Late in 1930, she was hired by Universal, where she made her first film, called Bad Sister (1931). She was in the off-Broadway play 'The Earth Between' (1923), and her Broadway debut in 1929 was in 'Broken Dishes'. She enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School and was the star pupil.
To her, it presented much more of a challenge.Īfter graduation from Cushing Academy, she was refused admittance to Eva Le Gallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but then she discovered the stage, and gave up dancing for acting. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney.
