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INTRODUCTION |
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HER
STORY |
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QUOTES |
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TRIVIA |
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NICKNAME |
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GALLERY |
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CURIOS |
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VOX
POPULI |
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SHOP |
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Edward
Albee wanted Bette and James Mason for the stars of "Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Albee sold the play to Warners
thinking they were to be the stars. Jack Warner had other plans. |
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Though
a lot of people told her "The Little Foxes" was their
favorite of her films, she didn't like it. |
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Hepburn
was to costar with her in "The Night of the Iguana," but
due to Spencer Tracy's poor health, Hepburn withdrew from the play.
Bette felt if Kate had costarred with her, Tennessee Williams would
have written a scene for them which would have balanced the roles of
Hannah and Maxine. In the finished play Maxine (Bette) is the third
lead and Hannah (Margaret Leighton) is the star part. Bette stated
that she had her pick of either part. She chose Maxine because she
thought Hannah's speech in the rowboat to Shannon "about
underwear" was offensive. Bette planned to take
"Iguana" to London, but was so unhappy in the play, she
left it in New York. |
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She
said the biggest mistake of her career was turning down the role of
Blanche in the original stage production of "Streetcar Named
Desire." She had just had her baby and didn't want to go to New
York. Interestingly Vivien Leigh won the Oscar for this part as well
as for another Bette "almost" role "Gone With The
Wind." |
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She
thought "Toys in the Attic" by Lillian Hellman would have
been the perfect vehicle for her and Katharine
Hepburn. |
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Robert
Ryan begged her to star with him in O'Neil's "Long Day's
Journey Into Night." She refused because she really didn't like
the stage. |
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Considered
her debut screen test for MGM to be so dreadful that she ran
screaming from the projection room. |
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Her
feud with Joan Crawford
began when Bette was
making the movie 'Dangerous' with Franchot Tone. Davis apparently
developed a very bad crush on Tone without knowing that he was
having an affair with Crawford. Tone would come back from his
lunch with lipstick all over his face from the make-out sessions
with Crawford and when Davis found out that Tone was having an
affair with Crawford the feud began and it never really ended. |
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In
October 1941 she was elected the first female president of the
American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only to resign
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. |
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When
Bette learned that her new brother-in-law was a recovering
alcoholic, she sent the couple a dozen cases of liquor for a wedding
present. |
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Her
second husband Arthur Farnsworth was killed in an accidental fall in
which he took a blow to the head. |
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Her
real true love was director William Wyler but he was married and
refused to leave his wife. |
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Bette
wanted to play Martha with Henry Fonda as George in "Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but all involved wanted Elizabeth
Taylor and Richard Burton instead. |
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Her
real Christian name was Ruth. The Bette came from Balzac's novel 'Cousin
Bette'. |
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Had
a legendary feud with Joan Crawford
which reached its nadir when she said, "The best time I ever had with
Joan in a film was when I pushed her down the stairs in 'What ever
happened to Baby Jane?'" |
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Bette had three
children, one of whom was severely retarded. |
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She suffered a
stroke and a mastectomy in 1983. |
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On her tombstone
is written "She did it the hard way". |
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