Eight Classic Films Starring Bette Davis
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Davis earned her first Academy Award nomination for her turn as the slatternly Mildred Rogers in Of Human Bondage (1934). Adapted from Somerset Maugham’s 1915 novel of the same name, the film starred Leslie Howard as an artist and medical student who finds himself in a destructive relationship with Davis’ savage Mildred. An unsympathetic role that numerous actresses turned down, Mildred gave Davis an opportunity to really cut loose as she delivered a riveting performance many thought would win her the Oscar. But an insufficient studio campaign tilted favor towards Claudette Colbert instead and left the widely praised Davis empty-handed. She did win the following year for Dangerous (1935), though most observers consider the win to be more of a consolation prize. Check Amazon rating »
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MGM Home Entertainment
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The first of her three great collaborations with director William Wyler , Jezebel delivered Davis her second and final Academy Award for Best Actress. Davis played Julie Marsden, a spoiled, strong-willed Southern belle who makes a spectacle of herself over her love of a gentleman banker ( Henry Fonda ), but ultimately finds redemption and humility in the face of an outbreak of yellow fever. Though there were many comparison’s to Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939) – a role Davis lost out on – Jezebel was still a crowning achievement in her career. Check Amazon rating »
Warner Bros.
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A beautifully crafted period piece from director Michael Curtiz , The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex became remembered for the behind-the-scenes squabbling between Davis and her co-star Errol Flynn . The serious, hard-driving actress clashed repeatedly with the wanton, carefree Flynn , but that did little to harm their performances. Davis played a middle-aged Queen Elizabeth I, who falls in love with Flynn’s Earl of Essex enough to want to give up her crown. But when she learns of his warlike ambitions, she brands him a rebel and signs his execution order, though ultimately she wants him to beg for his release. Aside from her quarrels with Flynn, the picture was notable for being Davis’ first venture into Technicolor. Check Amazon rating »
Warner Bros.
4.  ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ – 1941
While Davis primarily shined as a dramatic actress, she was also capable of delivering strong comic performances and her turn in the screwball comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner ranks as her best. Based on the Broadway hit by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, the film featured the top-billed Davis as a spinsterish secretary whose relationship with a local newspaper man (Richard Travis) is temporarily disrupted by an acerbic radio personality (Monty Woolley) forced to stay with an Ohio family after suffering an accident. While the film ultimately belonged to Woolley’s pompous character, Davis more than holds her own with one snappy line after another.
Nelson Entertainment
5.  ‘The Little Foxes’ – 1941
Her third and final collaboration with Wyler, The Little Foxes was an extraordinary adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s 1939 play of the same name. Stepping into the role originated by Tallulah Bankhead, Davis played Regina Hubbard Giddens, a Southern aristocrat forced to contend with her estranged, sickly husband Horace (Herbert Marshall) in order to secure $75,000 for her greedy brothers (Charles Dingle and Carl Benton Reid) to finish construction on a cotton mill. But when refused the money, Regina tries blackmailing her brothers to disastrous effect – namely the loss of her daughter’s love and respect. Davis earned her sixth Oscar nomination, but lost out to Joan Fontaine in Suspicion (1941).
MGM Home Entertainment
6.  ‘Now, Voyager’ – 1942
In Irving Rapper’s tear-jerking melodrama , Now, Voyager, Davis gave a commanding performance that ranks as one of the best of her career. Here she played Charlotte Vale, an unmarried woman under the repressive thumb of her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper). Urged by her psychiatrist (Claude Rains) to make radical changes in her life, Charlotte starts to slowly break free after falling in love with a married man while on a long ocean voyage (Paul Henreid), only to find her efforts ending in heartache. In hindsight, Davis’ superior performance should have won her a third Academy Award, but Greer Garson’s more patriotic turn took home the Oscar for Best Actress instead.
20th Century Fox
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With her most famous onscreen line, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night," Davis earned yet another Oscar nomination for Best Actress as Margo Channing, the most iconic role of her career. Davis was as the top of her game as the tempestuous, gin-swilling Broadway legend who takes a promising fan, Eve Harrington (Ann Baxter), under her wing, only to see her scheming protégé stab everyone in the back on her own rise to stardom. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz , All About Eve marked Davis’ return to prominence after a string of setbacks. Check Amazon rating »
Warner Bros.
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With Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Davis came roaring back to prominence with a tour-de-force performance as one of the top screen villains of all time. Davis played the titular Baby Jane Hudson, a former child star turned flop actress in her adult years who cares for her invalid sister, Blanche ( Joan Crawford ), while both are in their autumn years. Seething with jealousy for Blanche’s successful career, Baby Jane plots her comeback in between tormenting her crippled sister. Both Davis and Crawford notoriously despised each other during filming, but in the end Davis emerged triumphant when she earned her final Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Check Amazon rating »