Bette Davis Ranked
A ranking of Bette Davis's film performances.
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- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsBette DavisAnne BaxterGeorge SandersA seemingly timid but secretly ruthless ingénue insinuates herself into the lives of an aging Broadway star and her circle of theater friends.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHenry FondaGeorge BrentIn 1850s Louisiana, a free-spirited Southern belle loses her fiancé due to her stubborn vanity and pride, and vows to win him back.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallTeresa WrightThe ruthless, moneyed Hubbard clan lives in, and poisons, their part of the Deep South at the turn of the twentieth century.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBette DavisJoan CrawfordVictor BuonoA former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisPaul HenreidClaude RainsA frumpy spinster blossoms under therapy and becomes an elegant, independent woman.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentHumphrey BogartA young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsBette DavisHerbert MarshallJames StephensonThe wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter written in her own hand may prove her undoing.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsBette DavisLeslie HowardFrances DeeA young man finds himself attracted to a cold, unfeeling waitress who might ultimately destroy them both.
- DirectorRobert AldrichStarsBette DavisOlivia de HavillandJoseph CottenAn aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsBette DavisErrol FlynnOlivia de HavillandA depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLeslie HowardBette DavisOlivia de HavillandAn actor of the stage finds himself pursued by a lovestruck fan while trying to patch up a tempestuous relationship with his actress lover.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsBette DavisClaude RainsWalter AbelPopular and beautiful Fanny Trellis is forced into a loveless marriage with an older man, Jewish banker Job Skeffington, in order to save her beloved brother Trippy from an embezzlement charge.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisMiriam HopkinsGeorge BrentThe arrival of an ex-lover on a young woman's wedding day sets in motion a chain of events which will alter her and her cousin's lives forever.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisJohn DallNigel BruceA schoolteacher becomes the mentor of a talented young miner and seeks to get him into a university.
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsBette DavisLillian GishVincent PriceTwo aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
- DirectorFrank CapraStarsGlenn FordBette DavisHope LangeA New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.
- DirectorVincent ShermanStarsBette DavisMiriam HopkinsGig YoungOld friends Kit Marlowe and Millie Drake adopt contrasting lifestyles: Kit is a single, critically acclaimed author while married Millie writes popular pulp novels.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsBette DavisGlenn FordDane ClarkWhen a woman's twin sister is drowned, she assumes her identity in order to be close to the man she feels her sister took from her years before.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsLeslie HowardHumphrey BogartBette DavisA waitress, a hobo and a bank robber get mixed up at a lonely diner in the desert.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsBette DavisFranchot ToneMargaret LindsayAn alcoholic actress who is considered a dangerous jinx is rehabilitated, but she then shows that she's as dangerous as ever.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsJames CagneyBette DavisStuart ErwinA financially-strapped charter pilot hires himself to an oil tycoon to kidnap his madcap daughter and prevent her from marrying a vapid band leader.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentMary AstorAfter a newlywed's husband apparently dies in a plane crash, she discovers that her rival for his affections is pregnant with his child.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsBette DavisCharles BoyerJeffrey LynnA duchess' irrational behavior toward her children's governess triggers tragic events that will change her family's lives forever.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsBette DavisAnn SheridanMonty WoolleyAn acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in with a Midwestern family.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisPaul HenreidClaude RainsAfter marrying her long-lost love, a musician finds the relationship threatened by a wealthy composer who is besotted with her.
- DirectorStuart HeislerStarsBette DavisSterling HaydenNatalie WoodA washed-up movie queen finds romance, but still desires a comeback.
- DirectorPaul HenreidStarsBette DavisKarl MaldenPeter LawfordThe working-class twin sister of a callous, wealthy woman impulsively murders her out of revenge and assumes her identity. But impersonating her dead twin is more complicated and risky than she anticipated.
- DirectorJohn HustonRaoul WalshStarsBette DavisOlivia de HavillandGeorge BrentThe day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsErrol FlynnBette DavisAnita LouiseThree daughters of a small town pharmacist undergo trials and tribulations in their problematic marriages between 1904 and 1908.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisHenry FondaAnita LouiseMary Donnell, a young legal secretary with a past, elopes with a client's son, but his father has the marriage annulled without knowing she's pregnant.
- DirectorBretaigne WindustStarsBette DavisRobert MontgomeryFay BainterA magazine's staff, including bickering ex-lovers Linda and Carey, cover an Indiana wedding, which goes slightly wrong...
- DirectorSeth HoltStarsBette DavisWendy CraigJill BennettThere's just something not quite right when Bette Davis stars as an English nanny. And is her 10-year-old charge an emotionally disturbed murderer or just an insolent brat?
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsPaul MuniBette DavisBrian AherneLouis Napoleon III (Claude Rains) takes advantage of the American Civil War to circumvent the Monroe Doctrine and expand his power by helping Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg (Brian Aherne) to add Mexico to his empire.
- DirectorDan CurtisStarsKaren BlackOliver ReedBurgess MeredithA family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsRichard BarthelmessBette DavisDorothy JordanA tenant farmer's son is caught in the middle of owner-tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner's seductive daughter.
- DirectorLloyd BaconMichael CurtizStarsBette DavisHumphrey BogartLola LaneA crusading district attorney persuades a clip joint hostess to testify against her mobster boss after her innocent sister is accidentally murdered during one of his unsavory parties.
- DirectorIrving RapperStarsBette DavisGary MerrillEmlyn WilliamsA mystery writer becomes involved in a tangled web of murderous deception not unlike the plots of her novels.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsEdward G. RobinsonBette DavisHumphrey BogartFight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsSpencer TracyBette DavisArthur ByronBrash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
- DirectorArchie MayoStarsPaul MuniBette DavisMargaret LindsayIn Mexico, a former lawyer becomes the invaluable second-in-command to a casino owner, whose wife begins to fall for him.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsBette DavisRichard ToddJoan CollinsSir Walter Raleigh (Richard Todd) overcomes court intrigue to win favor with Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) in order to get financing for a proposed voyage to the New World.
- DirectorJohn GuillerminStarsPeter UstinovMia FarrowSimon MacCorkindaleAs Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?
- DirectorHoward HigginStarsBette DavisPat O'BrienJunior DurkinJimmy idolizes bootlegger Matt, and when he refuses to implicate his friend, he is sent to reform school. He befriends Shorty, a boy with a heart condition, and escapes to let the world know about the brutal conditions.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsBette DavisErnest BorgnineDebbie ReynoldsWhen Jane tells her parents that she is getting married to Ralph Halloran, her mother Agnes starts planning an elaborate wedding, even though Jane does not wish it.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsBette DavisLewis StonePat O'BrienA sweet blonde goes to the police looking for her missing husband. When it turns out her husband is both a murder victim and a bachelor - and that the blonde is suspect #1, tough cop Butch Saunders comes up with a scheme to crack the case.
- DirectorBretaigne WindustStarsBette DavisJanis PaigeJim DavisBette Davis is a successful poetess who falls in love with a war hero in this romantic melodrama that is a moving film experience any time of year.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsBette DavisDonald WoodsMargaret LindsayThe lifestyles of Arlene and Valkyr Bradford, half-sisters from a respected San Francisco family, diverge markedly as Arlene takes up with criminals.
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsBette DavisShelley WintersGary MerrillWhile awaiting a delayed flight, a lawyer who has left his unfaithful wife, befriends three fellow passengers. After the plane crashes and he is among the few to survive, he feels compelled to contact the families of his dead friends.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerAlvin RakoffStarsBette DavisSheila HancockJack HedleyThree sons who work in the family construction business help their overbearing mother celebrate her anniversary to her late husband.
- DirectorJohn HoughVincent McEveetyStarsBette DavisLynn-Holly JohnsonKyle RichardsWhen a family moves to a country home, the young girls experience strange happenings that have a link to an occult event years past.
- DirectorEdward DmytrykStarsBette DavisSusan HaywardMike ConnorsA divorced couple's teen-age daughter stands trial for stabbing her mother's latest lover.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRobert StackMarisa PavanCharles CoburnThe career of Revolutionary War naval hero from his youth in Scotland through his service to Catherine the Great of Russia.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsJoan BlondellAnn DvorakBette DavisAlthough Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsBette DavisIan HunterColin CliveA lawyer impulsively marries a stranger after his fiancée dumps him.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsBette DavisWarren WilliamAlison SkipworthA double-crossing woman, the two-timing P.I. she hired, the corpulent "empress of crime", and a gentleman thief are all after a legendary priceless eighth-century ram's horn.
- DirectorJohn HoughStarsBette DavisChristopher LeeKim RichardsTia and Tony visit Los Angeles, but he's quickly kidnapped by an evil scientist, leaving her to desperately search for him.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsGeorge BrentBette DavisAnn DvorakNan Reynolds encourages her copywriter husband Bill to open his own agency. Nearly out of business, he finally gets a client. Former girlfriend Patricia Berkeley writes a very successful commercial for the client and heats up their old romance. Wife and girlfriend battle over Bill.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsBette DavisJoseph CottenDavid BrianResentful of her small-town life, a married woman schemes to run off with a rich businessman.
- DirectorCurtis BernhardtStarsBette DavisBarry SullivanJane CowlThe film is about divorce but with flashbacks as to why divorce occurs.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentRoscoe KarnsA woman reporter tries to prove she's just as good as any man, but runs into trouble along the way.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsBarbara StanwyckGeorge BrentDickie MooreAfter Selina's father dies, she's offered a job as a teacher in a small town and a new chapter of her life begins.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentEugene PalletteIt's the Florida party season for heiresses, with both Oklahoma oil heiress Hortense Burke-Meyers and New York face cream heiress Daisy Appleby in the state. And where the single American heiresses are, the European bachelor set wanting their hand in marriage are close at hand. While nouveau riche, uncouth Hortense courts the attention, the excitement and the European bachelors clamoring after her, Daisy is more reclusive, wanting to stay out of the party scene and limelight by hiding aboard her yacht. Daisy desperately wants to marry for love, and not marry because it makes good print (and thus sell more face cream for her father), especially as she knows those European men are only after her money. So Daisy offers a proposition to Johnny Jones, a Florida Star newspaper reporter she befriends: marry her out of convenience. What she wants is that marriage license to dissuade all those European suitors while she quietly searches for that true love, a man with simple, American values. In turn, she knows that Johnny doesn't want her money or a society life, all he wanting is a quiet place to write his novel and a small stipend equal to his meager newspaper wage just to live on his own terms. In entering into this agreement, Daisy doesn't count on her father's PR man Jorgenson trying to make Johnny into a society man he doesn't want to be. Daisy is also hiding two secrets from Johnny, one of those secrets being that she has found the man she truly loves: him. She is afraid that if she reveals the other bigger secret, she may never get the opportunity to make him fall in love with her.
- DirectorJohn Francis DillonStarsCharles FarrellBette DavisRicardo CortezRacketeers flood the market with counterfeit cosmetics and drugs, causing some tragedies.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentRicardo CortezNewspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career of racketeer Alexander Carston. Julie Gardner is Carston's bookkeeper. Bradford enters Carston's organization and Julie cooperates with him to land Carston in jail. An informer squeals on them. Julie is kidnapped by Carston's henchmen as she is about to testify.
- DirectorGerd OswaldStarsBette DavisErnest BorgnineJack CassidyBunny is a penniless widow who blackmails a robber into teaching her the trade. Soon the pair starts a successful crime spree, and the cops aren't turning a blind eye.
- DirectorDamiano DamianiStarsBette DavisHorst BuchholzCatherine SpaakThe son of a dead Italian nobleman and a wealthy American woman forgets the disappointment of finding he has no talent for being a painter by succumbing to the sexual advances of an amoral model who believes in indiscriminate love affairs.
- DirectorDaniel TaradashStarsBette DavisBrian KeithKim HunterDuring the 1950s, a small-town librarian is shunned by the locals after she refuses the City Council's request to remove a book on Communism from the library's shelves.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJames CagneyBette DavisAllen JenkinsAn unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsRuth ChattertonGeorge BrentBette DavisA socialite gets a divorce but can't keep out of her ex-husband's life.
- DirectorRobert HamerStarsAlec GuinnessBette DavisNicole MaureyAn English schoolteacher meets his lookalike, a French count; and unwillingly swaps identities with him.
- DirectorFranklin GollingsStarsBette DavisMichael RedgraveAlexis KannerExplores the relationships shared by the residents of a seedy boarding house in London.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsWarren WilliamBette DavisGuy KibbeeJailbird is hired to lead a dimwitted candidate's campaign for governor.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsDouglas Fairbanks Jr.Bette DavisFrank McHughTo share expenses, unemployed Alabama moves in with also unemployed Bill and Toodles. Bill is hired by a gangster's mistress and ultimately becomes the gangster's bodyguard. Alabama unknowingly applies for a stenographer's job at Mr. Weber's (the gangster's) business. Bill is forced to fly a plane carrying narcotics into the U.S. but fights back.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsWilliam PowellBette DavisFrank McHughWhen the Manhattan investment firm of Sherwood Nash goes broke, he joins forces with his partner Snap and fashion designer Lynn Mason to provide discount shops with cheap copies of Paris couture dresses.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsH.B. WarnerWalter ByronBette DavisRonald Quayle escapes from prison. He was sent there for murdering his father, based on the testimony of his stepmother, Caroline. An explosion disfigures him, but plastic surgery gives him an opportunity to return to England and investigate his father's murder under a new identity. As Robert Crockett he romances his stepmother, ultimately trapping her by creating the appearance of a double-cross among her accomplices, now guests at her house.
- DirectorJohn G. AdolfiStarsGeorge ArlissBette DavisTheodore NewtonThe vacationing head of a successful shoe company is placed as his rival's trustee, unbeknownst to them.
- DirectorRobert FloreyStarsBette DavisGene RaymondFrank McHughAlthough free spirit Helen Bauer does not believe in marriage, she consents to marry Don, but his infidelities cause her to also take on a lover.
- DirectorJames WhaleStarsMae ClarkeDouglass MontgomeryDoris LloydA prostitute's self-loathing makes her reluctant to marry an idealistic soldier during World War I.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsPhillips LordEffie PalmerFrank AlbertsonSeth Parker takes in Robbie Turner and protects him from his cruel father Rufe. When the father disappears, Seth intends to raise Robbie as his own son. The vindictive father attacks Mary Lucy, a neighbor's daughter who is also trying to help Robbie. Mary's boyfriend David rescues her, and Rufe runs off with his son. But not for long.
- DirectorJohn M. StahlStarsJohn BolesGenevieve TobinLois WilsonBart is a clerk for a publishing company. He has written a novel. He and his wife Peggy have five children. Bart's former girlfriend Mildred manages the company's Paris office. She manages to get the novel published and talks Bart into marrying her after he divorces Peggy. Initially successful, Bart must turn to writing trash to keep Mildred in money. When he sees how well his four sons and daughter Margaret have grown without his help, he asks Peggy to let them all come live with him and Mildred. Peggy agrees, but the arrival of Bart's beloved children puts Mildred's future in jeopardy.
- DirectorLuigi ComenciniStarsAlberto SordiSilvana ManganoJoseph CottenEvery year, a Countess invites a poor Italian family to play in a card game.
- DirectorHobart HenleyStarsConrad NagelSidney FoxBette DavisMarianne falls in love with a con artist who has a hidden agenda.
- DirectorDavid GreeneStarsBette DavisRobert WagnerDenholm ElliottA C.I.A. Agent is used as a pawn in an insane woman's plan to steal a Polaris submarine.
- DirectorJohn G. AdolfiStarsGeorge ArlissBette DavisViolet HemingAfter losing his hearing, a musician uses lip-reading to help others.
- DirectorLarry CohenStarsBette DavisBarbara CarreraColleen CampA mother-and-daughter pair of witches wreaks havoc on a suburban family.