Born in 1908, the young Bette Davis knew her life was going to be on the stage and the emerging medium of film. Her large, round eyes and small cherubic mouth lent to her ethereal quality on screen while also providing a reprieve from the typical standards of beauty at the time when her star was rising. Beyond her physical appearance she became known as a difficult woman that simply meant that she was intimidating, imposing and rarely backed down from an argument. She was known for playing these same kinds of difficult women throughout her career from Jezebel (1938) to All About Eve (1950). Like Davis herself, the characters she played on screen never backed down, often taking the road less traveled. This developed her fan base that saw her as an on screen representation of themselves, not subservient to a man, far from perfect but always alive.
As Davis aged out of playing ingénues and then leading ladies, the actress began a streak towards the end of her career which saw her continue to play the divisive characters she had become known for in the horror genre. Beginning with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and continuing with Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Nanny (1965), Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973), Burnt Offerings (1973) and The Watcher in the Woods (1980), Davis was able to see out her career maintaining her status as an irreplaceable actress in horror films which offered a plethora of dynamic and engaging parts for women of a certain age.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)
Perhaps one of the most iconic films about show business, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is a psychological horror/thriller credited with inventing the subgenre of psycho-biddy. While horror films were enamored with the young, nubile female flesh (particularly in Europe at this time), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane looks at the decaying mind and decaying bodies of two actress sisters, both of whom had brushes with super-stardom in their respective times. Bette Davis stars at the titular Baby Jane whose glory days have long since faded, her sister Blanche who achieved true stardom within the Hollywood system was played by Davis real-life rival Joan Crawford. When Blanche is paralyzed in a car accident, Jane is forced to care for her amplifying the power struggle between the two sisters. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is notable not only for the twisted ways in which the sisters torment each other through various means, but because it portrays screen icons Davis and Crawford as aged, something few actresses are ever allowed to play while still being a lead in a film. The film offers no blood or titillation but Davis unhinged Jane who grows increasingly terrifying and controlling throughout the film offered an outlet, a horrific glimpse into the depth of what jealousy and vanity could drive a person to do.
Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Bette Davis once again teamed up with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane director Robert Aldrich with Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte. If there was any doubt as to whether “Baby Jane” was a horror film, Charlotte doesnt hold anything back. Filled with eerie music, a decaying house, a couple of rather explicit death scenes particularly during this time before the Hays Code (or Motion Picture Production Code) was lifted in 1968. Davis once again played the titular character who everyone believes murdered her lover decades before. Now an aging spinster, Charlotte desperately tries to hold on to her sanity and her inherited wealth while others plot against her. Often compared to Henri-Georges Clouzot Les Diabolique (1955), Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte remains unique not only because of Davis and her co-star Olivia de Havillands age, but because of the agency that Charlotte wields throughout the film. Charlotte falls seamlessly in line with the kinds of characters Davis had played before yet still allows her to raise her acting game going head to head with the rest of the cast on screen.
The Nanny (1965)
Continuing her trajectory in the horror genre, Bette Davis made a film with the British film company Hammer Horror. In The Nanny, Davis takes on the title role caring for a young boy recently released from an institution after the suspicious death of his sister years earlier. While Davis previous forays into the horror genre saw the actress giving over the top performances which still rank among her best, Davis scales herself down in The Nanny making her character cold to the touch and always calculating her next move against her 10-year-old opponent. The Nanny works best when Davis and her young co-star William Dix go head to head, dividing the audiences trust along the way. In The Nanny, Davis shows that she can not only play restraint, and in doing so keep up with contemporary acting styles, but also give one of the best and most terrifying performances of her career.
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
In the 1973 made-for-television film Scream, Pretty Peggy, Bette Davis morphs into her role as matriarch and supporting character. Peggy (Sian Barbara Allen) is a young, attractive university student hired by an eccentric sculptor to look after his aging mother, Mrs. Elliott (Davis), and his mad sister in their decaying home but, of course, all is not as it appears. Davis role is essentially a step up from a cameo role, though her presence helps balance the perky and feeble role that Peggy takes on in the film. Scream, Pretty Peggy fits nicely into the new horror trend of the late ’60s and early ’70s where horror is situated in the home front where the people closest to you are the ones you trust the least. The film also plays on that paranoia and introduces the element of a young womans independence, bringing her face-to-face with danger and peril. Davis serves to effectively class-up the proceedings while heightening the camp elements that she was known for.
Burnt Offerings (1976)
Somewhere between Robert Wises The Haunting (1963) and The Amityville Horror (1979) lies Burnt Offerings. Directed by Dan Curtis of “Dark Shadows” fame, Burnt Offerings merges a haunted house with possession and madness storyline that sees the Rolf family rent out a vacation mansion for the summer. The house comes at a steal with the caveat that the owners mother will be living in the attic. The Rolfs are to leave a meal out for her every day but never speak to or disturb her. Bette Davis plays Aunt Elizabeth, the familys elderly relative who joins them for the summer and in keeping with the previous films discussed her presence in the film serves to highlight the nature of aging on the psyche. As supernatural activity begins to increase in the house, Aunt Elizabeth begins to doubt her sanity and reminds her that her that death waits around every corner of the cursed mansion.
The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
Widely known for being the most terrifying film Disney ever produced, The Watcher in the Woods is an oddball fable that sees the American Curtis family renting a summer home from Mrs. Aylwood (Bette Davis). The oldest Curtis daughter Jan (Lynn Holly-Johnson) feels a presence of someone or something in the woods. Believing it has something to do with the disappearance of Mrs. Aylwoods daughter decades earlier, Jan becomes determined to uncover the truth. The Watcher in the Woods is a seriously spooky film and director John Hough utilizes many horror techniques that were becoming popular at the time, including POV shots and a dream sequence that wouldnt be out of place in a Dario Argento film. It is notable for Davis not only because it marks one of her last major onscreen roles and also one of her most nurturing. Though Mrs. Aylwood begins the film as stand-offish, she soon warms to the Curtis children, especially Jan when it becomes apparent that she wants to help. While it may Davis most tender performance, she still revels in the initial hardness of Mrs. Aylwood and remains a commanding presence every time she is on screen.
