Bette Davis A Biography

1992, Simon & Schuster, NY. Hardcover title, 397 pages, b&w photo gallery. Sources, bibliography, stage, film, and TV credits extend to 21 pages. Barbara Leaming previously produced biographies of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. She’s a fine writer and perhaps produces her finest volume, offering an inside look at Bette Davis. And what a life Davis led, constantly battling her studio, her four husbands, her own family, alcohol, obsessive-compulsive behavior, religious fanaticism, and every once in a while, true insanity. The author had access to thousands of documents, including Davis’s diaries, scrapbooks, annotated scripts, and unpublished letters. This is a woman who did not walk quietly across the earth. In many ways, she was the ultimate survivor in one of the toughest industries on earth. People frequently asked, while she was still alive, what ever happened to Bette Davis? They weren’t paying attention. Here is exactly what happened to her, from her first stage appearance in 1928, her first film in 1931, and her final swan song in 1988, appropriately titled, “Wicked Stepmother.”