They Annoyed Bette Davis
This gallery is unavoidably spoiler-heavy, so my way of dealing with that is to warn you, and to not say what films the images come from.
I think Bette’s homicidal tendencies onscreen are part of her appeal. In a way it’s surprising it took her so long to start manslaughtering on a really large scale. With Bette, we sense right away that the normal rules for character and actor alike need not apply. (In very few of the above films is she actually punished legally for her killings, though often other methods are used to appease the censor.) And audiences male and female responded with excitement because they could vicariously enjoy behaviour that they could never approve of.
September 14, 2018 at 1:28 pm
“Porkies annoy me!”
September 14, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Her rendition of that line is certainly subtler than Liz Taylor would have you believe.
October 24, 2018 at 9:03 pm
Love these shots of Miss Davis. I think Bette knew she could get away with murder on screen and her fans would love it! She always fought to look and be whatever was right for the role while letting Bette Davis shine through. Catch my Queen of the Lot blog at: maxmcmanus.com.
January 1, 2020 at 2:39 am
Patrick McGilligan is the author of Robert Altman: Jumping Off the Cliff.
The Actors Studio was founded after WWII in 1947. If Torn was a second-generation Method Actor, where did the first generation get inculcated in Stanislavski’steachings?
January 1, 2020 at 2:42 am
I apologize for my comment here. It was meant for another blog. Sorry.
January 1, 2020 at 1:06 pm
That’s OK! It intrigued me!