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13 August 2013

Bette Davis (14 August SUTS)

BDThis post is written in conjunction with the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence and Scribe Hard on Film. Full listings for SUTS programming on Turner Classic Movies can be found HERE.

I love this dame and could talk abut the whys and wherefores of my respect for her, but I'd rather she speak for herself.
"Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should ALL be bigger than life."

"I'm the nicest goddamn dame that ever lived."

"Gay Liberation? I ain't against it, it's just that there's nothing in it for me."

"Success only breeds a new goal."


"What a fool I was to come to Hollywood where they only understand platinum blondes and where legs are more important than talent."

"There was more good acting at Hollywood parties than ever appeared on the screen."

"To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy."

"There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne."

"It's better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you're not. It's a sign of your worth sometimes, if you're hated by the right people."

"I sent my flowers across the hall to Mrs. Nixon but her husband remembered what a Democrat I am and sent them back."

"You should know me well enough by now to know I don't ask for things I don't think I can get."

"You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation."

"I have been uncompromising, peppery, intractable, monomaniacal, tactless, volatile, and oftentimes disagreeable... I suppose I'm larger than life."
jezebel ii

"I'd marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me, and guarantee that he'd be dead within a year."
"The male ego, with few exceptions, is elephantine to start with."
"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch."

"I was thought to be 'stuck up.' I wasn't. I was just sure of myself. This is and always has been an unforgivable quality to the unsure."

"I never wished I’d been a man. I always felt like a woman and wanted to be a woman. I wanted to be fulfilled professionally and personally, as a woman. There are some who might say I had penis envy, but I only had penis admiration."
On her feud with Joan Crawford
bd crawford
"I wouldn't piss on Joan Crawford if she were on fire."

"She has slept with every MGM star except Lassie."

"Why am I so good at playing bitches? I think it's because I'm not a bitch. Maybe that's why [Crawford] always plays ladies."

"You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say good . . . Joan Crawford is dead. Good."

"She and I have never been warm friends. We are not simpatico. I admire her, and yet I feel uncomfortable with her. To me, she is the personification of the Movie Star. I have always felt her greatest performance is Crawford being Crawford."

"We were polite to each other - all the social amenities, 'Good morning, Joan' and 'Good Morning, Bette' crap - and thank God we weren't playing roles where we had to like each other. But people forget that our big scenes were alone - just the camera was on me or her. No actresses on earth are as different as we are, all the way down the line. Yet what we do works. It's so strange, this acting business. It comes from inside. She was always so damn proper. She sent thank you notes for thank you notes. I screamed when I found out she signed autographs: 'Bless you, Joan Crawford.'"

"Joan always cries a lot. Her tear ducts must be very close to her bladder."

"I was not Miss Crawford's biggest fan, but, wisecracks to the contrary, I did and still do respect her talent. What she did not deserve was that detestable book written by her daughter. I've forgotten her name. Horrible. I looked at that book, but I did not need to read it. I wouldn't read trash like that, and I think it was a terrible, terrible thing for a daughter to do. An abomination!"
baby jane

There really are too many must-see Bette Davis movies to pick just a couple for this post, so I'll pick my favorites from those TCM is showing for BD-day on Summer Under the Stars.

dark victoryDARK VICTORY (1939)

A carefree society girl sees life and love in new ways when she learns that she has a brain tumor that will likely result in her premature death.
"Nothing can hurt us now. What we have can't be destroyed. That's our victory - our victory over the dark. It is a victory because we're not afraid."
now voyager

NOW, VOYAGER (1942)

A dowdy spinster's life is turned around by the attentions, both professional and personal, of a dashing psychiatrist (Paul Henreid).
"Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars."
petrified forest

THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936)

The frustrated, unsatisfied daughter of a gas station/restaurant in the middle of the desert dreams of a better life with an English passerby (Leslie Howard). The two fall in love while the cantina is held up by an escaped convict (Humphrey Bogart).
Gabrielle (Davis): Petrified forest is a lot of dead trees in the desert that have turned to stone. Here's a good specimen.
Alan (Howard): So that was once a tree? Hmmm. Petrified forest, eh? Suitable haven for me. Well, perhaps that's what I'm destined to become, an interesting fossil for future study.
jezebel

JEZEBEL (1938)

I don't like this movie so I'm not going to tell you about it except that it's part of Bette Davis's canon, apparently.

Bette Davis's Dick Cevett interview (1971)
In this show, Dick Cavett asks Bette Davis if her mother told her about the "birds and the bees". Davis responds: "No, there was no sort of real education. If you want to come to my home in Connecticut, some night in front of the fireplace, I'd tell you about my wedding night. You'd be on the floor for three hours". The audience howls with laughter. Davis then realizes why the audience is laughing, and quickly says: "No, I did not mean THAT! I meant LAUGHING on the floor!" 

7 comments:

  1. My favorite quote: "Success only breeds a new goal." And I love her observation that Crawford's greatest performance was as Crawford. I love Dark Victory. My favorite Davis performance isn't on this year -- Mr. Skeffington. And thank you, I thought I was the only one who isn't a fan of Jezebel.

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  2. I like Jezebel although I don't love it and it would never make it on to any list of favorites but Fay Bainter is wonderful as Aunt Belle and Bette is a fiery delight but the film surrounding them isn't that strong.

    It's a three way tie for favorite Bette performance: Dark Victory, All About Eve and Now, Voyager but one of the films that is showing today is one I love. Watch on the Rhine is a picture I can watch time and again although Bette doesn't really give a standout performance in it. She said herself that the part, the supportive wife, wasn't one she loved or sought out but she considered it an important film and her participation helped get it made with the original cast intact excepting her. It's a shade talky but full of marvelous performances especially Paul Lukas and the fantastic Lucile Watson.

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  3. Fantastic quotes from one of my all-time faves. The one about acting at a Hollywood party almost made me spew my tea!

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  4. Bette Davis is a favorite of mine. And like everyone else here, I love your quote selection. As for must-see films, I would have to add THE LETTER to the list as I think it is quite possibly Bette's finest performance. Also, THE LITTLE FOXES. I think the three films she made with Wyler were some of her very best work.

    Thanks again, Margaret.

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  5. I despise The Letter but LOVE Bette

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  6. I would say All About Eve, Of Human Bondage and Now Voyager as my top 3 favorite Bette Davis favorites followed by Mrs Skeffington and Elizabeth and Essex.

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  7. Fantastic quotes! Thank you!

    I must point out: "Dark Victory" and "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" were made THE SAME YEAR! So if you want a one-two punch of Bette Davis, I'd definitely watch those two back-to-back. The plot of "Dark Victory" looks corny and unappealing when it's written out in print; it's a really great movie.

    "Of Human Bondage" also, that has to be one of the greatest performances in all of cinema, and since it's 1934, it's got to be one of the earliest great performances (in sound). I equate Bette Davis' performance in "Of Human Bondage" to Brando in "Streetcar Named Desire". The scene where she yells at Leslie Howard gives me chills just thinking about it.

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Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

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