Bette Davis: A Biography [Paperback]

Barbara Leaming (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003

Drawn largely from conversations with her friends, lovers, fellow actors, and family members, here is the full story of cinematic legend Bette Davis (1908-1989). Leaming chronicles the Academy Award-winner's work in such memorable films as Of Human Bondage, Jezebel, Dark Victory, All About Eve, and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, as well as her four unhappy marriages, her notorious legal battle with Warner Bros., and her struggles with both alcoholism and mental illness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Leaming's portrait of Davis, sympathetic yet frank about her horrible treatment of family and friends, is flatly written but insightful.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In contrast to the high regard in which Davis is held as a movie actress, her offscreen stature has been steadily eroding in recent years. What seemed the harshest blow came several years ago with her daughter B.D. Hyman's cathartic memoir, My Mother's Keeper (Morrow, 1985), which portrayed Davis as mean, selfish, and a coward in the face of her abusive third husband, actor Gary Merrill. Now comes the first biography since Davis's death in 1989, which apportions the familiar praise for her screen performances with an exhaustively detailed portrait of a petty, insecure woman. Ultimately, claims Leaming, Davis was a rebel without a real cause when she fought the studio contract system in the 1930s; her rebellion was more of a movie-pose than a real struggle for independence. Ultimately, this is a very sad story. For popular collections.
- Thomas Wiener, formerly with "American Film"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081541286X
• ISBN-13: 978-0815412861
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,547,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Barbara Leaming is the author of two New York Times bestselling biographies and three New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her most recent book, a biography of John F. Kennedy, focused on the influence of British history and culture on the thirty-fifth president. She was the first to write extensively about the extraordinary influence of Winston Churchill on Kennedy's intellectual formation and political strategies. Her articles have appeared in many publications in the United States and Europe, including the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and the Times of London. She is married and lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Futile, May 19, 2002

By 

James Moffat (Rosebud, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bette Davis: A Biography (Hardcover)

Whilst Barbara Leaming's biography can boast the virtue of originality, the book is skewed from the outset by its author's failure to come to grips with her subject. As both an artist and a person, Bette Davis repeatedly eludes the author's grasp. The result is eminently readable, but ultimately degenerates into a pointless ramble.

To believe Leaming, Bette Davis was a raging, deluded, egotistical drunk. Its hardly news that Davis was not universally loved by all who knew her - but her known acts of generosity and repose are significantly missing from this account. The rampaging monster who emerges is more akin to the BD Hyman diatribes than anything vaguely human or creative. And since Hyman's account, upon which Leaming bases much of her thesis, has been widely discredited, the book suffers a major credibility crisis.

On a professional level things are no better. Leaming rails against Davis for squandering her talents on 'junk' scripts and flashy, showy acting. She fails to recognise that the same charge can be raised against every great actor. How many really great movies did Garbo make? Even at her most mannered Davis was a force to be reckoned with. In her efforts to avoid falling under the Davis spell, Leaming has gone too far afield, dismissing fine performances such as The Catered Affair with only passing mention. Leaming implies that only the three films that Davis made with Wyler merit serious attention - a ludicrous assumption given the quality of Davis work in scores of films. (Not to mention that there is flashy, mannered acting galore in Jezebel!)

For a far more balanced account, try James Spada's "More Than a Woman." Barbara Leaming's book is a fine Devil's Advocate, but it gives the impression of being wholly defeated by its subject.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars greatly researched, August 1, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Bette Davis: A Biography (Paperback)

miss leaming should be applauded on one fact and that is she has done her homework on davis and mananged to do something that other writers werent able to do crack beyond that strong female -image and see the real woman who had tenderness ,vulnerability and heartache, but have to agree with other reveiwer the writing gets a little flat- but kudos for ther research all the way ,good but her greatest is her bio on katharine hepburn which reads like a great novel!!!!111

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not The Best About Bette, May 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bette Davis: A Biography (Paperback)

As far as I'm concerned this is a horrible book on Bette Davis. I found this to be nothing more than a diatribe against a talented and extremly gifted actress (possibly the best screen actress of the 20th century). Ms. Leaming has no compassion for her subject nor any understanding of the complexities, passions, pressures and drives of Ms. Davis.

Bette Davis was a consumate professional, an actress who strove for excellence in both her working life and her personal life, she deeply cared for her family even though there were times when she wanted to scream (family members can do that to you, it doesn't mean that you do not love or care for those around you).

Ms. Davis was bascially an honest person who was truthful not only about those who touched her life but also about herself, telling on herself first and admitting wrongs. She also had a good sense of humor which was never touched on and that is too bad.

She was a human being period, she tried hard to be a good daughter, sister, wife, mother and actress. A woman who was torn by her love between family and career, a woman who left a wonderful legacy of screen acting

In the end, that is what truly matters, that she tried and I feel in more ways than one, succeeded.

My advice to anyone who wants to know all about Bette would be Donald Spoto's "More Than A Woman" or Lawrence Quirks "Fasten Your Seatbelts" the life of Bette Davis.