Bette Davis

This article is about Bette Davis the actress; there is also a singer named Betty Davis.

Davis's early years

Davis was born to Harlow Morrell Davis, a descendant of Welsh Puritans, and Ruth Favor, a descendant of Hugenot pioneers. In 1918, Davis's father left ran off leaving Bette and her sister, Barbara, to be raised in genteel poverty by their mother, who had aspired to be an actress. As a child, she aspired to be a dancer, until she decided that actors led a more glamorous life. Upon graduation from Cushing Academy, a prep school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Davis was denied admission to Eva LeGallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory because she was considered insincere. Undeterred, she enrolled in John Murray Anderson's dramatic school (where classmate Lucille Ball was sent home because she was "too shy"), and became a star pupil.

Related Topics:
Welsh - Puritans - Hugenot - Eva LeGallienne - John Murray Anderson - Lucille Ball

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