April 5 - Bette Davis

Actress Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was born on April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts. She started acting in the theater in the 1920s, then on Broadway, where she was spotted by a Universal Studios talent scout. In Hollywood she failed her first screen test, endured humiliation on the proverbial casting couch, and appeared in more than 20 forgettable films until she won acclaim as the slattern, Mildred Rogers, in “Of Human Bondage” (1934). Unlike other actresses, Davis relished roles casting her as an intense, unsympathetic character, one of which was the vain, abrasive and fearful Margo Channing (pictured) in “All About Eve” (1950), which won that year’s Oscar for Best Picture. Several of her lines in the movie are now legendary, especially the oft-quoted, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." Amazingly, Davis had the unique distinction and luxury of turning down the starring roles in both “Mildred Pierce” (1945) and “The African Queen” (1951).