Bette Davis Gets Own Postage Stamp
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Movie legend Bette Davis is being remembered on a new U.S. postage stamp that does that iron-willed image justice.
The 42-cent commemorative stamp, being released Thursday in Boston, features a portrait of Davis as she appeared in the 1950 film “All About Eve,” in which she played Margo Channing, an aging stage actress battling to save her career as a younger woman schemes to replace her.
Davis was nominated for an Academy Award for that performance.
Indeed, she collected 10 nominations, winning in 1935 for “Dangerous” and in 1938 for “Jezebel,” and was nominated every year from 1938 to 1942.
Born Ruth Elizabeth Davis 100 years ago in Lowell, Mass., Davis went into acting early and won acclaim playing characters many consider tough and unsympathetic. She died in France in 1989.
Along the way, she appeared in more than 100 films, was the first woman to be honored with the American Film Institute’s Life Achievement Award, and was the first woman to be president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Davis fought a court battle with Warner Brothers over her unhappiness with the roles she was offered, and over time earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, including an alleged feud with Joan Crawford, though both denied it.
But by 1942, she was reportedly the highest-paid woman in America, and she helped organize the Hollywood Canteen during World War II for soldiers passing through Los Angeles.
