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My dinner is cooking so I don't have a lot to say right now. I'm hoping others will add to this. I searched for Bette Davis, and All About Eve thinking I could just post there, but Ms. Davis does not have a thread of her own. I was shocked, shocked to find such goings on here!!!
In reading one of the books about her - something like The Girl Who Walked Home Alone, I read that Claudette Colbert had been signed for the part of Margo Channing. Although I adore Claudette, I doubt if she could have made Margo as exciting as Bette did. On Fox they featured All About Eve last night with a ten minute discourse before and after the movie, and I'm reading the part about Eve now, so everything came together for me. I hope I haven't posted anything like this before, and if I have, I'm terribly sorry, but I really did try to search and find out. Also I always though Bette was married to a slew of Hollywood guys, but actually there was only Gary Merrill. George Brent was never in her class and he was a shocker to me.
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Re: Bette Davis
Posted: May 29th, 2010, 6:44 pm
by mongoII
Don't be too shocked, Anne. Bette Davis is mentioned one way or another in most of the threads on this site. It would be impossible not to mention such a movie star in all the years of conversation on these boards.
I myself have featured many images of the lady on my "CANDIDS" thread.
She was and is a gem.
And your right. Claudette Colbert would not have had the bite that Davis gave Margo Channing.
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: May 30th, 2010, 3:15 pm
by mrsl
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Thank you Joe:
I was just sincerely surprised that Bette did not have a thread of her own, because, as you say, everyone, like her or not, has something to say about her. So, maybe from now on, people can add to this thread.
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Re: Bette Davis
Posted: April 5th, 2012, 11:30 am
by movieman1957
Life magazine has brought up an old photo shoot for Bette on her birthday.
she looks great in those, so relaxed and i love her hair that way. it was the most flattering style she ever wore.
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: April 9th, 2012, 7:45 am
by intothenitrate
Thanks for starting this thread, MrsL. I've always thought of Davis' work as Margo as an act of supreme generosity. That is, you can't help but see art imitating life as she works her way through the story of a dramatic diva moving on past her prime. That's what makes her fascinating to me, thoroughly haughty and thoroughly humble at the same time.
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: August 14th, 2014, 4:06 pm
by sandykaypax
Bringing up an old thread to comment on the fine performance on Bette Davis in The Catered Affair (1956). I saw this film for the first time recently and was so taken by Davis' performance as a working class middle aged wife and mother, New Yawk accent and all. Yes, she was still BETTE DAVIS, but this was the miles away from the mannered Davis of Now, Voyager and others of that ilk. I understood her sadness underneath the practical no-nonsense exterior.
Wonderful performances all around in this film!
Sandy K
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: August 17th, 2014, 4:42 pm
by RedRiver
Agreed on all counts!
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: August 18th, 2014, 2:04 am
by Vienna
Thanks for starting the thread on Bette. So much to write about, it could go on for a long time!
To think that Bette got the role of Margo Channing almost by default. Claudette Colbert was cast but had an accident which meant she couldn't do the film.
I love Claudette but that part is Bette's!
And it wasn't until All About Eve opened that Bette got her star in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
The Sarah Siddons award which Eve wins in the film was fictionous, but in 1952 The Sarah Siddons Society was formed to recognise women in the theatre.
Bette Davis won the actual award in 1973 and Anne Baxter was the presenter !
( Sarah Siddons was an English actress of the 18th century).
All this info is from the book ALL ABOUT ALL ABOUT EVE by Sam Staggs.
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: August 18th, 2014, 12:00 pm
by jdb1
I've often wondered what "All About Eve" would have been like with Colbert.
I feel a lot of anger in Bette Davis' Margo -- I don't see Colbert as an "angry" actress. Her version of a strong woman in control was quite different from Davis', but was just as effective.
Any thoughts on a Colbert Margo Channing?
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: August 18th, 2014, 2:39 pm
by movieman1957
I wouldn't see Colbert as "Margo" either. Stanwyck or Crawford would seem choices before Colbert. And I really like Claudette.
(So glad you are back Judith.)
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: August 18th, 2014, 5:27 pm
by jdb1
movieman1957 wrote:I wouldn't see Colbert as "Margo" either. Stanwyck or Crawford would seem choices before Colbert. And I really like Claudette.
(So glad you are back Judith.)
Thanks Chris. I do agree that the entire picture would probably have been quite different with Colbert in the role, and would likely have had different supporting players - more glamorous ones. Davis seemed, at this point, to relish rubbing her age in the faces of Hollywood, if you know what I mean. She made more than one movie about "the aging star," when other actresses wouldn't have touched them. I think Stanwyck might have been even more hard-boiled than Davis as Margo. Not sure that Crawford would have been willing to play it at that time.
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: October 13th, 2023, 7:19 am
by GaryCooper
All About Eve held its world premiere in New York City on October 13, 1950.
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: October 13th, 2023, 10:03 am
by Detective Jim McLeod
My top ten Bette Davis film, #1 is my favorite, the rest in chronological order-
1. What Ever Happened To Baby Jane (1962)
2. Jezebel (1938)
3. Dark Victory (1939)
4. The Letter (1940)
5. The Little Foxes (1941)
6. Now Voyager (1942)
7. Mr. Skeffington (1944)
8. All About Eve (1950)
9. Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964)
10. The Whales Of August (1987)
Re: Bette Davis
Posted: October 14th, 2023, 8:00 am
by KayFrancis
Top 10 favorite Bette Davis films
1. All About Eve ( 10 top favorite films of all time )
2. Now Voyager
3. Mr. Skeffinton
4. A Stolen Life
5. The Catered Affair
6. The Little Foxes
7. Old Acquaintance
8. Pocketful of Miracles
(because Of Bette's performance
9. Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte
10. Whatever Happened To Baby Jane