Bette Davis

Born: 5 April 1908 Birthplace: Lowell, Massachusetts Death: 6 October 1989 Best Known As: Bug-eyed movie star from All About Eve Name at birth: Ruth Elizabeth Davis Tart-tongued and independent, Bette Davis was one of America's biggest movies stars in the years surrounding World War II. After several supporting roles in the early 1930s, she began getting more notice and bigger roles in such films as Of Human Bondage (1934) and Dangerous (1935, for which she won an Oscar). In 1938 she won another Oscar for Jezebel (with Henry Fonda), and throughout the 1940s and '50s appeared in mostly dramas and costumers (including a memorable 1955 turn as Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen). Not a typical screen beauty, Davis made up for it with spunk and flamboyance, and off-screen she earned a reputation as a "difficult" star. During the 1960s her career was revived somewhat by a string of horror movies, including What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, in which she played opposite fellow screen legend Joan Crawford. Late in her career she made television movies, winning three Emmy awards between 1979 and 1983. Davis's tombstone reads: "She did it the hard way"... In All About Eve (1950) she utters the famous line, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"