The Two Faces of Bette Davis

Betty Davis’s road to success was far from idyllic. She got married four times, stood up to major studio executives, and, of course, sharpened her claws in one of Hollywood’s most infamous feuds. During World War II, Betty Davis tragically lost her husband; however, he didn’t die in battle. In August 1943, he suddenly collapsed on a Hollywood street and died two days later. The truth revealed by his autopsy raised more than a few eyebrows, with more on that coming up later. Confident and charming, Davis would enjoy a fabulous career, but it would be hard for her to find a good romantic match. There was one man she said was the love of her life, but their relationship would be just as troubled as the others, and the full story is coming up shortly. Her feud with another Hollywood star was infamous, but it was hardly her only conflict in Tinseltown. Her biggest betrayal, however, would be dished out by someone she did not expect. Betty Davis traveled to Hollywood for her first screen test in 1930. She waited at the airport for ages, having been told that a studio head would meet her there. Eventually, she left, assuming that she had been stood up, but the truth was even worse.

Davis was a beautiful woman, but to Hollywood executives, she would never be a screen siren. It turned out that the studio executive had been at the airport, but according to him, there was no one there attractive enough to be an actress, so he left. As she tried to break into Hollywood, Davis endured mean comments about her looks as well as a string of flops. Davis was at her wit’s end and planned on packing it up just before she booked The Man Who Played God, a film about a deaf pianist. Davis’s performance finally got her noticed, and with a hit in the can, at long last, her star was on the rise. After playing the villainess in Of Human Bondage, Davis felt that she had made it. Unfortunately, back in old Hollywood, studio executives ruled the roost. The studio wanted Davis to do what she was told, and that meant watching her promising career flounder in lame material suggested by Warner Brothers. But the studio would soon learn not to mess with Betty Davis. Instead of acting in a stinker, the actress went out and got herself a new contract with an English studio. She flew overseas and filmed some British flicks. It was an amazing screw-you to the studio, but there was one problem with Davis’s plan: Betty Davis was under contract at Warner Brothers. Legally, she wasn’t allowed to just up and leave, never mind work for someone else. The studio told Betty to get back to the USA where she belonged, so she took WB to court and unfortunately lost. But then she returned to Warner Brothers, and instead of being a chastened, meek Starlet, she managed to negotiate herself into a bigger paycheck and those meaty roles she wanted all along. Her career was taking off, but her marriage was far from idyllic. Betty was married to Harmon Nelson.

Nelson could be controlling and cruel. While married to him, Davis became pregnant twice; both times, Nelson ordered her to abort the baby. In the 1930s, that wasn’t just emotionally horrific, it was incredibly dangerous too. Unsurprisingly, Davis’s eyes began to wander. Davis’s feud with rival star Joan Crawford is the stuff of legend, but few people know how it started. Well, back in 1933, on the exact same day that Universal Studios planned to release an article announcing Betty Davis as the next big thing, Joan Crawford swept in to take Davis’s thunder with a stunning announcement of her own. Joan Crawford was divorcing her famous husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Crawford stole Davis’s thunder, and Betty would not forget it. As you will see, while filming the movie Dangerous, Davis fell for her elegant co-star Franchot Tone, who was already dating none other than Joan Crawford. What could go wrong? Crawford pressured Tone into a quick engagement while they were still filming, which meant that poor Betty had to watch the couple on set every day. Davis declared that she would never forgive Crawford. At the 1936 Oscars, Crawford and Davis took their feud to another level. Davis hadn’t wanted to attend the ceremony because she was sure she wouldn’t win, so as a screw-you to the studio head who made her go, she wore an incredibly ugly dress. Well, the joke was on Betty. She won the Best Actress trophy and had to march up to accept it in a heinous gown. That’s when Crawford struck. On Davis’s way up to the stage, Crawford sneered at Davis and said, “Dear Betty, what a lovely frock.” In 1938, Betty Davis signed on to the movie Jezebel, directed by William Wyler. Right off the bat, Davis and Wyler felt a connection, and it didn’t take long for them to start a full-blown affair.

During filming, her passion didn’t go unnoticed. After the movie came out, the gossip columnist Hedda Hopper accused Davis of having an affair with her leading man, Henry Fonda. According to Hopper, you couldn’t look at someone that way if you weren’t truly in love with them. Hopper had it right, kind of. The person that Davis had been looking at wasn’t her co-star Henry Fonda, who wasn’t even on set that day; it was her director, who was standing just behind the camera. Davis later said that Wyler was the love of her life, no question. When filming wrapped up, Davis learned that she was pregnant, and her husband was not the father. Betty hoped that the pregnancy would, shall we say, encourage Wyler to propose. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. After Wyler failed to get down on one knee, Davis quietly terminated the pregnancy. Wyler and Davis threw in the towel on their affair not long after, so Davis did what any girl would do. She attended a swanky Hollywood party, where she met the most notorious womanizer in the biz, Howard Hughes. When Hughes asked her out, Davis accepted bluntly, saying, “I was flattered, I was married, I was bored, I accepted.” Her husband suspected Davis of sneaking around and became so desperate to find out the truth that he hired a private investigator to follow his wife and see what she was doing. The PI discovered Davis and Hughes were indeed together. The papers hounded Davis, asking her if she was really seeing Hughes and if she’d be getting a divorce. Another starlet would have given a flustered reply, but not Davis.

She told the gossip column that she was on a vacation from her marriage. Being Betty Davis’s husband meant enjoying a very comfortable lifestyle, so Nelson told Davis if she wanted to end their marriage, she’d have to cut him a big fat paycheck. Davis was determined to find another way. She went to her millionaire boyfriend, Howard Hughes. Unfortunately for Davis, Hughes refused to pay Nelson off, leaving Betty in a lurch. She grumpily gave Nelson the money he wanted, then dumped Hughes for being cheap with her. With her first marriage over, Davis threw herself into her work and signed on for a movie called The Old Maid. Little did Davis know, this decision would kickstart another signature feud, this time with an actress named Miriam Hopkins. Hopkins arrived on set wearing one of Davis’s dresses from her Oscar-winning performance in Jezebel. You see, Hopkins had also auditioned for the part, and she was still bitter about not getting it. It was also rumored that Davis had a fling with Hopkins’s husband, the Slavic filmmaker Anatole Litvak. On set, Hopkins and Davis became hellbent on making each other miserable. They’d mess up each other’s takes and get into each other’s light. The sparring actresses even posed for a photograph where they both wore boxing gloves, trying to joke about their outrageous feud. Hot off her fight with Hopkins, she took a role alongside heartthrob Errol Flynn. When asked about her co-star’s talent, Davis sidestepped the question by complimenting Flynn’s beauty. It seemed like she was going to be nice until she added, “Flynn openly said he knew nothing about acting, and I admired his honesty because he was absolutely right.” Hollywood lore claims that Davis’s old flame William Wyler re-entered her life in 1940 and demanded that she marry him the next week. Davis turned down Wyler’s proposal. Sadly, she regretted that decision for the rest of her life. After turning down William Wyler, Davis rebounded hard.

She got married to a hunky innkeeper named Arthur Farnsworth. However, their romance didn’t last long. Just three years after they tied the knot, Davis tragically lost her second husband, whose death wasn’t just heartbreaking, it was strangely suspicious too. Farnsworth passed out on a street in Hollywood and perished two days later. When the autopsy came back, it revealed the cause of his death. According to the report, Farnsworth had suffered a skull fracture two weeks earlier. The authorities questioned Davis about the injury. To this day, her testimony raises more questions than gives answers. Davis testified that she didn’t know what could possibly have caused the fatal injury, though she also said Farnsworth fell down the stairs while running to answer the phone. The death was classified as an accident, but considering Davis’s famous temper, suspicions about the incident continue even until today. In 1945, Betty tied the knot for the third time. She married the painter William Sherry. By all accounts, it wasn’t a particularly happy time in Davis’s life. Sherry abused Davis physically, causing her to go to the doctor multiple times. Once, her physician asked her, “How could any bright woman like you marry that man?” Sherry was Davis’s worst husband, but he’s also the father of her only biological child. In 1947, when Davis was almost 40 years old, she welcomed her daughter Barbara. Little Barbara would cause trouble in the years to come, but more on that later. After giving birth to her daughter, Betty’s career began to slow down. But in 1950, Betty Davis was back with a vengeance.

Her classic film All About Eve revived her career and recemented her as the greatest actress in Hollywood. It also allowed Davis to meet her next hubby, her co-star Gary Merrill. They began to see each other during filming, and by the time the movie wrapped, they were determined to be together come what may. On July 3rd, 1950, Davis divorced her awful third husband and married Merrill less than a month after the paperwork went through. Betty and Merrill adopted two children together. However, just like all of Davis’s other attempts at wedding bliss, this one didn’t work out. They divorced after 10 years together. Davis explained why she and Gary didn’t make it by saying, “Gary was a macho man, but none of my husbands was ever man enough to become Mr. Betty Davis.” She would soon star in a movie that would bring back her longtime feud front and center once again. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was a cult classic masterpiece that starred both Davis and Joan Crawford. While the cameras rolled, they mostly kept things under control, but the second they turned off, the two leading ladies were at each other’s throats. First off, Davis was wary about working with her old enemy, so she only agreed to be in the movie if the director could guarantee that she’d play Jane, the title role, and if he promised that he wasn’t dating Joan Crawford. During a scene where Davis had to drag Crawford across the room, Crawford hatched a truly evil plan. She knew that Davis struggled with back pain, so she stuffed her pockets with rocks and made herself nearly impossible to move. Some sources even say that Crawford intentionally messed up multiple takes so that by the end of the day, Davis was in intense pain. By the time the publicity tour for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? rolled around, Davis and Crawford could barely keep their hatred under wraps. They pretty much passed on promoting the movie and used the press to publicly insult each other instead. Davis infamously declared that Crawford is a movie star, but I am an actress. Davis also said that Crawford slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie. But Crawford wasn’t going to take that sitting down.

After the movie was released, Davis thought she’d finally won the feud once and for all. You see, she’d received an Oscar nomination for her performance in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, while the academy snubbed Crawford. However, Crawford didn’t just accept her defeat. Instead, she got to work and crafted a legendary plan. She got in touch with all the ladies that received nods for Best Actress and let them know that in case they didn’t want to attend the awards, she’d be happy to pick up the Oscar on their behalf. And that’s how, even though Joan Crawford didn’t even get a nomination, she still managed to waltz up and smugly accept the golden trophy as Davis fumed in the front row. Their feud would continue even to the grave. In 1977, after her old rival passed, Davis allegedly delivered one final insult to Crawford. When asked what she thought of Crawford’s passing, Davis declared, “You should never say bad things about the dead, you should only say the good. Joan Crawford is dead. Good.” In 1985, Davis’s estranged biological daughter Barbara, called B.D., published a tell-all book about Davis. This memoir permanently ended Davis and B.D.’s relationship. Mother and daughter never spoke to each other after it came out. So what exactly did B.D.’s book say? According to B.D., her mother was a raging alcoholic who regularly tormented her children in public.

Davis put on a brave face, but in private, her daughter’s betrayal cut her deep. According to Davis’s longtime personal assistant, Davis had endured a great deal of pain over the years, but nothing compared to the betrayal of B.D.’s book. That broke her heart. 1983 was not a healthy year for Betty Davis. Not only did she learn that she had breast cancer, the actress also suffered four strokes and became paralyzed on the left side of her face and left arm. After suffering numerous health setbacks, Davis knew that her time on earth was coming to an end. When the time came, she faced the end with her trademark gusto. As she lay on her deathbed, Davis told her assistant not to let her son come see her. In Davis’s words, she didn’t want this to be his final memory of his once-powerful mother. She passed with only her assistant at her side on October 6th, 1989. It looked like Davis’s days of making trouble were finally over, but the star had one last trick up her sleeve. The controversy centered around Betty’s will. The star split her significant fortune between two people: her adopted son Michael and her longtime assistant. Davis wrote that she intentionally and with full knowledge left B.D.

out of the will. No surprise there. However, she also left out another person. Gary Merrill and Betty Davis had adopted two children, their son Michael and a daughter named Margot. As you might have noticed, Margot did not receive anything in Davis’s will. You see, at three years old, Margot began to display some odd traits. It turned out that when Margot was born, she suffered a brain injury that permanently affected her development. She would never be a mature adult, and she would never be able to live independently. Distressed, Davis placed Margot in an institution when she was still a toddler. At first, Davis visited Margot often, but as time passed, the actress became tight-lipped about her adopted daughter. To this day, it’s difficult to figure out exactly what happened between Margot and her mother or who is providing for Margot now since she was left out of the will. Betty Davis is best remembered as a legendary actress who committed herself fully to her craft. Called the Empress of Hollywood, Davis was one of the first famous female character actors. She wasn’t afraid to play ugly, now a staple for gorgeous leading ladies who want an Oscar. She was one of a kind and will forever be remembered in cinema history as a true original.