Bette Davis This Is Your Life Vintage American TV

welcome to this is your life it's been said that imitation is a sincerest form of flattery but in a moment we're going to meet the most mimicked woman in Show Business history I'm standing in front of the world famous brahman's Chinese Theater one of the superstars whose Footprints Adorn this famous patio is a lady who has electrified the screen for many years with her Cinema magic a short distance from here is the John angstead photo studio where we'll find and surprise our subject so follow me this is your life an American tradition with Ralph Edwards very very rich and powerful and glamorous she's also mysterious and rather hard to understand she has a black Rolls Royce a black plane wouldn't it be nice if everything were black and so the whole thing sort of held together and use different Fabrics different necklines different you know Silhouettes and mostly different jewelry hi everybody it's Ralph Edwards what an illustrious group Betty Davis what Edith Head Robert Wagner Lou moreheim Lincoln what's going there what's the four eligible candidates for our program uh what's going on anyhow we're talking about we've been discussing uh some wardrobe for Betty Davis uh for the for her film what is the film uh it's going to be called Madame sin and you're the uh the producer you are the star the Superstar Betty Davis you're the producer executive producer Lou moreheim is the producer it's called my sin well I don't know being this close to you Betty Madam yes oh that's right one is a perfume yes we can't really say this is going to to smell or anything like that if it does it's going to be you said it I didn't very be this close to you I think it really would be a sin not to say to you Betty Davis this is your life you can hang on to them while we whisk back to our uh Studio where our director can hardly wait to say camera action on the life come along and now Ralph Edwards and our surprise this is your Live guest Miss Betty Davis we even have an ice tray for you if you need it here would you want to come over on this side are we we're friends aren't we back yes we're friends you you didn't even know the show was back on the air I did not and I didn't know until that that clip was over that that you it was for real you know and I thought you were very rude to interrupt us oh she was balling me with her eyes you know let's just saying why why are you here this we're doing a thing for a new movie what's got to do with you then when you showed me the book brand new with my name I still didn't and the flowers I thought why flowers and Adam's in you know but at any rate everything's okay now and you're ready to go let's give uh Tommy turbovich your roses and he'll put them in the water so that they'll be wrong I wouldn't have thought anybody could it's a thrill to have you Grace this stage I'll tell you a motion picture audiences all over the world have enjoyed you and over 100 do you want it behind you or I never know what to do with it ladies thing they get this far no this is not one of Edith I wish it were it's a beautiful outfit and I compliment you over 100 major motion pictures I want to say Betty Davis is a star in every sense of the word the voice of a man who really wanted to be here with you on this occasion and so he is a three-time Academy award-winning director for the best years of Our Lives Mrs Miniver and Ben Hur sister William Wiley thank you aren't you a doll you put yourself through this you want to sit here folks now Mr Weiler you directed Betty Davis in uh three awesome pictures yes come right here was she uh difficult difficult no easy no what I mean is uh she was difficult in a sense in the same way I'm difficult I was going to say it looks like a long night folks the way I think every good actress is or should be difficult by being very demanding of everyone most of all from herself she wanted everything to be perfect and to be great and most of the time it was thank you Mr William Weiler ladies and gentlemen this is my all-time hero is a director and the greatest one this town ever had and you know I mean that don't I Willie Betty Davis you're born in Lowell Massachusetts one night during a thunderstorm a bolt of lightning misses a house and hits a tree in that flash the tree is gone but in the house the child is born Ruth Elizabeth Davis your dramatic entry into this world sets your pattern at the age of 12 while Betty was playing Santa Claus she caught on fire Betty that's the voice of your sister Bobby here from Phoenix Arizona Mrs Barbara Berry foreign Bobby you did say Betty caught on fire yes you did um we were at a boarding school called Crest album and they had no electricity and Betty was going to play Santa Claus and they had to use candles for lights and suddenly I turned around and she was completely in flames well what happened I turned around turned back to her I couldn't look I thought she was complete little heap of Ashes might have been a good idea what happened the uh obviously they put the Flames out it was the Santa Claus suit that the Raptor right in a rug as I remember it and just beat the flames right out what was life like while you and Betty were in school Bobby well after Chris Alvin we were in and out of schools all the time and our mother and father were divorced and my mother worked as a photographer to pay for the different tuitions we were sort of three against the world well it certainly was a determined team and thank you Barbara Berry through the financial hardships of this period you seem to find comfort from an invisible Spotlight that constantly Shines on only you in 1929 that Spotlight materializes and your cast in your first professional play for the cooker condo stock company in Rochester New York the name of the play was laugh that off I'll never forget it in that play Betty Davis gave me my first stage kiss here's a man you haven't seen in over 40 years comedian Benny Baker many of you say Betty Davis gave you your first stage kiss and believe me I was really nervous how about you Betty were you nervous in your debut too I don't remember kissing him I've got a longer memory well I I tell you you know even in those days Betty was a very dedicated actress well she had to be to kiss me but uh the kind of parts I played I haven't been kissed since and that's 40 years ago well maybe Betty won't mind reenacting that scene with you thank you Benny Baker very much Betty that play leads to many plays and to Broadway by 1931 the talkies have arrived and Hollywood is clamoring for actresses with good speaking voices you make your first picture for Universal Studios with Humphrey Bogart titled the bad sister I was the first person to see Betty Davis on film very you Mr Ted Kent I'd like to see it again now there's somebody from your life you really have never seen uh Ted what did you think when you saw that face don't ask him it was rather odd I saw something very refreshing you did it really is that filmed it was horrible uh a newcomer was something different you really did yes and I was very impressed well how very nice Betty did you play The Good Sister or the bad sister I played The Good Sister you wanted to play the bad sister no no no no you always wanted to play I just wanted to be in the film at all how did the studio feel about this new face well they must have liked her because they renewed her contract for a grand total of three months yes thank you very much Betty Davis more options are picked up you make five or pictures and your contract Runs Out disappointed disillusioned with Hollywood you and your mom Ruthie who has since passed away start packing to head back East you get a call from the great actor George arless he interviews you and gives you a part in his picture the man who played God this picture is a turning point you're signed by Warner Brothers Studios I was Betty Davis's stand-in that's the voice of the woman who stood in for you in 35 pictures Mrs Sally Hutchinson Sally Sally Sage you will remember him all right well Ralph was in 1933 and this is the first picture the betting I did together it was the big Shakedown and she had a bedroom sequence and she wore a nightgown and they thought uh they're like a little see-through even in those days for 1933 pretty racy so they try to pour the backlight through but this one is ahead even then and she'd had the night gone very heavily laced and coated underneath lined no lace so all that effort went for nothing well you never did it your modesty is refreshing Betty thank you Sally Hutchinson very much stand in for many days get a part in the picture with Leslie Howard that becomes a classic of human bondage you become a full-fledged star the following year you win an Academy Award for dangerous the French at home you then have your eye on the picture Anthony adverse but Olivia de Havilland gets the part the first time I saw Betty Davis she scared the Daylights out of me Betty that's the voice of your good pal who flew in all the way from Paris France just to be with you miss Olivia de Havilland so glad to see you Olivia you mean Betty really scared you nearly to death we had to make three pictures together for her to warm up to me that is really is that the way you remember it no I don't you know I feel I've always known and loved Olivia so I don't remember that it wasn't really true it wasn't true no no Shameless do you remember the titles I'm jealous of you so damn good looking I've got titles of pictures you made together I can remember them the first one was it's love I'm after with Leslie Howard and the second one was Elizabeth in Essex with Errol Flynn and by the way up until that time I had always been Errol Flynn's leading lady but this time in Elizabeth and Essex Betty was his leading lady and I was demoted to her lady and waiting I was too with you and then finally we made in this our life and Betty at last got to play the bad sister yeah and I played The Good Sister and we became great friends does she still scare you just a little cool but I love her this must remind you of your night on this is your life in London well it's 1938 now and Miss Betty Davis wins her second Oscar for Jezebel directed by William Wyler but most stars would rest on their Laurels but not you Betty Davis you make more demands not only on yourself but on your studio you fight Warner Brothers for the right to choose your own films you lose a bitter battle but you win the admiration of the motion picture industry in 1939 40 and 41 you're among the top 10 box office stars in 1943 you do a picture called Now Voyager with Paul Henry the scene where he lights two cigarettes remember at the same time creates a fad that lasts to this day here he is your co-star from that picture Mr Paul Henry Paul Henry how was that famous scene born would you tell us please you may join earlier when um in the script it said that uh um I should hand Betty Davis offer Betty Davis a cigarette she would take a cigarette I would then take one myself I would light her cigarette I would like my cigarette and then I finally would take her cigarette out of her mouth and mine out of mind give her mine takers so I suggested to Betty to simplify this whole thing and just have two cigarettes and light them both at the same time and offer her one Betty adored it our director didn't like it but he didn't like the idea would you light a cigarette uh for Miss Davis I'd be delighted to do it you know this cigarette case baby yes I do Betty gave it to me after deception I hope I can do it still we got the right music too I hope you're noticed to the orchestra or write music all right thank you Paul Henry thank you so much by 1954 two more Academy Award nominations for Miss Betty Davis All About Eve and the star soon after you require serious surgery after a lengthy convalescence the unsinkable Betty Davis bounces back stronger than ever pictures roll in for you and you play two unusual roles with this gentleman I played Betty Davis's piano accompanist and sweethearted one picture and her father in the next that's the voice of a very talented young performer who worked with you in whatever happened to Baby Jane and hush sweet Charlotte Mr Victor buono the address is Heaven above if I sit there you might end up Victor a sweetheart and then a father yes well when one has the honor of working with Miss Davis one matures quickly I'm taking two ways you and Betty were both nominated for Academy Awards for Baby Jane yes it was my first nomination and only nomination it was but his tenth and I was I didn't get it well there's in the next one the next one I was overwhelmed and I was soon overpriced and didn't work for six months Victor how did you as a newcomer to Motion Pictures react when you first met Betty Davis I didn't know whether to bow or wave batters which he's worthy of both thank you Victor so you're probably the most imitated woman in Show Business history my impersonation of Betty Davis has kept me working for at least 20 or 15 years always with Barbara Heller of television and Nightclub has Betty ever seen you do your act yes indeed she's a wild audience you know yes marvelous she's marvelous doing it because she's my favorite actress always has been I think I I think I had your impressions sort of subconsciously you know I've seen so many of her pictures and I watch them over and over and sort of like I'm brain worked with it so uh yeah that's brilliant as a special treat would you do a little of your impersonation of Betty Davis you thought I'd never asked I just happened to be prepared oh good oh another cigarette fall give me that I should like to do a scene from one of my greatest pictures but then aren't they all oh dear my goodness they're those Betty who say no one could ask for a better or more loyal friend when every door in Hollywood was closed to me Betty Davis befriended me the voice of an actor friend of yours Mr J Robinson today we know that in 1958 you were arrested on a Narcotics violation you spent 15 months in prison and for many years your burden was unbearable how did Betty try to ease that burden and well she never stopped encouraging me writing me letters of encouragement and very recently she helped me get a role in my first feature film in 13 years film called bunny O'Hare you know Ralph uh many years ago I played the part of the emperor Caligula in the movie The Robe and I watched that motion picture on a very small television set while in prison I understand Betty made some statements to Dwight Chapin of the Los Angeles times and he put them in a letter form and sent them to you would you mind reading some of the comments of that letter I'd be happy to wrap thank you I first met Jay Robinson in 1955. and not again until we worked on bunny O'Hare but whatever happened I feel that it was his case not ours and the drug involvement was over in 1960. he is one of our very great actors and having been told of his problems I have only admiration for his having overcome them he is in a fine position to encourage others Jay never talked about what happened to him I know he's been through his own private hell I think we should forget about it I believe his life experiences have enhanced his talent and I believe that given the opportunity he can go on to much greater things Betty Davis speaking for her fellow man thank you j-ron with memories of your life you take advantage especially created by Marshall Jewelers of Fifth Avenue New York City Betty Davis that Eternal Spotlight that keeps shining on you knows a very important truth you supply its light the world is your stage and we are grateful to have that ticket of life that allows us to watch you perform what you have given can only be returned with love you're a legend in your own time this is your life Betty Davis thank you I'm Bob Orem this is your life this is a Ralph Edwards production all the travel arrangements for this is your life were made by TWA TWA 747 the ultimate in comfort and elegance somehow you feel more important on TWA foreign foreign

Channel: belfast jack

Views: 157,152

Keywords: THIS IS YOUR LIFE, Vintage American TV, Bettie Davis, Ruth Elizabeth Davis, Massachusetts, Tyngsborough, First Parish Meeting House, Middlesex, Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes, Actress, Marked Woman, All This and Heaven Too, Best Actress, BAFTA Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Actress Dangerous, Jezebel, what ever happened to baby jane

Id: lr7IZm2QLcA

Length: 24min 37sec (1477 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2013