Gardening
N Workshop
News
Bette Davis Talks
About Her Private Life
Life off screen sometimes has treated this star as roughly as it has on
screen but she has no regrets and much to be thankful for
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Bette DAVIS and I have
been friends for 20 years.
I knew her long ago when she was
in the grip of the frustration that
plagues any woman who knows the
man she loves is a professional
charmer.
I have been her guest at a sub
sequent dinner party at which she
accorded her husband every courtesy,
consulting him about the wine, smil
ing at his jokes, paying the utmost
heed to all he had to say although
their marriage was tumbling down.
I have gone with her to visit the
little retarded girl she adopted. Two
reasons why Bette continues hard at
work are to earn tuition for the
school where Margo, 11 years old
now and quite beautiful, receives
special training, and for the life
annuity that will take care of Margo.
I will never forget the night when
she insisted upon appearing at a
benefit for the Actors' Fund, al
though she was in deep pain, with her
physician in attendance backstage.
The jaw surgery which she under
went the next day was so serious
that she was on the operating table
for more than two hours, and her
convalescence was so slow it was
rumored she had cancer of the bone.
Yet I have never known Bette to
pity herself; nor have I ever seen
her cry.
Do not get the idea, however, that
she is a meek spirit. Quite the con
trary. She's a rebel. She gets fight
ing mad. She can be exceedingly ar
ticulate about what she likes and dis
likes, thinks and does not think. And,
confronted with stupidity, she's
prone to snort and yell.
Bette has never had a lasting mar
riage, and that is a pity. Divorce
does not disturb some stars, but
Bette is New England to the bone
am), sets great store in marriage,
home life, and children.
Now 54, she says she is learning
to think of herself as an "unmarried
woman." She does not expect to
marry again : "I like men, as my his-
10 Family Weekly. Juite 17,1962
)
One reason Belle strives for success: her lovely 15-year-old daughter Barbara.
tory certain' indicates, but they
just can't take this 'fame' thing.
"It probably doesn't help that I
incline to be outspoken and impa
tient. You get on best with a man by
waiting for him to do whatever
needs doing in his way. I find this
difficult to do whether the man is my
lawyer, son, or husband."
BETTE arrived in Hollywood in
1930 and initially had a rough
time. Then, slowly but surely, she
began establishing herself as one of
the outstanding personalities and
artists of the film colony.
In 1935, she won an Academy
Award for "Dangerous" and in 1938
for "Jezebel." At the time of her first
award, she was married to Harmon
0. Nelson, a musician. They had been
students together at dishing Aca
demy in Ashburnham, Mass. His
middle name was Oscar, and Bette
named her statuette after him. The
name caught on, and soon all Holly
wood was referring to the prized
statuettes as "Oscars."
Harmon Nelson, a fine, gentle man,
found it increasingly dilhcult to cope
with his wife's soaring success, and
they were divorced in 1939 in spite
of their best efforts.
On New Year's Day, 1941, Bette
married Arthur Farnsworth, an ex
ecutive for an aircraft instrument
company. Two years later, "Farney"
died of a brain hemorrhage.
In 1945, she married William
Grant Sherry, an artist. She tried to
stick out this marriage, especially
after her daughter "B. D." (real
name Barbara) was born by Caesar
ean section in 1947. But in 1950 the
Sherrys were divorced.
Bette always had insisted she
never would marry an actor. But in
1950 she married Gary Merrill, in
(Continued on page 12)
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