Bette Davis, Always the Animated Star
Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 8:30AM Each time Bette Davis's name comes up here or there (surprisingly often) I feel waves of guilt that I never completed that Seasons of Bette series. And here I was planning my own series, as its follow up, inspired by "A Year With Kate" in which I would do 52 episodes on someone. (FTR Anne Marie and I are both brainstorming how to follow up that amazing beast of a project).
But I couldn't let this new episode of Blank on Blank pass by without our attention. If you haven't seen the series it's a terrific time waster from PBS in which celebrity voices play on the audio and an animator interprets them for a unique short film. Bette talks about her intelligence and the gender politics of 1963 in this fun short...
I was always terribly outspoken and just always said what I thought...
I think it's too much trouble to be dishonest and keep up with yourself. The simpler road is to just say what you think. Then you haven't got to always check what you said to one person and what you said to another. I think this is EXHAUSTING actually. One can be respected with the truth in Hollywood just as much as anywhere else, you know, or else I wouldn't have had a career.
This interview was recorded at quite a hot moment in her career. After years of tinkering around with the then newish television medium and films that didn't go anywhere, she was back in the conversation in a big way for the first time in a decade. What did it was of course the comeback hit Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) which netted her one final Oscar nomination in a fascinating and inarguably marathon career as a movie star; she found work steadily as an actress -- sometimes a lot of it -- from the age of 22 through her death at 81 in 1989.
Here's that Blank on Blank episode.
Reader Comments (11)
Ah, Nathaniel. At least you prefaced time waster with "terrific". This is really a fun series--30 episodes so far, and some of the interviews used are rare. I can listen to Bette Davis talk all day long.
Thank you for sharing. I have a new "time waster" to add to my list. In some ways I like this better than the Cavett interview.
This woman, besides being one of the most brilliant actresses in the history of time, is one of the most intelligent. I'm trying to think if Bette ever played a stupid woman--that would have been her greatest acting challenge ever. Bette forever.
I was dangerously close to turning this week's edition of A Year With Kate in late because of this stupid, wonderful, distracting series.
OMG, this is fantastic. And yes, this series will probably suck up all my time from now until I finish. Thanks for sharing!
Now I'm feeling guilty for not watching all the Bette Davis movies I've queued up. I've seen All About Eve, of course, but any suggestions on the next one to tackle?
Dark Victory? The Letter? Jezebel? Little Foxes? What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Which is the most essential?
Most essential after Eve: The Letter, Jezebel, Now, Voyager*, In This Our Life...
*because of the transformation
cash, I think of this group, the best film is The Letter. But Dark Victory has the best performance (an embarrassment of riches here!). And Jane is the most fun!
Paul, I think In This Our Life is very misunderstood. Even Bette herself said the movie was awful. But I think she was too close to see. There's a lot to admire here. It was definitely ahead of its time in its treatment of race relations. I read that some theaters in the South wouldn't even show it. And though it veers shamelessly headlong into the ripest melodrama, that's what I love about it. It's unabashedly histrionic. And Bette is at the pinnacle of her evilness. This chick is a REAL BITCH! With an unbelievable supporting cast. A classic.
Why didn't you finish Seasons of Bette btw? I really enjoyed it.
One of Bette's most subtle & understated perfomance (if thr's any, lol) wld be All This, & Heaven Too (1940). I thot it was absolutely one of her v best...Its a pity tt this pic is often o/shadowed by the more powerful Letter came out the same yr and as a result, was grossly o/looked. Had The Letter not been released in 1940, I believe Bette wld still nap a nom for her wonderfully nuanced performance in AT&HT
Nat, since u've done up to The Letter, why not do one more for AT&HT, which actually precedes The Letter.