0:00:14 > 0:00:19If anyone deserves the title of Hollywood legend, it's Bette Davis.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21Star of over 100 films,
0:00:21 > 0:00:26she was the first person to receive ten Oscar nominations.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29She won two Oscars and was the first woman to be awarded
0:00:29 > 0:00:34a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39She was known for her toughness and refusal to compromise,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42both in the roles she played, and in her own battles
0:00:42 > 0:00:47with movie studios, executives and co-stars.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51In her later years, people were riveted by the television interviews
0:00:51 > 0:00:55in which she would speak candidly about her life and career.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00We begin with an interview from 1958,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04when Davis was in the UK filming The Scapegoat with Alec Guinness.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08The actor Derek Bond joined her at the Edgewarebury Country Club
0:01:08 > 0:01:11where, ignoring the threat of an impending storm,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Davis discussed the beginnings of her film career,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17the qualities she looked for in a leading man,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21and introduced the audience to her daughter Barbara.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Hello, Miss Davis, I must apologise for our climate.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30- Oh, please don't. It's quite like our own.- It is?- Yes, it is.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34Miss Davis, you began your career in theatre. Did you intend to stay in the theatre
0:01:34 > 0:01:36or did you just look at it as training for the films?
0:01:36 > 0:01:39No, I started in the theatre to be in the theatre.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Because when I started in the theatre we had silent pictures
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and I don't think any theatre people had any idea what would happen
0:01:46 > 0:01:48when sound came in, as we say.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51It was a complete revolution, actually,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56because they did need actors trained for the theatre because of the sound.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59So then there was an enormous...
0:01:59 > 0:02:02trek to Hollywood by practically -
0:02:02 > 0:02:07they signed practically all of us, to see if we would work there or not.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12Did you go to films because you felt there was more scope for an actress in films than in the theatre?
0:02:14 > 0:02:16Well, I look back and I don't know.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19I guess I felt that it was an opportunity
0:02:19 > 0:02:24that I, as a very young person, couldn't afford to miss, probably.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28- I didn't go with great anticipation. - You didn't?- No. Not at all.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32But I felt I was probably very fortunate and I should give it a try.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Did you enjoy the change at the beginning?
0:02:35 > 0:02:37No, I had a very difficult time in the beginning.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40I was not welcomed with open arms.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44As a matter of fact, I arrived in the Los Angeles station
0:02:44 > 0:02:48and had been told I would be met by the Universal officials,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53which was my studio, and no-one was there to meet me at all.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57So we kind of staggered to the hotel, finding our way around, my mother and I,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01and I called the studio and I said, "Why wasn't anyone there to meet me?"
0:03:01 > 0:03:04And they said, "We didn't see anyone get off the train who looked like an actress."
0:03:04 > 0:03:08So I said, "Well, I had a dog with me, they should have known!"
0:03:08 > 0:03:13But it was incredible, it was a whole new era and we all felt we should try it, I think.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Now, people who have seen you working on the set have written that
0:03:16 > 0:03:19you are a very technical actress, always conscious of the camera
0:03:19 > 0:03:21and so on and so forth.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24But at the same time, you give a sustained emotional performance.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25How do these two go together?
0:03:25 > 0:03:29Well, I've never actually been very bright about the camera
0:03:29 > 0:03:31and the technical part.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34This is one thing I've not coped with.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39I have a quite hard enough time to do my part of it.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43The only time I ever sort of have a problem with a camera is
0:03:43 > 0:03:47if I notice it. You see, this is awkward.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51As far as the emotional continuity is concerned, this is really training.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55- This is the hardest thing, of course, for the theatre actress to do.- Yes.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59When she starts in films. We talked about that a little earlier.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03To leave off for half an hour and come back and hit the same pitch.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08And I would feel much more pleased with myself if I could do it
0:04:08 > 0:04:10if some of the others couldn't, also.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12It's just, it's actually,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15it's really a training that one must work on very hard.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19And actually, George Arliss, who was my great mentor, at the time
0:04:19 > 0:04:24when Hollywood was about to go off for me, gave me a very good hint once.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28He said, "Never make a scene in front of a camera that you don't remember
0:04:28 > 0:04:32"what went before and what went after."
0:04:32 > 0:04:33Then it will usually tie in.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Others will just go in without reviewing in your mind
0:04:36 > 0:04:38exactly how it was.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42But the technical thing of hitting your marks at the same
0:04:42 > 0:04:43time as sustaining emotion...
0:04:43 > 0:04:45That is, that is practice.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47You are honestly...I don't really know how we do it.
0:04:47 > 0:04:52Because you must do it without ever looking. It becomes an instinct.
0:04:52 > 0:04:58I feel, finally. Not at first. It's extremely hard at first, you know.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01You feel like a puppet that can't move.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Let's talk for a moment about the characters you have played.
0:05:04 > 0:05:05I read on a poster once that
0:05:05 > 0:05:08"Nobody's as good as Bette Davis when she's bad."
0:05:08 > 0:05:10THEY LAUGH
0:05:10 > 0:05:12You have played quite a number of bad women.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Is it because you think playing nice women is dull?
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Well, of course, I never call them bad women.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22I have a theory that no one person is all bad,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24and no one person is all good.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26The only requirement that I have is that
0:05:26 > 0:05:31the character at least is definite. Whether good or bad.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34And, um...
0:05:34 > 0:05:39I think the more definite people tend to have more sort of evil traits.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41The more interesting people.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44And that is probably why.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47In these very different characters that you play,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50how do you get into the character? How do you set about it?
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Oh, I just think you pray half the time.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58You know, I don't think there's much planning that you can do.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01If you do a Somerset Maugham story like Of Human Bondage,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04you practically have a textbook. This is different.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07I mean, you read this book and you know this character from
0:06:07 > 0:06:11what he said, inside and out. Which makes it easier.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16With an original character, it's sort of your own ideas of her
0:06:16 > 0:06:19and just thinking, trying to think of the way she is.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21I don't know.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24There is a school of thought that thinks that actors should
0:06:24 > 0:06:27completely identify themselves with the character.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29I think it's called the Method. Do you approve of this?
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Well, no, I don't. It probably dates me...
0:06:35 > 0:06:38I just...it's just not for me.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42I must be fair and say, maybe it is for some people.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46I think it's a very un-theatrical kind of acting.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Not that I don't think films...
0:06:49 > 0:06:51The prime requisite is a certain reality,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56but there is a certain way of giving a performance to your audience.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59And I think this is a little like peeking through
0:06:59 > 0:07:01keyholes at real-life.
0:07:01 > 0:07:08I just don't really understand it. Don't like it, I must say. I don't.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Oh, Beady. Beady, come here. I want you to meet Mr Derek Bond.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15- My daughter Barbara.- Hello, Barbara.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18- Not a very satisfactory day for riding.- No.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21How long have you been...have you been over here before to this country?
0:07:21 > 0:07:22I've been here once before,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26when I was only four years old, but that's pretty hard to remember.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29How many foreign countries have you been to, outside America?
0:07:29 > 0:07:33This trip is the only time I've been over.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37I went to Spain, Italy and France. And this country.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Do you enjoy travelling? Do you like it?
0:07:39 > 0:07:41- Oh, yes, very much. But it is work. - Do you get homesick?
0:07:41 > 0:07:44- THEY LAUGH - It's work, is it?
0:07:44 > 0:07:46No. I don't get homesick. No.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49When you grow up, would you like to be an actress like your mother?
0:07:49 > 0:07:53- Not one of my first choices. - What would you want to do?
0:07:53 > 0:07:55I'd like to be a secretary.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00- A secretary?- Well, yes. Darling, why don't you run along. See you later.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03- Goodbye.- Nice to have met you. - And you.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Ms Davis, how would you feel
0:08:05 > 0:08:07if she had said she wanted to be an actress?
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Oh, well...
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Wanting to be an actress is just...if you want to, you must.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20This is a kind of a drive and it's a thing that you absolutely have to do.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22And if this were it, then she must.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27I could hope for her that her life would run along more normal channels
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and that she wouldn't have this great need for expressing herself.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35- Mm-hmm.- In this way. But if so...
0:08:35 > 0:08:38Do you think people can be happier doing something else?
0:08:38 > 0:08:41No, no, I think one is happiest doing what one must do.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44You know, I really think I've been an incredibly fortunate person
0:08:44 > 0:08:47and had the most wonderfully happy life,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49as regards the accomplishment of my life.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54- I don't think it's an easy life. You know, I must say.- Yes.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- Why don't we go in?- Yes. - Have some tea.- Good idea. Thank you.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Your success has given you the authority to
0:09:02 > 0:09:04choose your director and your story.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08What do you look for first when you're considering a new film?
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Well, I try to be very honest and worry most about the story.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17And I think increasingly in our business,
0:09:17 > 0:09:23since the years I started, the story has become the most important thing.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29- Yes.- And I think, for the most part, I have been able to.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34One also has to say, one considers the part as well.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35But I think of the two today,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39I would prefer the story that I think the audience would like.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42I think that's the picture that's selling today more
0:09:42 > 0:09:46than just a story that features a sensational performance.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Which once, I must say, we could get away with.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51But I don't feel any longer.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54You've starred with some very distinguished leading men.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56What are the qualities that you would consider the most
0:09:56 > 0:09:58important in a leading man?
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Oh. Well, I think, that he's a good actor.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04You know, that I think that he's a good actor,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and I must say, it's an enormous help to me if he enjoys acting.
0:10:08 > 0:10:15Because this makes the film a much happier thing to make. Basically.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Would you say it's important to like somebody you were playing
0:10:18 > 0:10:21- with off screen? Or do you just consider the characters?- No.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25I think that is... I think one would be very limited to think that way.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27I think it has nothing to do with, whatsoever.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31I think the talent is the whole thing.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36There's many sort of unpleasant people are very talented.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38You know, one would limit oneself very much I think
0:10:38 > 0:10:41if one cared how much one liked somebody personally.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45The bond between mother and daughter
0:10:45 > 0:10:49did not remain as warm as was captured in this interview.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54As an adult, Barbara claimed her mother had been emotionally abusive.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58She accused Davis' fourth husband, Gary Merrill,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02who Davis met on the set of All About Eve,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04of being a violent alcoholic.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07These claims were all strongly denied.
0:11:08 > 0:11:15In 1972 Davis was back in the UK and back being interviewed,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17this time by Joan Bakewell
0:11:17 > 0:11:20in front of an audience at the National Film Theatre.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22In your autobiography you confess that it was
0:11:22 > 0:11:25when you saw The Wild Duck in the New York theatre,
0:11:25 > 0:11:30it was that evening, that very moment, you decided to become an actress.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32I sort of always knew I'd do something.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35But I'd never sort of... I was 16 then, I believe.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39But the girl who played Hedvig was at the Duart Playhouse in Boston.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Eh, we were just twins. And I somehow identified with her.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48Plus it was the kind of a part I would love. And I finally played it.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50From that moment on, once you had said you wished to be an actress...
0:11:50 > 0:11:55Well I continued with school, you know, I graduated from prep school.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58And then I was very fortunate in a mother who allowed me
0:11:58 > 0:12:03to spread my wings, and she saw to it that I went to New York,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06to a dramatic school, which is the proper training, really.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Which you do much more in England than they do in America.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And, eh, it just sort of went on from there.
0:12:11 > 0:12:18Well, I was going to remark on the fact that your mother's backing of your ambition,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20and her total dedication to your career...
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Was incredible - and without being a stage mother.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25She was never around where I worked at all.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31Just her belief was extraordinary. I don't quite know why she had it. I certainly didn't in the beginning.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34How dare those Hollywood moguls,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37at the time when you first went from New York to Hollywood,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42suggest that you couldn't be as sexy and glamorous as any other star.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45Well, according to their standards, you see, I wasn't.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Now this was really in the very beginning of talking pictures,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and all of us who came up from the theatre were,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55were not actressy kind of people.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57You know, we sort of have our own colour hair,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01and maybe a couple of teeth crooked. We looked totally different.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03And they were very, very puzzled. You know?
0:13:03 > 0:13:09And off-screen we didn't go around all dressed up, say like a Harlow or somebody would, you know.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12So they just did not understand us at all.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16So we just were... You know, they called me the little brown wren.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20But then, finally, you see nobody helps you when you go,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24about make-up or about the camera. It's a wholly new profession, really.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28And finally, they find out, you know, the best way to wear your hair,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32they put a make-up on you that does the best for you.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35It's just a slow process of...
0:13:35 > 0:13:41getting to look on the screen what you really thought you looked like in life!
0:13:41 > 0:13:44I thought I was fairly attractive till I got to Hollywood.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46But I didn't for a very long. You know?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49But you did have to fight off all their attempts
0:13:49 > 0:13:52- to glamorise you in their terms? - Oh, yes. Yes.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58Hepburn, Margaret Sullivan and I were the three who really fought it.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01You know, fought the ... Although when I went to Warner's,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04they made me, you know, really bleach my hair.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08And I knew it was going to limit me with parts, so I snuck down one day
0:14:08 > 0:14:11and had it, you know, put back, the ash blonde hair I'd always had.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13And one year later Mr Wallis sent for me
0:14:13 > 0:14:15and said, "You've had your hair re-dyed."
0:14:15 > 0:14:18One year later! He'd never seen it!
0:14:18 > 0:14:21But if I had gone for permission he wouldn't have allowed it, you see.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24And I didn't want to go through life with a very bleached head of hair.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29But it was the factory getting to work, because they even suggested changing your name, didn't they?
0:14:29 > 0:14:32Oh, yes. They wanted to call me Bettina Dawes.
0:14:32 > 0:14:39LAUGHTER
0:14:39 > 0:14:43And to be a little vulgar in this illustrious group,
0:14:43 > 0:14:50I said, "I refuse to be called between the drawers all my life!"
0:14:50 > 0:14:52Which I would have. No question.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55It's very well you joking about it now,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58- but of course, at the time for a young...- Heartbreak.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01It was absolutely heartbreak.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Yes, I remember sitting in the outer office of Mr Laemmle.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05He was talking to somebody, and he was talking about me,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07not knowing I was there, and he said,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10"Yeah, she's got as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville."
0:15:10 > 0:15:13LAUGHTER
0:15:13 > 0:15:15And you see, you're so right...
0:15:15 > 0:15:17I was defeated.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19And, for instance, they would say,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21"Who wants to get HER at the end of the picture?"
0:15:21 > 0:15:23LAUGHTER
0:15:23 > 0:15:26And this does...
0:15:26 > 0:15:27True!
0:15:27 > 0:15:31And this really does...catastrophic things to your ego,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35and I didn't have a lot of ego, and never have had lots, anyway,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37which is a big misnomer about actors.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39We have very little ego, basically.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43So, how did you salvage what little was left of your confidence?
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Well, it just all...
0:15:45 > 0:15:48At least I could hold my head high in a film of his,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50which was an important film.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Then I had five or six more years, you know,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55when I came to England and fought the whole thing.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57But you just had to hang on,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59and Ruthie, my mother, was...
0:15:59 > 0:16:02you know, so cute when all the years went by
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and these awful things were said about you, she'd always say,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07"It's the best fruit the birds pick at,"
0:16:07 > 0:16:08and I thought it was so sweet.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11You know, she said, "Just remember..."
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Because it was heartbreaking, of course it was.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14At that period of time,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Warner Brothers must have thought you were...
0:16:16 > 0:16:21although their top star, a very difficult property indeed.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24No, I don't think so. I was...
0:16:24 > 0:16:25We weren't allowed...
0:16:25 > 0:16:29Warner's was a marvellous workmanlike studio, as opposed to Metro.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Metro was really...beautiful, glamour place.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37There was no red carpet for any actor at Warner's. Absolutely not.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39We were not allowed this.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42And we just all worked very, very hard and...
0:16:42 > 0:16:46I wouldn't... You know, those 18 years were my life,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48and they were very, very good to me.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50And I regret, today, that the young people
0:16:50 > 0:16:52don't have contracts to work under,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55because the contract gives you a...continuity.
0:16:55 > 0:17:00You see, that's what I mean by longevity. Nobody could escape me.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03You know, you made eight or ten pictures a year, you know?
0:17:03 > 0:17:05You know, you really did.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09And also, the Warner product was the first sold for television,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12and this was many, many years ago now,
0:17:12 > 0:17:1465 films of which were mine.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17So, I just sort of kept on going, you know.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Again, longevity.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20But I was fortunate there, too.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Is it true that you were called the fourth Warner brother?
0:17:23 > 0:17:25By Bob Hope, yes.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27LAUGHTER
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Oh, absolutely! Absolutely adorable.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33We had this marvellous Warner employees party every year,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35and he emceed it this particular year.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38He got up and introduced, "Miss Bette Davis, the fourth Warner brother."
0:17:38 > 0:17:40That was lovely.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43That was the film where you first worked with Olivia de Havilland, wasn't it?
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Well, she and I were there together, many, many years.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48- She's my great friend.- She's become a great friend of yours...
0:17:48 > 0:17:50She's always been a great friend of mine.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Is it's difficult for stars to be close friends?
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Well, actors, as a group, are not my passion...
0:17:55 > 0:17:57LAUGHTER
0:17:57 > 0:17:59- ..socially.- What about one by one? - Socially.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Though, I always, socially, loved writers and directors.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Much more interested.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09A group of actors together can be rather...
0:18:09 > 0:18:12tiresome, and whose rushes were what, and all this, you know.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16You said the most remarkable thing in your book,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18which rather bewildered me, but it sounds very splendid,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21"An actor is always less than a man..."
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Oh, this is a French... a very old French saying.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25"..an actress more than a woman."
0:18:25 > 0:18:27That's right. It's a very old French saying.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Do you agree with that, and...?
0:18:30 > 0:18:32SHE SIGHS
0:18:32 > 0:18:33LAUGHTER
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Yes, I have to be very honest. I think...
0:18:35 > 0:18:38I don't think you can make generalities,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40and I think there are very many exceptions, certainly...
0:18:40 > 0:18:45that beautiful man Claude Rains and our beautiful man Mr Tracy
0:18:45 > 0:18:49and Mr Cooper and Mr Gable, certainly were not less than men.
0:18:49 > 0:18:50But...
0:18:50 > 0:18:54it's a strange profession for a man, truthfully.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Steve McQueen, for instance, does all this motorcycling, you know,
0:18:57 > 0:18:58to keep him sure he's a man.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00LAUGHTER
0:19:00 > 0:19:01He told me that!
0:19:01 > 0:19:04APPLAUSE
0:19:04 > 0:19:08No, because he's the most marvellous guy, Steve McQueen. He's just great.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12And he told me one night... I said, "Why do you take a chance?
0:19:12 > 0:19:14"You're one of the few...
0:19:14 > 0:19:18"smashing young men that have come along, and we need you desperately."
0:19:18 > 0:19:22He said, "Because it's a strange profession for a man,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26"and I just want to stay in something else to keep being a man."
0:19:26 > 0:19:27Interesting.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Miss Davis, something I've wanted to ask you for 30 years...
0:19:31 > 0:19:33LAUGHTER
0:19:35 > 0:19:36To marry you?
0:19:36 > 0:19:38LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:19:47 > 0:19:48Three others got in the way!
0:19:48 > 0:19:50LAUGHTER
0:19:51 > 0:19:54How did you get started on the stairs?
0:19:54 > 0:19:56All your marvellous entrances were down stairs...
0:19:56 > 0:19:58You've just made a wonderful one now.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00I haven't lived on stairs.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04I don't know, it just always happens.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07And also, stairs are very, very dramatic.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10You know, they are truthfully dramatic.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11I've killed men on stairs...
0:20:11 > 0:20:14LAUGHTER
0:20:14 > 0:20:16I don't know. It's...
0:20:16 > 0:20:17it's a strange thing,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21because I say that about myself in all the parts, you know.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22In Madame Sin, we're making now,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25there's a gorgeous staircase, and I said to the director,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29"You, of course, are going to have me come down those stairs!"
0:20:29 > 0:20:30He said, "I never thought of it!"
0:20:30 > 0:20:32LAUGHTER
0:20:34 > 0:20:37The success of the interviews like this
0:20:37 > 0:20:40led to Davis touring the world with her show,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Bette Davis In Person And On Film.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49In 1975, a book, and that tour, brought her to the UK once more,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53and to an appearance on the Parkinson show.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56APPLAUSE
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Thank you! Thank you very much.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19I was at a press conference the other day
0:21:19 > 0:21:22which had 150 journalists at it, which was for you.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26And I doubt if Henry Kissinger, or any head of state,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28would have got more journalists there.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30But somebody asked a question of you there
0:21:30 > 0:21:33about what it was like to be a Hollywood legend,
0:21:33 > 0:21:34and you denied that you were.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35Well...
0:21:37 > 0:21:39You see, unless I am performing...
0:21:40 > 0:21:44..I don't really think of myself very often in the professional...
0:21:47 > 0:21:50..professional part of my life, I really don't.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51And... so therefore,
0:21:51 > 0:21:55there's no way you could think of yourself as a legend and...
0:21:56 > 0:21:59..I can't help but be complimented.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02You must not ignore this and say, "Well, it's just nothing."
0:22:02 > 0:22:04But I don't think of it. I don't think of myself that way.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06- You don't?- At all. No.
0:22:06 > 0:22:07But, I mean, if you accept,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10if you look back on the history of Hollywood, there have been, what,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12I suppose, three great women stars, haven't there?
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Garbo, Hepburn, yourself.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Would you... Would you agree with that running order?
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Well, I will accept the running order, yes.
0:22:21 > 0:22:22LAUGHTER
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Of course, I'd be happier if I got first billing, but I'll take it.
0:22:25 > 0:22:26LAUGHTER
0:22:26 > 0:22:29I was putting them in historical perspective.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34No, if I am included with those two fabulous women, I am delighted.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36What, in fact...? You're over here now...
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Apart from the book, you're touring, aren't you?
0:22:38 > 0:22:40And you're doing a show?
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Yes, it is an evening...
0:22:43 > 0:22:46..with me, on film and on stage.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49And audience participation, which is what...
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Oh, my part of it, yes, is absolutely with the audience.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55What kind of...? What's the most...?
0:22:55 > 0:22:57What's the question you get asked most of all?
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Because you've done this all over America, haven't you?
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Oh, I was in Australia and New Zealand
0:23:02 > 0:23:06all the first part of this year, which was a fabulous, fabulous trip,
0:23:06 > 0:23:08and I found a fabulous country.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Well, they're very, very varied.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14There IS one question I am always asked.
0:23:14 > 0:23:15Did I name the Oscar?
0:23:17 > 0:23:18And fascinatingly enough,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21the only night I was not asked this question
0:23:21 > 0:23:25was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the night of the Oscar show,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28which I thought was very, very strange.
0:23:28 > 0:23:29I'm always asked that.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32I was asked that everywhere in Australia and New Zealand.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34- What's the answer?- Uh...
0:23:35 > 0:23:37Well, I feel I did.
0:23:37 > 0:23:38How?
0:23:38 > 0:23:42Well, my first husband's middle initial was O,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45and he never would tell me what it was,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47because he detested the name so,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50and finally, I found out that his middle name was Oscar...
0:23:51 > 0:23:55..and the rear end of the Oscar looked like him.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57LAUGHTER
0:23:57 > 0:23:58Really?
0:23:59 > 0:24:01..and I always called it Oscar.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Now, the Academy refuses to accept this,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07- and I sort of willingly say, "The Academy."- I see.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10But that's my memory of it. Of course, it was a long time ago.
0:24:10 > 0:24:11When you first went there,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14you said you were a puzzlement to all these people,
0:24:14 > 0:24:15and, indeed, you must have been.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Did they ever try to tart you up, glamorise you?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
0:24:20 > 0:24:24In a film called Fashions Of 1934.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30Yes, they made me up as nearly as possible to look like Miss Garbo.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Which, of course, was utterly impossible.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35They gave me a lovely long bob,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38and the nice beautiful, wide mouth
0:24:38 > 0:24:40and long, long lashes.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41It was...
0:24:41 > 0:24:45It was really sickening, because it wasn't my type.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48And, thank God, I had brains enough to know that, you know,
0:24:48 > 0:24:49and I never let them do that again.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Yes. How do you mean you never LET them do that again?"
0:24:52 > 0:24:53Because you...you...
0:24:53 > 0:24:56I just didn't. I just said, "You cannot...
0:24:56 > 0:25:00"Either fire me let me be what I personally am."
0:25:00 > 0:25:01- Yes.- You cannot...
0:25:01 > 0:25:05You cannot be somebody else, or a copy, or anything else.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06But as a contract artist, of course,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10I would imagine that that took a certain amount of guts, didn't it?
0:25:10 > 0:25:11Well, yes.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Yes, I was a meddler for my own good,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17but it becomes self preservation, really.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19If it had continued that way...
0:25:19 > 0:25:23And they did that with so very many theatre people they brought out.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28You know, changed all their teeth, changed their noses,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30changed everything.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33And those who had any individuality...
0:25:33 > 0:25:35just never made it.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Because they just looked phoney.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Of course, I suppose, Of Human Bondage was, in fact, the film...
0:25:40 > 0:25:42That was the first step on the ladder,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44and that was a loan out to RKO.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47- Yes, that was the first...rung. That's right.- Yes.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50- You played a Cockney, didn't you?- Yes, I did.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51Can you still do the accent?
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Well, I'm not going to sit here and do it.
0:25:53 > 0:25:54HE LAUGHS
0:25:54 > 0:25:56I just wondered if you could, that's all.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Oh, yes, I received many compliments.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02Of course, when I started the film, with an all-English cast,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06particularly Mr Leslie Howard, they were very, very distraught.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09- Really?- Oh, very upset that an American girl was playing it, yes.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12- Really?- Very.- But you gradually won them over?
0:26:12 > 0:26:15COCKNEY ACCENT: "Oh, I don't mind!" That's what Mildred said.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16LAUGHTER
0:26:16 > 0:26:17COCKNEY ACCENT: I don't mind!
0:26:17 > 0:26:19APPLAUSE
0:26:21 > 0:26:24But the thing about it was, Mildred was a ladylike Cockney.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27It's much easier to do the very broad Cockney.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31But she always tried to be a lady, you see, so we had to be as...
0:26:31 > 0:26:34It had to be very legitimate speech.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37- I worked very hard on it for many months before I did it.- Yes.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Did you ever feel, because you cornered a market in Hollywood,
0:26:40 > 0:26:44at one point in your career, of playing...
0:26:44 > 0:26:45not evil women, but...?
0:26:45 > 0:26:47No, they were very, very...
0:26:47 > 0:26:49- I played just as many others. - You did?
0:26:49 > 0:26:52- Evil is remembered more. - Yes.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Evil is... For instance, newspaper people know this.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59You know, they don't print many good things about people.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01There is a...
0:27:01 > 0:27:05- mad interest in evil in all human beings, I really think.- Yes.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07And a remembrance of it. Definitely.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Well, let me put it another way. In some of those movies, certainly,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13you played a rather intimidating woman.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Oh, I had some marvellous parts, like Little Foxes.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20You know, marvellous women to play, that were very difficult.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24I wondered if in fact, that sort of image that grew up around that
0:27:24 > 0:27:27time, if it had ever affected your relationships with men
0:27:27 > 0:27:29off-screen or with your fellow actors...
0:27:29 > 0:27:32- No.- ..or whether they arrived with a preconceived notion of you.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Oh, I think because I played many women of that kind,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41- there is a preconceived notion of me.- How true would it be?
0:27:41 > 0:27:43I never behaved that way.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46I mean imagine going home
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and being Mildred in Bondage all evening at dinner, you know.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Of course, a lot of actors would say you must live the part,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56- that you must... - Well, everybody to his own.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I am not going to criticise an actor who has to do that.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Maybe that's the way that actor has to...Paul Muni did that. Always.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05What, took the part home?
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Oh, Bella Muni, his wife, said she had lived with more men,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11than any woman in the world!
0:28:11 > 0:28:14I'm going to ask you a question actually, which is a quote from
0:28:14 > 0:28:17a book, not that book, but your first, your autobiography, which was
0:28:17 > 0:28:21written in 1963, in which you said, "all my marriages were a farce."
0:28:21 > 0:28:24- In The Lonely Life? - That's right, The Lonely Life.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26- I said they were a farce?- Mmm.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Well, that was a strange thing for me to say.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36There must have been something before that quote and after it.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40It was the last chapter, as I remember it, when you summed up
0:28:40 > 0:28:44your life and you were talking about the difficulties of being the career
0:28:44 > 0:28:47woman, the star and at the same time, maintaining marriage status.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Yes, well it is difficult, no question,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53so that's what I must have meant, that they seemed like farces,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56because they did not turn out to be,
0:28:56 > 0:28:58neither successful or real marriages.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Would you...how would you feel about working in today's more permissive
0:29:01 > 0:29:03cinema, when in your day...
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Well, I wish we had had some of the permissive...
0:29:06 > 0:29:12I wish we could have had half...what is today. We could have been
0:29:12 > 0:29:14more honest in all the love stories
0:29:14 > 0:29:17and I wish today,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19they did it half as much.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23As regards the nudity, of course, we were never faced with this,
0:29:23 > 0:29:27- that I would never, ever have done. - You wouldn't?
0:29:27 > 0:29:29No, and there are many young actresses today
0:29:29 > 0:29:32- suffering from the fact that they will not do it either.- No.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35And they're losing very good parts for this reason.
0:29:35 > 0:29:36And what does the future hold then?
0:29:36 > 0:29:40You're going round touring with this show.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42I do this... This year is the second time.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45I shall probably do this show once a year.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48I hope next year to go to South America,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51and I don't work terribly much any more.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55I have just finished a film so this has been a very big year,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57- much more working year than usual.- Yes.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00That's what keeps you slim, is it, keeping on the move, keeping busy?
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Well, I have always kept on the move, yes, yes.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07And if we could just sum up in, I don't know...do you have...
0:30:07 > 0:30:11when you read that book back and you look at your career,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14is there one sort of philosophy that you have through life
0:30:14 > 0:30:16that sums up the book and sums up you?
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Well, I think I stated in my comment at the end of this, it took me
0:30:21 > 0:30:23a long time to decide what to say.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30The one thing I think that really stands by a human being
0:30:30 > 0:30:32is their work,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35in the long run, over all the years.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41One may have great disappointments in all sorts of areas
0:30:41 > 0:30:44and even in your work, but if you still have a work you love,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48that is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
0:30:48 > 0:30:49Bette Davis, thank you.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52I would just say if I'd got one ambition left, it would be
0:30:52 > 0:30:54to have played Paul Henreid's part in Now, Voyager.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57- Why don't you try it before we go? - Shall I do it?- Come on.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00I really want to do this. I wonder if the band could give me a...
0:31:00 > 0:31:03- Harry, can you play that lovely theme?- Yes, let's play the theme.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05- That's right. - Now, you take the two cigarettes...
0:31:05 > 0:31:07MUSIC PLAYS
0:31:07 > 0:31:09SHE HUMS
0:31:11 > 0:31:15- We can't go on meeting like this. - My dear, it was perfect!
0:31:15 > 0:31:16LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:31:23 > 0:31:2612 years later, it was another book promotion that would turn Davis
0:31:26 > 0:31:30to the BBC, this time on the Wogan show.
0:31:31 > 0:31:37Now aged 79, a series of strokes had left her looking very frail.
0:31:37 > 0:31:43But the personality, forceful but fun, was as evident as ever.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:32:01 > 0:32:05Can I just establish, before we start, how we call you,
0:32:05 > 0:32:10because there is a sort of argument - is it Bet or Betty?
0:32:10 > 0:32:13It is supposed to be Bet.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15It is taken from the French
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Balzac's Cousine Bette,
0:32:18 > 0:32:23the original pronunciation Bet and it took me 15 years
0:32:23 > 0:32:27to educate everybody to say Betty
0:32:27 > 0:32:32and I found out that they were all right, but of course, Betty I prefer.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34- You prefer Betty?- I prefer it.
0:32:34 > 0:32:36I accept either now, just as long as they call the name,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39- that's all I care.- A lot of people here call you Bet
0:32:39 > 0:32:42and I think in America it's Betty, isn't it? Mostly Betty.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44No, sometimes it's Beet.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47- Beet?- Yes. I don't like that very much.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Beet Davis!
0:32:50 > 0:32:54Do you like visiting here, visiting England?
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Oh, England is really my second home.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59I was born and brought up in New England.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02And we're all the same kind of people, after all.
0:33:02 > 0:33:08We all came from here. Yes, this is really a second home to me, England.
0:33:08 > 0:33:10Somebody said or misquoted you perhaps, as saying,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13you didn't like being here or something, didn't they?
0:33:13 > 0:33:16- Yes, that I detested coming here. - Yeah. Why should they say that?
0:33:16 > 0:33:18I think those things we just forget,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22pretend they weren't said, because it's absolutely absurd.
0:33:22 > 0:33:23I adore coming to England.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26I've been here, made about eight films here
0:33:26 > 0:33:31and I look forward to coming here for my book.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34- Yes.- Which you've just done, of course, your book.- Yes.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37You've also made eight films here, you've made 100,
0:33:37 > 0:33:39we were totting them up, you made about 100 films.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43- The last was your hundredth film, I think.- Nearly. Something like that.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48What...having been famous, successful,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52two Oscars, ten nominations altogether,
0:33:52 > 0:33:56there would be a tendency to rest on your laurels, wouldn't there?
0:33:56 > 0:34:04- Why do you keep going?- Oh because I love, love, love making films.
0:34:04 > 0:34:05Yes, always will.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Or the roar of the crowd?
0:34:08 > 0:34:11There's never really resting on your laurels.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16You must get better, get the next thing better than the last one.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18That's an incentive.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24- Do you remember the beginning? - Oh, very clearly.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29Yes, my memory is very good. Even at this wild age, I remember everything!
0:34:29 > 0:34:32We won't be indelicate and ask you how old you are!
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Oh, my dear, everybody knows how old I am,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38I am 79 and I have never lied about my age in my life!
0:34:38 > 0:34:40APPLAUSE
0:34:49 > 0:34:54I have to say, that announcement, you applaud.
0:34:54 > 0:35:00Applaud with great pleasure. I don't applaud, darlings.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02LAUGHTER
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Can you distinguish now, can you look back over the 100 films
0:35:06 > 0:35:10and say, that was the favourite person I worked with.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14- You mean director or actor? - Actor, for a start.
0:35:14 > 0:35:20Well, I think my favourite person to work with was Claude Rains.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24Who I consider one of our greatest actors, I really do.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27Who was your unfavourite?
0:35:27 > 0:35:29AUDIENCE MUTED LAUGHTER
0:35:29 > 0:35:35Well...Edward G Robinson was kind of a pig about his...
0:35:35 > 0:35:37LAUGHTER DROWNS SPEECH
0:35:37 > 0:35:39..and, eh...
0:35:41 > 0:35:46Yes, I had to kiss him in a scene as a very young girl
0:35:46 > 0:35:49and I didn't care about that very much, no. No.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54He was the kind that would go to the editor
0:35:54 > 0:35:59and say, "Now, you know that long scene, speech that Bette has,
0:35:59 > 0:36:05"I have a lot of thoughts to get over so you can keep cutting back to me!"
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Yes, he was quite a pig.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09LAUGHTER
0:36:09 > 0:36:13But you had a reputation of being a pretty tough woman yourself.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16You wouldn't have tolerated that, surely?
0:36:16 > 0:36:19You'd have said to the director, keep the camera on me, wouldn't you?
0:36:19 > 0:36:21- I'd have left that up to the director.- Really?
0:36:21 > 0:36:25Of course, the director plans all that. We don't plan it.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29But you never made suggestions like say, Edward G would say,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32- you'd never suggest anything to director?- Heavens, no.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34No, no, no, no.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37Was there any actor and you worked with so many,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40but was there any actor that you wanted to work with, but never did?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Oh, of course.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46I never worked with Clark Gable, I never worked with Gary Cooper,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50actually I never worked with any of the so-called
0:36:50 > 0:36:53terrific male stars of the day.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56See, we worked with people in our own studios.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59Was there any part that you desperately wanted?
0:36:59 > 0:37:02Yes, for many, many years I wanted to play Mary Lincoln.
0:37:02 > 0:37:08And start her out early before the White House and go on,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10but it never worked out.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15Yes, I very much wanted to do that. You have to ask me about my book!
0:37:15 > 0:37:17LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:37:25 > 0:37:29- Well, actually...- You see, I know you are enormously popular in England
0:37:29 > 0:37:32and I am thrilled to be on your show!
0:37:32 > 0:37:35I came on this show to sell a book.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38- I am in England to sell a book! - Oh, I don't know!
0:37:38 > 0:37:41We're glad to see you, whether you come to sell a book or not!
0:37:41 > 0:37:43Yes, I am a saleswoman.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47- I think they're probably... - Selfridge and company bought my book
0:37:47 > 0:37:49and I must say, I'm very proud of it.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52A lot of the information,
0:37:52 > 0:37:54obviously, now I am talking to you about the book,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58- because it's a biography... - No, no, this is not a biography.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01- Isn't it?- No, no, not all about my films. They're never mentioned.
0:38:01 > 0:38:06- Don't they?- No. This And That is exactly what it says.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10This and that, odds and ends and odds and ends.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Now, in England they've added two words - "A Memoir".
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Well, there are of course many, many memories,
0:38:17 > 0:38:21but it's really not necessarily that,
0:38:21 > 0:38:24but it's not autobiographal at all.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28- But it's about you. - It's just about things I think.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33- And people you've met. - And people I have met. Yes.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37And we worked very hard on it and we're very thrilled. It was on
0:38:37 > 0:38:41the New York Times best seller list for four months,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43which is terrific.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47So, we can sit here and say it's successful at home,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50we hope it will be successful here.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:39:01 > 0:39:04I appreciate very much you gave me
0:39:04 > 0:39:07this opportunity to talk about my book.
0:39:07 > 0:39:08LAUGHTER
0:39:08 > 0:39:11You had and still have a reputation, for being
0:39:11 > 0:39:17a formidable lady, both to work with and indeed you had a one-woman
0:39:17 > 0:39:21strike against the studios, didn't you, against Warner Brothers?
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Yes, because I wanted good directors and good scripts.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27And I signed for a film here in England
0:39:27 > 0:39:31and Mr Warner took me to court and I lost here.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37But in the long run, what do they say, I lost the...
0:39:37 > 0:39:41- You lost the battle but won the war.- ..battle but I've won the war.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44Yes. By the seriousness of my getting good films
0:39:44 > 0:39:48which I was not getting and I knew I would never go anywhere
0:39:48 > 0:39:52if I didn't have help with good scripts.
0:39:52 > 0:39:53What gave you that drive?
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Was it your mother, who I know was an enormous inspiration to you?
0:39:59 > 0:40:03No, I was complaining constantly about my bosses,
0:40:03 > 0:40:05the men who paid me
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and I got sick of complaining
0:40:08 > 0:40:13and I said you must, you must do something about it or just don't talk
0:40:13 > 0:40:18about it, which is true, so that's what I did, hoping it would work out.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20And you won the war.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23And he had an option on Gone With The Wind
0:40:23 > 0:40:25and the last visit with him in the office,
0:40:25 > 0:40:30he said, "Oh, I, I..."
0:40:30 > 0:40:35I said I was going on suspension, I was not going to work for a while.
0:40:35 > 0:40:41He said, "I have optioned the most wonderful book for you.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45"The title is Gone With The Wind",
0:40:45 > 0:40:50and I looked at him and I said, I'll bet it's a pip!
0:40:50 > 0:40:53And off I went
0:40:53 > 0:40:57- and when I came back from England, it was a pip!- It was a pip.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00- It was a pip.- But you can't win them all, for goodness sake.- No.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03What about a film of your life?
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Oh, I hope never done while I'm here.
0:41:06 > 0:41:07Who would you like to play the part?
0:41:09 > 0:41:14Well, we'd have to do some searching!
0:41:14 > 0:41:16LAUGHTER
0:41:16 > 0:41:17I don't know.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22I am very against these life stories on film with people alive.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27I mean, for instance, I don't know who would play Ruthie, my mother.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30No, it would kill me, it would really kill me.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35I don't want it done and my life really and truly,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38has basically been work.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40And you...
0:41:40 > 0:41:43There's not a lot else in my life but that.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47And I think it would be extremely dull.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51- I really do.- You had three husbands.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55I knew you were going to say that, I almost said it for you!
0:41:55 > 0:41:58LAUGHTER
0:41:58 > 0:42:01- Well, that wasn't... - It wasn't an uneventful life!
0:42:01 > 0:42:05- Well...- Sorry, it ISN'T an uneventful life!
0:42:05 > 0:42:09No, so, you find three men that are my three husbands and they're
0:42:09 > 0:42:11nothing like the husbands were.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14No, but I knew you'd say that, of course!
0:42:16 > 0:42:20Well, I just hope it's never done.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22While I'm around.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26I hope you'll continue to delight us with your performances.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28I do thank you for this, really and truly.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31- It was a great pleasure. - It's nice to meet you.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33I believe, in former years,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36we couldn't make time to be on your show, isn't that right?
0:42:36 > 0:42:39- Yes.- Yes, I remember now. - So it's good to have you.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41And you're incredibly attractive!
0:42:41 > 0:42:43LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:42:43 > 0:42:48Two years after this appearance, Davis died of breast cancer.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52Her passing away made front page news across the world
0:42:52 > 0:42:57and ended another chapter from the golden age of Hollywood.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd