Product Description

From bestselling author James Spada comes a biography of one of the few genuine Hollywood legends - Bette Davis. Revealing a life replete with scandal, sex, violence, courage and sacrifice, BETTE DAVIS: MORE THAN A WOMAN is the fruit of three years of painstaking research, including in-depth interviews with Davis' relatives, colleagues and friends. It is a portrait of one of the most complex and misrepresented women in Hollywood history, and details many of the trials and traumas that were to shape her troubled life: her strangely close relationship with her mother; her ambivalent attitude towards sex; her possible role in the brain damage of her adopted daughter and her stormy, roller- coaster marriages.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75681 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Review
'Absorbing and thoroughly documented' Sunday Telegraph 'Spada's irresistible, revelatory biography... bursts with film lore, gossip, countless affairs and family secrets' Publishers Weekly 'Spada has certainly done his homework, and charts Davis' climb to fame .. Without ever losing sight of the woman who motivated the actress' Time Out

Richly researched, smoothly dogged biography of Bette Davis that outweighs in sheer detail Barbara Leaming's strong effort Bette Davis (1991), though in a less lively voice, and that fairly well defines Davis. Spada has written serious bios of Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Peter Lawford, and many others. Davis's two earliest shaping forces were her attorney father Harlan - a "cold vacuum" who thought she had little to offer, which maddened the mercurial Bette - and her mother Ruthie, who quickly divorced Harlan and guided her sometimes raging daughter toward the stage. Though they had wall-shaking rows, Ruthie bathed Bette nightly until well into her teens. Davis worked her way up through regional theaters, being directed by George Cukor in Rochester, early landed Broadway leads and a summons by Warner Brothers. Marriage to early beau Harmon Nelson, an orchestra leader, flopped as her career boomed; "Ham" (Harmon) talked her into two abortions. Her fury as the vile Mildred in Of Human Bondage made screen history as she became filmdom's first leading actress ever to set out to be absolutely revolting - audiences cheered when she died. Her first Oscar came a year later for the alcoholic lead in Dangerous, as did her first of many extramarital affairs - with her leading man, Franchot Tone, then engaged to Joan Crawford, with whom Bette feuded right up through their roles as sisters in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? When Ham records her bedroom noises with Howard Hughes, Spada calls the recording both a disc and a tape - and weakens the reader's faith. The rest of his dirt - more abortions, adultery, alcoholism, rage, husband Gary Merrill strangling her and beating their horse with barbed wire, the split with daughter B.D. - if not fresh, adds pungency. Familiar, and the acting gets slighted, but Davis gives fiery focus. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
PETER LAWFORD: THE MAN WHO KEPT SECRETS and GRACE: THE SECRET LIVES OF A PRINCESS were both international bestsellers. Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, he now lives in Los Angeles

Customer Reviews

5 Star riverting read
If you are a fan of good old-fashioned Hollywood where men were men and women were dames this is the book for you.

More then a Woman deals with the biggest dame of all Bette Davis. From her traumatic childhood when her father walked out and left the family to fend for themselves, to her tricky realationships with her mother and her over-shadowed sister to her extremely succesful film career and unsuccessful marriages. This is a book which is hard to put down about a woman who always did things her way whatever the consequences.

What is really enjoyable about the book is how appealing it is on many different levels. It is the story of a strong woman who refused to comprimise and ultimatly paid the price. It is also the tale of an actress who believed in her work 110% and managed to be treated as an equal by the male-dominated movie industry.

The author deserves great credit in being able to speak to so many family members and friends of Davis which allow the book to show the many sides of this magnificent actress and strong woman who was many years ahead of her time.

Superbly written biography of a real legend,Bette Davis.
This book gives a tremendous insight into the legend that is Bette Davis.It is incredibly well written giving a detailed account of the life and mind of Bette Davis.Be warned,once you start to read the book,you can't put it down and when you tell people about the book,they'll want to borrow it.Superb value,absorbing,thought provoking,i highly recommend this to all who have an interest in the Hollywood era of genuine legends and superstars.

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT...
This is a well-written and exhaustively researched book about Bette Davis. The narrative of her complex life is always entertaining and is presented in chronological fashion. Her career serves as the backdrop for this analytical recounting of her colorful life. The focus, however, remains on Bette Davis, the woman, and her story is skillfully told.

The portrait of Ms. Davis that emerges from the pages of this book is a sympathetic one, despite the author's presentation of Ms. Davis as a flesh and blood woman with many issues. It is a biography that will keep the reader turning its pages, as it is so eminently readable. Moreover, the black and white photographs that are included in the book serve to augment the reader's enjoyment. Fans of Bette Davis, as well as those who appreciate well-written biographies and memoirs, will find much to like about this book.