"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written and composed by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon in 1974. It was recorded by DeShannon that year but made popular by American singer Kim Carnes in 1981 when it spent nine non-consecutive weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
That is the iconic Bette Davis, star of memorable movies such as “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and “All About Eve”. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1983, and after undergoing a mastectomy, suffered four strokes.
Her career went through several periods of eclipse, but despite a long period of ill health she continued acting in film and on television until shortly before her death from breast cancer in 1989.
To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.
Bette Davis Talks To Bryant Gumbel About Joan Crawford In 1987 Interview | Flashback | TODAY
What was special about Bette Davis eyes?
Some suggest Davis's eyes were the result of the autoimmune thyroid condition, Graves' disease. Swelling the muscles around the eyes and surrounding tissues, the condition pushes the eyeballs forward, causing them to protrude, limiting their movement.
Bette Davis, the actress known for playing strong, independent women, had deep blue eyes. Her signature eyes made her famous. However, during the era of black and white cinematography, those blue eyes often tended to be photograph in black and white and appeared brown or hazel.
The actress' peppers were so stunning and prominent they inspired the classic 1981 Kim Carnes song “Bette Davis Eyes”. And while the song still resonates so too does the envy of Davis' big, beautiful eyes.
Married four times, Davis eloquently conveyed the vicissitudes of stardom in her autobiographies, The Lonely Life (1962) and This 'n' That (1987). She also provided running commentary for Whitney Stine's account of her film career, Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis (1974).
They were accentuated by blue eye shadow and layers of false lashes with brown, not black, mascara. I was to learn later that Bette customarily took this kind of care with her appearance when meeting someone for the first time.
Bette Davis, longtime rival of Crawford, denounced the book, stating, "I was not Miss Crawford's biggest fan, but, wisecracks to the contrary, I did and still do respect her talent. What she did not deserve was that detestable book written by her daughter. I've forgotten her name. Horrible."
Betty was inspired to become an actress after seeing Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Mary Pickford in Little Lord Fauntleroy, and changed the spelling of her name to “Bette” after Honoré de Balzac's La Cousine Bette.
Davis won Oscars on her first two nominations for “Dangerous” in 1935 and “Jezebel” in 1938. Strangely Davis won for arguably the two least acclaimed and remembered films of her 10 nominations. The other bids were for: “Dark Victory” (1939), “The Letter” (1940), “The Little Foxes” (1941), “Now, Voyager” (1942), “Mr.
Not quite: "Bet" is the correct pronunciation for Bette, as it is a French name—but Bette Davis pronounced her name "Betty" regardless, so "Betty" is the correct pronunciation for her.
On May 10, 1977, Joan Crawford died from a heart attack at her New York City apartment. At the time, outlets reported Bette's response to her colleague's death as they quoted her: "You should never say bad things about the dead, only good… Joan Crawford is dead? Good."
