Fasten Your Seatbelts: The Unapologetic Life of Bette Davis
pplpod · pplpod
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Show Notes
She was the "Yankee-est" virgin to ever walk the earth, a perfectionist who battled studio executives, and the first person to earn ten Academy Award nominations for acting. This week on pplpod, we explore the turbulent life and legendary career of Bette Davis, the Hollywood icon who refused to trade authenticity for glamour .
Join us as we discuss:
- The Rocky Start: How a studio executive once claimed Davis had "about as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville," and how she was famously rebuffed by director William Wyler for her costume before eventually becoming the "love of his life".
- The Rebel: Davis’s groundbreaking legal battle against Warner Bros. in England to escape the "slavery" of her contract, a move that cost her $80,000 but garnered immense respect.
- The Oscard: The controversy surrounding her write-in nomination for Of Human Bondage, her wins for Dangerous and Jezebel, and her claim that she named the statue "Oscar" after her husband’s backside.
- The Feud: The physical attacks and psychological warfare between Davis and Joan Crawford on the set of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, including the moment Crawford accepted an Oscar on behalf of Anne Bancroft just to spite Davis.
- The Mother: Her four tumultuous marriages and the heartbreaking public betrayal by her daughter, B.D. Hyman, who wrote the tell-all book My Mother's Keeper.
From her signature eyes to her epitaph—"She did it the hard way"—we look at how Bette Davis turned herself into a "monster" of the profession to survive the Golden Age of Hollywood.