exactly what happened when Anne Bancroft was announced as winner Crawford accepted the award on Bancroft s behalf Davis also received her only BAFTA Award nomination for this performance Daughter Barbara credited as B D Merrill played a small role in the film and when she and Davis visited the Cannes Film Festival to promote it she met Jeremy Hyman an executive for Seven Arts Productions After a short courtship she married Hyman at the age of with Davis permission
In early while Raymond Burr was recovering from surgery Davis guest starred in the first of four episodes of Perry Mason with Burr doing only cameo roles She portrayed a recently widowed attorney who defended Cal Leonard accused of murdering his cousin in "The Case of Constant Doyle " In court she exposed her personal secretary Miss Givney played by Frances Reid as the murderer Davis portrayed the title character in that episode
In September Davis placed an advertisement in Variety under the heading of "Situations wanted—women artists " which read "Mother of three— —divorcee American Thirty years experience as an actress in Motion Pictures Mobile still and more affable than rumor would have it Wants steady employment in Hollywood Has had Broadway " Davis said that she intended it as a joke and she sustained her comeback over the course of several years Dead Ringer was a crime drama in which she played twin sisters and Where Love Has Gone was a romantic drama based on a Harold Robbins novel Davis played the mother of Susan Hayward but filming was hampered by heated arguments between Davis and Hayward Hush… Hush Sweet Charlotte was Robert Aldrich s follow up to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane in which he planned to reunite Davis and Crawford but when Crawford withdrew allegedly due to illness soon after filming began she was replaced by Olivia de Havilland The film was a considerable success and brought renewed attention to its veteran cast which also included Joseph Cotten Mary Astor and Agnes Moorehead The following year Davis was cast as the lead in an Aaron Spelling sitcom The Decorator A pilot episode was filmed but was not shown and the project was terminated By the end of the decade Davis had appeared in the British films The Nanny The Anniversary and Connecting Rooms but her career again stalled
Late career – edit
Davis and Elizabeth Taylor in late during a show celebrating Taylor s lifeIn the early s Davis was invited to appear in New York in a stage presentation Great Ladies of the American Cinema Over five successive nights a different female star discussed her career and answered questions from the audience Myrna Loy Rosalind Russell Lana Turner Sylvia Sidney and Joan Crawford were the other participants Davis was well received and was invited to tour Australia with the similarly themed Bette Davis in Person and on Film and its success allowed her to take the production to the United Kingdom
In she played the lead role in two television films that were each intended as pilots for upcoming series for NBC Madame Sin with Robert Wagner and The Judge and Jake Wyler with Joan Van Ark but in each case NBC decided against producing a series She appeared in the stage production Miss Moffat a musical adaptation of her film The Corn is Green but after the show was panned by the Philadelphia critics during its pre Broadway run she cited a back injury and abandoned the show which closed immediately She played supporting roles in Burnt Offerings and The Disappearance of Aimee but clashed with Karen Black and Faye Dunaway the stars of the two respective productions because she felt that neither extended her an appropriate degree of respect and that their behavior on the film sets was unprofessional
In Davis became the first woman to receive the American Film Institute s Lifetime Achievement Award The televised event included comments from several of Davis s colleagues including William Wyler who joked that given the chance Davis would still like to refilm a scene from The Letter to which Davis nodded Jane Fonda Henry Fonda Natalie Wood and Olivia de Havilland were among the performers who paid tribute with de Havilland commenting that Davis "got the roles I always wanted" Following the telecast she found herself in demand again often having to choose between several offers She accepted roles in the television miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home and the theatrical film Death on the Nile an Agatha Christie murder mystery The bulk of her remaining work was for television She won an Emmy Award for Strangers The Story of a Mother and Daughter with Gena Rowlands and was nominated for her performances in White Mama and Little Gloria Happy at Last She also played supporting roles in two Disney films Return from Witch Mountain and The Watcher in the Woods
Davis name became well known to a younger audience when Kim Carnes song "Bette Davis Eyes" written by Jackie DeShannon became a worldwide hit and the best selling record of in the U S where it stayed at number one on the music charts for more than two months Davis s grandson was impressed that she was the subject of a hit song and Davis considered it a compliment writing to both Carnes and the songwriters and accepting the gift of gold and platinum records from Carnes and hanging them on her wall She continued acting for television appearing in Family Reunion opposite her grandson J Ashley Hyman A Piano for Mrs Cimino and Right of Way with James Stewart In she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award
Illness conflict and death – edit
Davis final completed role in The Whales of August brought her acclaim during a period in which she was beset with failing health and personal trauma In after filming the pilot episode for the television series Hotel Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy Within two weeks of her surgery she suffered four strokes which caused paralysis in the left side of her face and in her left arm and left her with slurred speech She commenced a lengthy period of physical therapy and aided by her personal assistant Kathryn Sermak gained partial recovery from the paralysis Even late in life Bette smoked cigarettes a day
During this time her relationship with her daughter B D Hyman deteriorated when Hyman became a born again Christian and attempted to persuade Davis to follow suit With her health stable she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie mystery Murder with Mirrors Upon her return she learned that Hyman had published a memoir My Mother s Keeper in which she chronicled a difficult mother daughter relationship and depicted scenes of Davis overbearing and drunken behavior Several of Davis friends commented that Hyman s depictions of events were not accurate one said "so much of the book is out of context " Mike Wallace rebroadcast a Minutes interview he had filmed with Hyman a few years earlier in which she commended Davis on her skills as a mother and said that she had adopted many of Davis principles in raising her own children Critics of Hyman noted that Davis had financially supported the Hyman family for several years and had recently saved them from losing their house Despite the acrimony of their divorce years earlier Gary Merrill also defended Davis Interviewed by CNN Merrill said that Hyman was motivated by "cruelty and greed " Davis adopted son Michael Merrill ended contact with Hyman and refused to speak to her again as did Davis who also disinherited her
Bette Davis with President Ronald Reagan her co star in s Dark Victory in two years before her death In her second memoir This N That Davis wrote "I am still recovering from the fact that a child of mine would write about me behind my back to say nothing about the kind of book it is I will never recover as completely from B D s book as I have from the stroke Both were shattering experiences " Her memoir concluded with a letter to her daughter in which she addressed her several times as "Hyman " and described her actions as "a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given" She concluded with a reference to the title of Hyman s book "If it refers to money if my memory serves me right I ve been your keeper all these many years I am continuing to do so as my name has made your book about me a success "
Davis appeared in the television film As Summers Die and Lindsay Anderson s film The Whales of August in which she played the blind sister of Lillian Gish Though in poor health at the time Davis memorized her own and everyone else s lines as she always had The film earned good reviews with one critic writing "Bette crawls across the screen like a testy old hornet on a windowpane snarling staggering twitching—a symphony of misfired synapses " Her last performance was the title role in Larry Cohen s Wicked Stepmother By this time her health was failing and after disagreements with Cohen she walked off the set The script was rewritten to place more emphasis on Barbara Carrera s character and the reworked version was released after Davis death
Tomb of Bette DavisAfter abandoning Wicked Stepmother and with no further film offers though she was keen to play the centenarian in Craig Calman s The Turn Of The Century and worked with him on adapting the stage play to a feature length screenplay Davis appeared on several talk shows and was interviewed by Johnny Carson Joan Rivers Larry King and David Letterman discussing her career but refusing to discuss her daughter Her appearances were popular Lindsay Anderson observed that the public enjoyed seeing her behaving "so bitchy " He commented "I always disliked that because she was encouraged to behave badly And I d always hear her described by that awful word feisty "
During and Davis was fêted for her career achievements receiving the Kennedy Center Honor the Legion of Honor from France the Campione d Italia from Italy and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Lifetime Achievement Award She collapsed during the American Cinema Awards in and later discovered that her cancer had returned She recovered sufficiently to travel to Spain where she was honored at the Donostia San Sebastián International Film Festival but during her visit her health rapidly deteriorated Too weak to make the long journey back to the U S she traveled to France where she died on October at pm at the American Hospital in Neuilly sur Seine Davis was years old She was interred in Forest Lawn—Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles alongside her mother Ruthie and sister Bobby with her name in larger type size On her tombstone is written "She did it the hard way " an epitaph that she mentioned in her memoir Mother Goddam as having been suggested to her by Joseph L Mankiewicz shortly after they had filmed All About Eve
Reception and legacy edit As early as Graham Greene summed Davis up "Even the most inconsiderable film seemed temporarily better than they were because of that precise nervy voice the pale ash blond hair the popping neurotic eyes a kind of corrupt and phosphorescent prettiness I would rather watch Miss Davis than any number of competent pictures "
In Jack Warner spoke of the "magic quality that transformed this sometimes bland and not beautiful little girl into a great artist " and in a interview Davis remarked that unlike many of her contemporaries she had forged a career without the benefit of beauty She admitted she was terrified during the making of her earliest films and that she became tough by necessity "Until you re known in my profession as a monster you are not a star " she said " but I ve never fought for anything in a treacherous way I ve never fought for anything but the good of the film " During the making of All About Eve Joseph L Mankiewicz told her of the perception in Hollywood that she was difficult and she explained that when the audience saw her on screen they did not consider that her appearance was the result of numerous people working behind the scenes If she was presented as "a horse s ass forty feet wide and thirty feet high " that is all the audience "would see or care about "
While lauded for her achievements Davis and her films were sometimes derided Pauline Kael described Now Voyager as a "shlock classic " and by the mid s her sometimes mannered and histrionic performances had become the subject of caricature Edwin Schallert for the Los Angeles Times praised Davis s performance in Mr Skeffington while observing "the mimics will have more fun than a box of monkeys imitating Miss Davis " and Dorothy Manners at the Los Angeles Examiner said of her performance in the poorly received Beyond the Forest "no night club caricaturist has ever turned in such a cruel imitation of the Davis mannerisms as Bette turns on herself in this one " Time magazine noted that Davis was compulsively watchable even while criticizing her acting technique summarizing her performance in Dead Ringer with the observation "her acting as always isn t really acting it s shameless showing off But just try to look away "
She attracted a following in the gay subculture and was frequently imitated by female impersonators such as Tracey Lee and Charles Pierce Attempting to explain her popularity with gay audiences the journalist Jim Emerson wrote "Was she just a camp figurehead because her brittle melodramatic style of acting hadn t aged well Or was it that she was Larger Than Life a tough broad who had survived Probably some of both "
Davis s film choices were often unconventional she sought roles as manipulators and killers in an era when actresses usually preferred to play sympathetic characters and she excelled in them She favored authenticity over glamour and was willing to change her own appearance if it suited the character Claudette Colbert commented that Davis was the first actress to play roles older than herself and therefore did not have to make the difficult transition to character parts as she aged
Davis s signature and handprints at Grauman s Chinese TheatreAs she entered old age Davis was acknowledged for her achievements John Springer who had arranged her speaking tours of the early s wrote that despite the accomplishments of many of her contemporaries Davis was "the star of the thirties and into the forties " achieving notability for the variety of her characterizations and her ability to assert herself even when her material was mediocre Individual performances continued to receive praise in Bill Collins analyzed The Letter and described her performance as "a brilliant subtle achievement " and wrote "Bette Davis makes Leslie Crosbie one of the most extraordinary females in movies " In a review for All About Eve Roger Ebert noted "Davis was a character an icon with a grand style so even her excesses are realistic " In Premiere magazine ranked her portrayal of Margo Channing in the film as fifth on their list of " Greatest Performances of All Time " commenting "There is something deliciously audacious about her gleeful willingness to play such unattractive emotions as jealousy bitterness and neediness " While reviewing What Ever Happened to Baby Jane in Ebert asserted that "no one who has seen the film will ever forget her "
A few months before her death in Davis was one of several actors featured on the cover of Life magazine In a film retrospective that celebrated the films and stars of Life concluded that Davis was the most significant actress of her era and highlighted Dark Victory as one of the most important films of the year Her death made front page news throughout the world as the "close of yet another chapter of the Golden Age of Hollywood " Angela Lansbury summed up the feeling of those of the Hollywood community who attended her memorial service commenting after a sample from Davis s films were screened that they had witnessed "an extraordinary legacy of acting in the twentieth century by a real master of the craft " that should provide "encouragement and illustration to future generations of aspiring actors "
In Davis became the first woman to be honored with the AFI Life Achievement Award In the American Film Institute published its list of the "AFI s Years Stars " which was the result of a film industry poll to determine the " Greatest American Screen Legends" in order to raise public awareness and appreciation of classic film Of the actresses listed Davis was ranked at number two behind Katharine Hepburn
The United States Postal Service honored Davis with a commemorative postage stamp in marking the th anniversary of her birth The stamp features an image of her in the role of Margo Channing in All About Eve The First Day of Issue celebration took place September at Boston University which houses an extensive Bette Davis archive Featured speakers included her son Michael Merrill and Lauren Bacall In the executors of her estate Michael Merrill her son and Kathryn Sermak her former assistant established "The Bette Davis Foundation" which awards college scholarships to promising actors and actresses
Academy Awards milestones edit
Davis in the trailer for Dark Victory in which she gave one of her ten Oscar nominated performancesIn Bette Davis became the first person to secure ten Academy Award nominations for acting Since then only four people have equalled or surpassed this figure Meryl Streep with nineteen nominations and three wins Katharine Hepburn twelve nominations and four wins Jack Nicholson twelve nominations and three wins and Laurence Olivier ten nominations and two wins
Steven Spielberg purchased Davis s Oscars for Dangerous and Jezebel when they were offered for auction for and respectively and returned them to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Davis s performance in Of Human Bondage was widely acclaimed and when she was not nominated for an Academy Award several influential people mounted a campaign to have her name included The Academy relaxed its rules for that year and the following year also to allow for the consideration of any performer nominated in a write in vote therefore any performance of the year was technically eligible for consideration Given the well publicized hoopla some sources still consider this as a nomination for Davis however the Academy does not officially record this as a nomination
Won for Dangerous
Won for Jezebel
Nominated for Dark Victory
Nominated for The Letter
Nominated for The Little Foxes
Nominated for Now Voyager
Nominated for Mr Skeffington
Nominated for All About Eve
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Nominated for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
Selected filmography edit Main article Bette Davis filmography
Of Human Bondage
Dangerous
The Petrified Forest
Marked Woman
Jezebel
Dark Victory
The Old Maid
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex The Whales of August is a film based on a play by David Berry and stars Bette Davis and Lillian Gish as elderly sisters Also in the cast were Ann Sothern as one of their friends and Vincent Price as a peripheral member of the former Russian aristocracy The film was shot on location on Maine s Cliff Island The house still stands and is a popular subject of artists on the island The film was directed by Lindsay Anderson his final feature film and the screenplay was adapted by David Berry from his own play
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Plot
Cast
Production
Reception
Home media
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References
External links
Plot edit The Whales of August tells the story of two elderly widowed sisters near the end of their lives spending a summer in a seaside house in Maine The surroundings cause them to recall their relationship as young women and the summers they had enjoyed there in the past They reflect on the passage of time and the bitterness jealousies and misunderstandings that slowly festered over the years and kept them from establishing a true closeness in their relationship
Libby played by Davis is the more infirm of the two sisters and her nature has become bitter and cold as a result Sarah played by Gish is a softer and more tolerant character intent on nursing her sister through her discomfort and trying to breach the gulf that has grown between them The resentment that Libby so clearly displays to her stifles Sarah s every attempt at making a friendly overture towards her and Sarah cautiously retreats from her
Maranov Price is a fisherman who provides a romantic interest for Sarah and helps her to recall the happiness of her youth while also reminding her of the marriage and husband that she has lost Tisha Sothern is a vivacious lifelong friend who provides common sense fun and laughter and is the catalyst for some of the sisters conversations and revelations In flashbacks actresses Margaret Ladd Mary Steenburgen and Tisha Sterling Sothern s real life daughter play respectively Libby Sarah and Tisha as young women
Cast edit Bette Davis as Libby Strong
Lillian Gish as Sarah Webber
Vincent Price as Mr Maranov
Ann Sothern as Tisha Doughty This is a filmography of Vincent Price which includes appearances in theatre and television Price made his theatre debut in the Gate Theatre s production of Chicago followed by work on Broadway Under contract to Universal Price traveled to Hollywood making his screen debut in s Service de Luxe By the s Vincent Price was working almost exclusively in the horror genre and teen film genres Price s final film was Edward Scissorhands and the TV movie The Heart of Justice was his last screen appearance Price died in Los Angeles on October
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Filmography
Theatre
Television
External links
Filmography edit Year Film Role Director
Service de Luxe Robert Wade Rowland V Lee
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Sir Walter Raleigh Michael Curtiz
Tower of London Duke of Clarence Rowland V Lee
The Invisible Man Returns Geoffrey Radcliffe Joe May
Green Hell David Richardson James Whale
The House of the Seven Gables Clifford Pyncheon Joe May
Brigham Young Joseph Smith Henry Hathaway
Hudson s Bay King Charles II Irving Pichel
The Song of Bernadette Prosecutor Vital Dutour Henry King
The Eve of St Mark Pvt Francis Marion John M Stahl
Wilson William Gibbs McAdoo Henry King
Laura Shelby Carpenter Otto Preminger
The Keys of the Kingdom Angus Mealey John M Stahl
A Royal Scandal Marquis de Fleury Ernst Lubitsch Otto Preminger
Leave Her to Heaven Russell Quinton John M Stahl
Shock Dr Richard Cross Alfred L Werker
Dragonwyck Nicholas Van Ryn Joseph L Mankiewicz
The Web Andrew Colby Michael Gordon
The Long Night Maximilian Anatole Litvak
Moss Rose Police Inspector R Clinner Gregory Ratoff
Up in Central Park Boss Tweed William A Seiter
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein The Invisible Man voice only Charles Barton
Rogues Regiment Mark Van Ratten Robert Florey
The Three Musketeers Richelieu George Sidney
The Bribe Carwood Robert Z Leonard
Bagdad Pasha Ali Nadim Charles Lamont
The Baron of Arizona James Reavis Samuel Fuller
Champagne for Caesar Burnbridge Waters Richard Whorf
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek Tracy Holland Charles Lamont
Adventures of Captain Fabian George Brissac William Marshall
His Kind of Woman Mark Cardigan John Farrow
Pictura An Adventure in Art Narrator co directors
Notes on the Port of St Francis Narrator short documentary directed by Frank Stauffacher
The Las Vegas Story Lloyd Rollins Robert Stevenson
House of Wax Professor Henry Jarrod André De Toth
Dangerous Mission Paul Adams Louis King
Born in Freedom The Story of Colonel Drake Colonel Edwin L Drake Arthur Pierson
Casanova s Big Night Casanova uncredited Norman Z McLeod
The Mad Magician Don Gallico John Brahm
Son of Sinbad Omar Khayyam Ted Tetzlaff
Serenade Charles Winthrop Anthony Mann
While the City Sleeps Walter Kyne Fritz Lang
The Vagabond King Narrator uncredited Michael Curtiz
The Ten Commandments Baka Cecil B DeMille
The Story of Mankind The Devil Irwin Allen
The Fly François Delambre Kurt Neumann
House on Haunted Hill Frederick Loren William Castle
The Big Circus Hans Hagenfeld Joseph M Newman
The Tingler Dr Warren Chapin William Castle
Return of the Fly Francois Delambre Edward Bernds
The Bat Dr Malcolm Wells Crane Wilbur
House of Usher Roderick Usher Roger Corman
Master of the World Robur William Witney
Pit and the Pendulum Nicholas Medina
Sebastian Medina Roger Corman
Nefertiti Queen of the Nile Benakon Fernando Cerchio
Rage of the Buccaneers Romero Mario Costa
Confessions of an Opium Eater Gilbert De Quincey Albert Zugsmith
Tales of Terror Locke
Fortunato Luchresi
M Valdemar Roger Corman
Convicts Carl Carmer Millard Kaufman
Tower of London Richard of Gloucester Roger Corman
The Raven Dr Erasmus Craven Roger Corman
Diary of a Madman Simon Cordier Reginald Le Borg
Beach Party Big Daddy William Asher
The Haunted Palace Joseph Curwen
Charles Dexter Ward Roger Corman
Twice Told Tales Alex Medbourne
Dr Rappaccini
Gerald Pyncheon Sidney Salkow
The Comedy of Terrors Waldo Trumbull Jacques Tourneur
The Last Man on Earth Dr Robert Morgan Ubaldo Ragona
The Masque of the Red Death Prince Prospero Roger Corman
I Tabu Taboos of the World Narrator Romolo Marcellini
The Tomb of Ligeia Verden Fell Roger Corman
War Gods of the Deep Sir Hugh The Captain Jacques Tourneur
Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine Dr Goldfoot Norman Taurog
Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs Dr Goldfoot
General Willis Mario Bava
The Jackals Oupa Decker Robert D Webb
The House of Dolls Felix Manderville Jeremy Summers
Spirits of the Dead Narrator
English language version Federico Fellini Louis Malle
Roger Vadim
Witchfinder General U S title Conqueror Worm Matthew Hopkins Michael Reeves
More Dead Than Alive Dan Ruffalo Robert Sparr
The Oblong Box Sir Julian Markham Gordon Hessler
The Trouble with Girls Mr Morality Peter Tewksbury
Scream and Scream Again Dr Browning Gordon Hessler
Cry of the Banshee Lord Edward Whitman Gordon Hessler
Cucumber Castle Wicked Count Voxville Hugh Gladwish
The Abominable Dr Phibes Dr Anton Phibes Robert Fuest
Here Comes Peter Cottontail January Q Irontail Voice Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr
Mooch Goes to Hollywood Himself Richard Erdman
What s a Nice Girl Like You Spevin Jerry Paris
An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe Recitator Kenneth Johnson
Dr Phibes Rises Again Dr Anton Phibes Robert Fuest
Theatre of Blood Edward Lionheart Douglas Hickox
Madhouse Paul Toombes Jim Clark
Percy s Progress Stavos Mammonian Ralph Thomas
Journey Into Fear Dervos Daniel Mann
The Butterfly Ball Narrator Tony Klinger
Race for Your Life Charlie Brown Brutus speaking Bill Melendez Alan Zaslove
Scavenger Hunt Milton Parker Michael Schultz
The Monster Club Eramus Roy Ward Baker
Pogo for President I Go Pogo The Deacon voice only Marc Paul Chinoy
Freddie the Freeloader s Christmas Dinner Professor Humperdo John Trent
Vincent Narrator voice only Tim Burton
House of the Long Shadows Lionel Grisbane Pete Walker
Michael Jackson s Thriller Narrator voice only John Landis
Bloodbath at the House of Death Sinister Man Ray Cameron
Terror in the Aisles archival footage Andrew J Kuehn
The Little Troll Prince Ulvik voice only Ray Patterson
The Great Mouse Detective Professor Ratigan voice Burny Mattinson Ron Clements
David Michener John Musker
Escapes The Mailman David Steensland
Sparky s Magic Piano Henry Sparky s dad voice only Lee Mishkin
The Nativity King Herod voice only Don Lusk
The Whales of August Mr Maranov Lindsay Anderson
From a Whisper to a Scream Julian White Jeff Burr Tiny Toon Adventures also known as Tiny Toons is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcasting from September through October as the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg s Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros Animation after being conceived in the late s by Tom Ruegger The show follows the adventures of a group of young cartoon characters who attend Acme Looniversity to become the next generation of characters from the Looney Tunes series The sequel of the show is Animaniacs
The pilot episode "The Looney Beginning " aired as a prime time special on CBS on September while the series itself was featured in first run syndication for the first two seasons The final season was aired on Fox Kids The series ended production in in favor of Animaniacs however two specials were produced in
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