TopTenREVIEWS presents the film career and movie reviews of Bette Davis.
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Birthdate: April 5, 1908
Death date: October 6, 1989
Bette Davis
ACTOR RANKINGS:
CAREER SPAN
Decade
Movie Score
# Movies
1930s
4.0000
42
1940s
3.0251
21
1950s
2.9046
10
1960s
2.9563
8
1970s
2.3744
7
1980s
1.5671
4
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews & awards.
Overall Actor Score: 
3.2317
3.2317
Bette Davis Movie Rankings
1
3.8135Aspiring actress Eve Harrington maneuvers her way into the lives of Broadway's elite. The stars agree to show her the ropes believing she is an innocent and naive fan. Ultimately, Eve out wits them all and becomes the star she strived to be. ...more about All About Eve
Actor Awards
- Golden Globes, USA - Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
- Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists - Best Actress - Foreign Film (Miglior Attrice Straniera)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards - Best Actress
DVD from $4.86
(12 sellers)
2
3.1298Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, who's career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. ...more about What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Golden Globes, USA - Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama
DVD from $15.52
(15 sellers)
3
3.0903Alan Squier, a failed, world-weary British writer, hikes into an isolated, weather-beaten desert café in Arizona owned by Jason Marple. ...more about Petrified Forest
DVD from $8.95
(11 sellers)
4
2.9742
Set in antebellum New Orleans during the early 1850's, this film follows Julie Marsden through her quest for social redemption on her own terms. ...more about Jezebel
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $12.71
(12 sellers)
5
2.9679
Charlotte Vale suffers under the domination of her Boston matron mother until Dr. Jaquith gets her to visit his sanitarium where she is transformed from frump to elegant, independent lady. ...more about Now
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $8.68
(12 sellers)
6
2.9481
Judith Traherne is at the height of young society when Dr. Frederick Steele diagnoses a brain tumor. After surgery she falls in love with Steele. The doctor tells her secretary that the tumor will come back and eventually kill her. ...more about Dark Victory
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $8.68
(12 sellers)
7
2.9265
Charlotte Hollis, wealthy southern spinster, is shunned by her community for the grizzly murder some 40 years prior of her intended, John Mayhew. ...more about Hush... Hush
DVD from $4.76
(13 sellers)
8
2.9063
Broke Edith murders and assumes the identity of her recently widowed, well-to-do twin sister Margaret, who had married Edith's former flame 20 years before. ...more about Dead Ringer
DVD from $8.68
(9 sellers)
9
2.8625
Abandoning artistic ambitions, sensitive and club-footed Philip Carey enrolls in medical school and falls in love with illiterate waitress Mildred Rogers. She rejects him, runs off with a salesman and returns unmarried and pregnant. ...more about Of Human Bondage
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $5.16
(6 sellers)
10
2.7952
Lecturer Sheridan Whiteside slips on the ice on his way into the home of a prominent Ohio family. The Dr. says Whiteside must remain confined having broken his leg. ...more about Man Who Came to Dinner
DVD from $8.68
(14 sellers)
11
2.7917
When a normal American family moves into a beautiful old English house in a wooded area, strange, paranormal appearances befall them in this interesting twist to the well-known haunted-house tale. ...more about Watcher in the Woods
DVD from $10.98
(10 sellers)
12
2.7709
While her husband inspects his rubber planatation, Leslie Crosbie murders Geoffrey Hammond. His widow has a letter written by Leslie asking him to meet her as her lover the night of the murder. Leslie can buy the letter but must come for it herself. ...more about Letter
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $8.68
(11 sellers)
13
2.7295
Mary Dwight works as a hostess at the Club Intime run by ruthless gangster Johnny Vanning. When one of her "clients" is murdered prosecutor David Graham questions Mary but she won't cooperate and Vanning is acquitted. ...more about Marked Woman
Actor Awards
- Venice Film Festival - Best Actress
DVD from $12.71
(13 sellers)
14
2.6793
Sardonic detective Shane, thrown out of one town for bringing trouble, heads for home and his ex-partner's detective agency. ...more about Satan Met a Lady
DVD from $14.92
(14 sellers)
15
2.6775
Job Skeffington informs Fanny Trellis' that her brother Trippy has embezzled from the Skeffington bank. She marries Job to save Trippy who, angry with her, goes to World War I and is killed. ...more about Mr. Skeffington
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $12.71
(11 sellers)
16
2.6665
Rosa Moline is bored with life in a small town. She loves Chicago industrialist Neil Latimer who has a hunting lodge nearby. ...more about Beyond the Forest
- Not Available on DVD
17
2.6574
Zachary Hicks is nominated at the Progressive party's convention even though he has little chance of winning the governorship. Kay suggests the party bosses hire Hal Blake (whom she loves) as campaign manager. ...more about Dark Horse
- Not Available on DVD
18
2.6422
Roy Wetherby, a Canadian Solider in London on furlough, falls in love with Myra, unaware that she is a prostitute. She accepts his proposal of marriage just prior to his being shipped to the front. ...more about Waterloo Bridge
DVD from $25.55
(11 sellers)
19
2.6362
Haunted house chiller from Dan Curtis has Oliver Reed and Karen Black as summer caretakers moving into gothic house with their young son. The catch? The house rejuvenates a part of it's self with each death that occurs on it's premises. ...more about Burnt Offerings
Actor Awards
- Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA - Best Supporting Actress
DVD from $6.80
(10 sellers)
20
2.6163
Arlene is involved with underworld types. Her society girl sister believes it is only innocent thrill seeking; her stepfather fears it may be more criminal than that. Kidnap and murder plots ensue. ...more about Fog Over Frisco
- Not Available on DVD
21
2.6072
Sara and Kurt Muller and their three children are returning to her mother's home in Washington DC after 18 years in Europe. A Romanian Count living there discovers Kurt's attache case full of money. ...more about Watch on the Rhine
- Not Available on DVD
22
2.6049
Henriette Deluzy Desportes becomes governess to the children of the Duc de Praslin. The jealous Duchesse spreads rumors of an affair between Henriette and the Duc. ...more about All This
- Not Available on DVD
23
2.5719
Margaret Elliot is a former oscar winning actress who's career is over and is completely broke. She then desperately tries to get her career and life back, while Jim and daughter, Gretchen try to get her back to reality. ...more about Star
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $8.68
(11 sellers)
24
2.5570
Unemployed Bill and Toodles move in with Alabama to share expenses. Bill is hired by a gangster's mistress and ultimately becomes the gangster's bodyguard. When Alabama visits, the gangster falls in love with her and hires her as his secretary. ...more about Parachute Jumper
- Not Available on DVD
25
2.5296
Three sisters attend a celebration of the inauguration of Teddy Roosevelt. Each will marry a man in attendance. Helen marries a millionaire whom she does not love. Grace marries a local man and remains in Montana. ...more about Sisters
- Not Available on DVD
26
2.5191
Mystery writer Janet Frobisher lives alone in a dark English country house, when she's not philandering with her secretary's fiancée. ...more about Another Man's Poison
- Not Available on DVD
27
2.5171
Boozy, brassy Apple Annie, a beggar with a basket of apples, is as much as part of downtown New York as old Broadway itself. Bootlegger Dave the Dude is a sucker for her apples --- he thinks they bring him luck. ...more about Pocketful of Miracles
Actor Awards
- Golden Globes, USA - Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy
DVD from $4.86
(11 sellers)
28
2.4906
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot has a set of murder suspects on a boat in the Nile after a rich heiress is killed. ...more about Death on the Nile
DVD from $2.94
(12 sellers)
29
2.4656
Former bootlegger Nick Barnes pressures neighborhood druggist Jimmy Morrell into making cut-rate drugs. The money makes it possible for Jimmy to marry Norma Frank, a pharmacy clerk. Expecting a baby, she wants Jimmy to quit the racket. ...more about Big Shakedown
- Not Available on DVD
30
2.4565
Mary Donnell was married at sixteen to a gangster and soon widowed. She works for unhappily married lawyer Lloyd Rogers. A client's son Jack elopes with her, but his father tracks them down and has the marriage annulled. Mary has a son. ...more about That Certain Woman
- Not Available on DVD
31
2.4261
A young woman (Stanley Timberlake) dumps her fiancée (Craig Fleming) and runs off with her sister's (Roy Timberlake) husband (Peter Kingsmill). They marry, settle in Baltimore, and Stanley ultimately drives Peter to drink and suicide. ...more about In This Our Life
- Not Available on DVD
32
2.4131
Music teacher Christine Radcliffe thought Karel Novak to have been killed in the war. She loves him more than ever and insists they marry. At their reception her benefactor and former lover offers Karel the chance to solo his new cello concerto. ...more about Deception
- Not Available on DVD
33
2.4017
Selina lived well until her father Simeon died. Her aunts sold the estate and put her in a boarding school. As an adult she wants to be a teacher in farming country. She falls in love with and marries Pervus, a Dutch farmer she has been tutoring. ...more about So Big!
- Not Available on DVD
34
2.3954
A devoted nanny (Bette Davis) is at her wit's end in dealing with a bratty 10-year-old boy just back from a mental hospital. Nanny must also deal with a despotic father who is often gone and a loony mother who can't cope. ...more about Nanny
- Not Available on DVD
35
2.3903
Established serious author Kit inspires hometown pal Millie who writes a trashy novel published with Kit's help. Millie's husband Preston leaves her. Ten years of trashy novels later Millie tries to reconcile, but Preston is marrying another. ...more about Old Acquaintance
DVD from $12.71
(13 sellers)
36
2.3378
Commercial artist Helen Bauer believes marriage kills romance. She lives with advertising writer Don Peterson. He convinces her to marry him. He later carries on with client Peggy Smith; Helen takes up with Don's competitor Nick Malvyn. ...more about Ex-Lady
- Not Available on DVD
37
2.3232
Dan Bellows finds former stage star Joyce Heath a penniless drunk and takes her to his Connecticut home for rehabilitation. Unaware that she is married to Gordon, he asks his fiancée Gail to free him and offers to sponsor Joyce in a play. ...more about Dangerous
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Not Available on DVD
38
2.3218
The newly named emperor Maximilian and his wife Carolotta arrive in Mexico to face popular sentiment favoring Benito Juraez and democracy. He tries to appease the Mexicans but fails. ...more about Juarez
- Not Available on DVD
39
2.3195
Newspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career of racketeer Nick Carston. Julie Gardner is Carston's bookkeeper. Bradford enters Carston's organization and Julie cooperates with him to land Carston in jail. ...more about Special Agent
- Not Available on DVD
40
2.3104
After being apart for years three women, friends at school, meet and bring each other up to date on their lives. Mary has been in reform school and is an entertainer. Vivian is married to an attorney and has a son she idolizes. Ruth works as a secretary. ...more about Three on a Match
DVD from $9.38
(5 sellers)
41
2.2556
Basil Underwood and Joyce Arden have postponed their marriage eleven times. Henry Grant's fiancée Macia is infatuated with Basil. ...more about It's Love I'm After
- Not Available on DVD
42
2.2373
Unscrupulous investigator of lost heirs Jimmy Corrigan loses his love Joan Martin to apparently upright competitor James Wallingham. He counters by adding a veneer of respectability to his own operation. Meanwhile he exposes Wallingham for a fraud. ...more about Jimmy the Gent
- Not Available on DVD
43
2.2130
Schoolteacher Lilly Moffat is dismayed by conditions in a Welsh mining town. She sets up a school to teach fundamental education to the villagers. Her housekeeper and daughter oppose the project, as does the local Squire who will not rent her space. ...more about Corn Is Green
- Not Available on DVD
45
2.1917
Delia marries Jim, not Joe After Delia breaks her engagement to Clem and marries Jim, Clem promises to marry Delia's cousin Charlotte, but he dies at the battle of Vicksburg leaving Charlotte an unwed mother. ...more about Old Maid
- Not Available on DVD
46
2.1770
Tia and her brother Tony have supernatural powers, can communicate and move things with the power of their mind alone. They arrive on Earth for a visit in New York. When Tony uses his powers to prevent an accident, he gets into the hands of Dr. ...more about Return from Witch Mountain
DVD from $12.30
(11 sellers)
47
2.1751
At breakfast, Jane announces that she and Ralph are getting married the next week. All Jane and Ralph want is a small wedding with the immediate family and no reception. ...more about Catered Affair
- Not Available on DVD
48
2.1552
Oil heiress Joan is going to elope with bandleader Allen whom she's known four days. Out-of-money pilot Steve is going to fly them to Nevada but makes a deal with her father to deliver her home unmarried. ...more about Bride Came C.O.D.
DVD from $12.71
(10 sellers)
49
2.1218
Sir Walter Raleigh gains audience with Queen Elizabeth I and soon wins her over to his way of thinking. He wants ships to sail and make a name for England. ...more about Virgin Queen
- Not Available on DVD
50
2.1186
Kate Bosworth and her twin sister Patricia fall in love with Martha's Vineyard lighthouse inspector Bill Emerson. Patricia and Bill are married. To forget, Kate returns to painting. ...more about Stolen Life
- Not Available on DVD
51
2.1186
Shoe manufacturer John Reeves turns his business over to his conceited nephew when his rival dies. On vacation, he runs into his rivals heirs who are living it up on their dead father's money. ...more about Working Man
- Not Available on DVD
52
2.1156
Foreign correspondent Carey Jackson is offered a job on Home Life, a "women's" magazine; he accepts when he finds the editor is his old flame Linda Gilman. ...more about June Bride
- Not Available on DVD
53
2.1049
Sharecropper's son Marvin tries to help his community overcome poverty and ignorance. While working in the general store he learns that the owner has been cheating his tenants. ...more about Cabin in the Cotton
- Not Available on DVD
54
2.0958
When a bellhop knocks out fighter Chuck McGraw, promoter Nick Donati realizes he's a potential champ. "Kid Galahad" justifies Nick's confidence, but Nick's mistress Fluff falls for him; in turn, the Kid falls for Nick's young sister. ...more about Kid Galahad
Actor Awards
- Venice Film Festival - Best Actress
- Not Available on DVD
55
2.0775
Tom Connors is sentenced to Sing Sing believing his influential friends will soon have him out on parole. A trouble maker, he gets ninety days in solitary and no parole. ...more about 20
- Not Available on DVD
56
2.0638
Montgomery Royale. He returns to New York with this sister, friend Mildred and fiancée Grace. He becomes philanthropic, using binoculars and lip reading to decide what anonymous gifts to bestow on strangers. ...more about Man Who Played God
- Not Available on DVD
57
2.0433
Johnny Ramirez rises from bouncer to partner in Charlie Roark's border town casino. Charlie's wife Marie loves Johnny, but Johnny loves society woman Dale. Marie kills her husband, making it look like suicide. ...more about Bordertown
- Not Available on DVD
58
2.0288
This film adaptation of the 'Lillian Hellman' (qv) play depicts a post-Civil War southern community where nothing is more important than money and power to Regina Giddens ('Bette Davis' (qv)). ...more about Little Foxes
Actor Awards
- Academy Awards, USA - Best Actress in a Leading Role
DVD from $10.65
(9 sellers)
59
2.0273
Sandra and Pete elope but their marriage is invalid since she's not yet divorced. Sandra is, however, pregnant by Pete. Pete marries his former fiancée Maggie, then flies to South America where his plane crashes. ...more about Great Lie
- Not Available on DVD
60
1.8948
Summer people in Maine: things are changing. Whales no longer pass close to the shore as they did during the youth of two elderly widowed sisters who have a seaside home where they've summered for 50 years. ...more about Whales of August
DVD from $5.99
(10 sellers)
61
1.8173
Spinster poetess Susan Grieve lives in a Manahattan apartment where naval hero Slick Novak comes with her for a nightcap. Next morning they visit her Connecticut farm where Novak tells her he always wanted to be a priest. ...more about Winter Meeting
- Not Available on DVD
62
1.7488
Two producers are putting together a Calvacade of Stars for a wartime charity show. Along with a list of well-knowns they promote the work of an unknown singer and songwriter. ...more about Thank Your Lucky Stars
- Not Available on DVD
64
1.5981
Butch Saunders has been transferred to Missing Persons because he was too brutal in other police work. He regards the assignment as "kindergarten" work. ...more about Bureau of Missing Persons
- Not Available on DVD
67
1.3698
Seth Parker takes in Robbie Turner and protects him from his cruel father Rube. When the father disappears, Seth intends to raise Robbie as his own son. The vindictive father attacks Mary Lucy, a neighbor's daughter who is also trying to help Robbie. ...more about Way Back Home
- Not Available on DVD
69
0.9565
A mother/daughter pair of witches descend on a yuppie family's home and cause havoc, one at a time since they share one body & the other must live in a cat the rest of the time. ...more about Wicked Stepmother
- Not Available on DVD
71
Marianne falls in love with con man Valentine who uses their relation to get her father's endorsement on a money-raising scheme. He runs off with the money and Marianne, later dumping her. Her sister Laura loves Dr. ...more about Bad Sister
- Not Available on DVD
73
The dream of the title is director 'Max Reinhardt' (qv)'s production of Shakespeare's comedy _Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935)_ (qv). This short shows how Reinhardt's vision was translated to the screen. ...more about Dream Comes True
- Not Available on DVD
74
Sherwood Nash is a swindler who bootlegs Paris fashions for sale at cut-rate prices. His assistant Lynn poses as An American interested in a dress and Snap conceals a camera in his cane. ...more about Fashions of 1934
- Not Available on DVD
75
Reporter Curt Devlin loves sob sister Ellen Garfield but believes women are "bum newspapermen". When she learns the identity of a murdered arsonist, he calls it luck. ...more about Front Page Woman
- Not Available on DVD
76
When his fiancée Valentine dumps him, prominent lawyer Geoffrey Sherwood goes on a bender and winds up married to a stranger, Miriam Brady. They decide to give their marriage a chance. ...more about Girl from 10th Avenue
- Not Available on DVD
77
A cafeteria cashier is hired by a cosmetic firm's publicity agent to live the life of Daisy Appleby, heiress to a fortune. Gossip about her will keep the Appleby name in the forefront. ...more about Golden Arrow
- Not Available on DVD
78
Jimmy Mason idolizes bootlegger Matt Kelly who is interested in Jimmy's girlfriend Peggy. Unwilling to squeal on his idol, Jimmy winds up in a cruel reformatory where a new- found friend dies from abuse. ...more about Hell's House
DVD from $5.16
(4 sellers)
79
Two soldiers on sick leave spend three nights at the Hollywood Canteen before going back to active duty. With a little friendly help from John Garfield, Slim gets to kiss Joan Leslie, who he has been dreaming about while in the Pacific. ...more about Hollywood Canteen
- Not Available on DVD
80
Nan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patricia Berkeley writes a very successful commercial for the client and neats up their old romance. ...more about Housewife
- Not Available on DVD
81
The swashbuckling adventures of the hero of the Revolutionary War. His contributions weren't always appreciated by the new U.S. government. After the way Congress show their displeasure by sending him to the Russia of Catherine the Great. ...more about John Paul Jones
- Not Available on DVD
83
Ronald Quayle escapes from prison. He was sent there for murdering his father, based on the testimony of his stepmother, Caroline. ...more about Menace
- Not Available on DVD
86
The ten year marriage of of Caroline Van Dyke and Greg Grannard is falling apart. His latest love Allison plots to become his second wife. Caroline's friend, newspaper correspondent Julian, confesses he loves her. ...more about Rich Are Always with Us
- Not Available on DVD
87
An old American millionairess comes to Rome every year with her chaffeur to play a game of cards with a destitute ragman Peppino and his wife Antonia. She gives them the initial stakes and the game can begin. ...more about The Scopone Game
- Not Available on DVD
88
Bart is a clerk for a publishing company; he has written a novel. His wife Peggy and he have five children. Bart's former girlfriend Mildred is manager of the company's Paris office. ...more about Seed
- Not Available on DVD
91
A small-town librarian is branded as a Communist by local politicians when she refuses to withdraw a controversial book from the library's shelves. ...more about Storm Center
- Not Available on DVD
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