Biographie

The first actor to receive ten Academy Award nominations.

Joan Crawford and she had feuded for years, some of it instigated by publicists and studio heads. During the making of Qu'est-il arrivé à Baby Jane? (1962), Davis had a Coca-Cola machine installed on the set due to Crawford's affiliation with Pepsi (she was the widow of Pepsi's CEO). Joan got her revenge by putting weights in her pockets when Davis had to drag her across the floor during certain scenes. Crawford died in 1977, and ten years later Davis spoke more freely about her. In a 1987 interview with Bryant Gumbel, she said that Crawford acted professionally on the set since she showed up on time and knew her lines, and that the rift happened only after she campaigned against Davis, making sure she didn't win her third Oscar. That same year, she told Barbara Walters that she was hurt and angry by Crawford's actions. However, she also added that she won't tarnish Crawford's accomplishments: "She came a long way from a little girl from where she came from. This, I will never take away from her".

According to her August 1982 "Playboy" magazine interview, in her youth she posed nude for an artist, who carved a statue of her that was placed in a public spot in Boston, MA. After the interview appeared, Bostonians searched for the statue in vain. The statue, four dancing nymphs, was later found in the possession of a private Massachusetts collector.

After the song "Bette Davis Eyes" became a hit single, she wrote letters to singer Kim Carnes and songwriters Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, asking how they knew so much about her. One of the reasons she loved the song is that her grandson heard it and thought it "cool" that his grandmother had a hit song written about her.

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.

[when told by director Robert Aldrich that the studios wanted Joan Crawford as her co-star for Chut...chut...chère Charlotte (1964)] I wouldn't piss on Joan Crawford if she were on fire.

[in 1982] Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should ALL be bigger than life.

Getting old is not for sissies.

I see - she's the original good time that was had by all.

Until you're known in my profession as a monster, you're not a star.

Ma belle-mère est une sorcière (1989) - $250,000

Right of Way (1983) - $250,000

Un piano pour Mrs. Cimino (1982) - $200,000

Chut...chut...chère Charlotte (1965) - $200,000

Rivalités (1965) - $125,000