Editing Bette Davis (section)

===1937–1941: Success with Warner Bros.===
[[File:Jezebel-1938-Bette-Davis.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Davis in ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]'' (1938)]] 
In 1937, Davis starred with [[Humphrey Bogart]] in ''[[Marked Woman]]'', a contemporary gangster drama inspired by the case of [[Lucky Luciano]], and a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career. She was awarded the [[Volpi Cup]] at the 1937 [[Venice Film Festival]] for her performance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/history/volpi.html|title=The awards of the Venice Film Festival|publisher=La Biennale di Venezia|access-date=December 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130707193035/http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/history/volpi.html|archive-date=July 7, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Davis's portrayal of a strong-willed 1850s [[Southern belle]] in ''[[Jezebel (1938 film)|Jezebel]]'' (1938) won her a second [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]. This was the first of five consecutive years in which she received the Best Actress nomination. During production, Davis entered a relationship with director [[William Wyler]]. She later described him as the "love of my life", and said that making the film with him was "the time in my life of my most perfect happiness".<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 121</ref> The film was a success.

This led to speculation in the press that she would be chosen to play [[Scarlett O'Hara]], a similar character, in ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''. Davis expressed her desire to play Scarlett, and while [[David O. Selznick]] was conducting a search for the actress to play the role, a radio poll named her as the audience favorite. Warner offered her services to Selznick as part of a deal that also included [[Errol Flynn]] and [[Olivia de Havilland]], but Selznick did not consider Davis as suitable, and rejected the offer.<ref>Haver (1980), p. 243</ref> Davis, on the other hand, did not want Flynn cast as [[Rhett Butler]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Newcomer [[Vivien Leigh]] was cast as Scarlett O'Hara, de Havilland landed a role as Melanie, and both of them were nominated for the Oscars, with Leigh winning.

''Jezebel'' marked the beginning of the most successful phase of Davis's career, and over the next few years, she was listed in the annual Quigley Poll of the [[Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll|Top Ten Money-Making Stars]], which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. for the stars who had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quigleypublishing.com/MPalmanac/Top10/Top10_lists.html |title=The 2006 Motion Picture Almanac, Top Ten Money-Making Stars |work=Quigley Publishing Company |access-date=August 24, 2008 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114130743/http://www.quigleypublishing.com/MPalmanac/Top10/Top10_lists.html |archive-date=January 14, 2013 }}</ref>

In contrast to Davis's success, her husband Ham Nelson had failed to establish a career for himself, and their relationship faltered. In 1938, Nelson obtained evidence that Davis was engaged in a sexual relationship with [[Howard Hughes]], and subsequently filed for divorce, citing Davis's "cruel and inhuman manner".<ref>{{cite book |last= Spada |first= James |title= More Than a Woman |year= 1993 |publisher= Little, Brown, and Company |isbn= 0-316-90880-0 |pages= 144–148}}</ref> He also claimed she read books and her film manuscripts too often.<ref name=":4" /> By this time they had been living distant lives, as Davis's career often kept her preoccupied.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1938-12-07 |title=DIVORCES BETTE DAVIS; Husband, H. O. Nelson, Testifies She Read Books Too Much |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/12/07/archives/divorces-bette-davis-husband-h-o-nelson-testifies-she-read-books.html |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0vDe2LfqoEC&dq=bette+davis+affair+howard+hughes&pg=PA53 |title=Bette Davis |date=2010-03-22 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9989-2 |pages=53 |language=en}}</ref> "I was married to Ham only in name...When we were together, there was nothing left between us," biographer [[David Thomson (writer)|David Thomson]] quoted her saying. "Any happy days we had had were in our memories almost entirely before we married. The terrible distance when we were together was harder to bear than when we were apart. We no longer communicated with each other at all. And our sex life had disappeared, a woman who's been with just one man for a long time is practically a virgin again."<ref name=":5" /> Nelson remarried in 1946 and died in 1975.<ref name=":4" />

[[File:Bette Davis - Errol Flynn.jpg|thumb|Davis with [[Errol Flynn]] in ''[[The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex]]'' (1939). At the time she played 60-year-old [[Elizabeth I]], she was only 30 years old.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0vDe2LfqoEC&dq=bette+davis+affair+howard+hughes&pg=PA53 |title=Bette Davis |date=2010-03-22 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9989-2 |pages=54 |language=en}}</ref>|261x261px]]
Nevertheless, Davis had wanted desperately for the marriage to work out and was devastated when it failed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m0vDe2LfqoEC&dq=bette+davis+affair+howard+hughes&pg=PA53 |title=Bette Davis |date=2010-03-22 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-1-4299-9989-2 |pages=55 |language=en}}</ref> She was emotional during the making of her next film, ''[[Dark Victory]]'' (1939), and considered abandoning it until the producer [[Hal B. Wallis]] convinced her to channel her despair into her acting. The film was among the high-grossing films of the year, and the role of Judith Traherne, a spirited heiress suffering from a [[malignant brain tumor]], brought her an Academy Award nomination. In later years, Davis cited this performance as her personal favorite.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 131</ref> ''Dark Victory'' featured [[Ronald Reagan]] and Humphrey Bogart in supporting roles.

Davis appeared in three other box-office hits in 1939: ''[[The Old Maid (1939 film)|The Old Maid]]'' with [[Miriam Hopkins]], ''[[Juarez (film)|Juarez]]'' with [[Paul Muni]], and ''[[The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex]]'' with Errol Flynn. The last was her first color film, and her only color film made during the height of her career. To play the elderly [[Elizabeth I of England]], Davis shaved her hairline and eyebrows. During filming, Davis was visited on the set by the actor [[Charles Laughton]]. She commented that she had a "nerve" playing a woman in her 60s, to which Laughton replied: "Never not dare to hang yourself. That's the only way you grow in your profession. You must continually attempt things that you think are beyond you, or you get into a complete rut." Recalling the episode many years later, Davis remarked that Laughton's advice had influenced her throughout her career.<ref>Chandler (2006), p. 141</ref>

[[File:Tracy Davis Publicity Photo Academy Award 1939.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis with [[Spencer Tracy]] at the 1939 [[Academy Awards]]|left]]
By this time, Davis was Warner Bros.' most profitable star, and she was given the most important of their female leading roles. Her image was considered with more care; although she continued to play character roles, she was often filmed in close-ups that emphasized her distinctive eyes. ''[[All This, and Heaven Too]]'' (1940) was the most financially successful film of Davis's career to that point.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

''[[The Letter (1940 film)|The Letter]]'' (1940) was considered "one of the best pictures of the year" by ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and Davis won admiration for her portrayal of an adulterous killer, a role originated onstage by [[Katharine Cornell]].<ref>Ringgold (1966), p. 105</ref> During this time, she was in a relationship with her former co-star [[George Brent]], who proposed marriage. Davis refused, as she had met Arthur Farnsworth, a New England innkeeper, and Vermont dentist's son. Davis and Farnsworth were married at Home Ranch, in [[Rimrock, Arizona]], in December 1940, her second marriage.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19401230&id=tgQyAAAAIBAJ&pg=3478,481968|title=Bette Davis Marries Vermont Dentist's Son at Arizona Ranch|via=Google News Archive Search|date=January 2, 1941|location=Reading, PA |publisher=Reading Eagle|access-date=October 3, 2014}}</ref>

In January 1941, Davis became the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences but antagonized the committee members with her brash manner and radical proposals. Davis rejected the idea of her being just "a figurehead only". Faced with the disapproval and resistance of the committee, Davis resigned and was succeeded by her predecessor [[Walter Wanger]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/04/bette-davis-birthday|title=How Bette Davis Became a Hollywood Icon By Refusing to Conform at Every Turn|last=Bianco|first=Marcie|work=HWD|access-date=October 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Bette Davis in The Little Foxes.jpg|thumb|upright|Davis often played unlikable characters such as Regina Giddens in ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]'' (1941).]]Davis starred in three movies in 1941, the first being ''[[The Great Lie]]'', with George Brent. It was a refreshingly different role for Davis as she played a kind, sympathetic character.

William Wyler directed Davis for the third time in [[Lillian Hellman]]'s ''[[The Little Foxes (film)|The Little Foxes]]'' (1941), but they clashed over the character of Regina Giddens, a role originally played on Broadway by [[Tallulah Bankhead]] (Davis had portrayed in film a role initiated by Bankhead on the stage once before{{snd}}in ''Dark Victory''). Wyler encouraged Davis to emulate Bankhead's interpretation of the role, but Davis wanted to make the role her own. She received another Academy Award nomination for her performance, and never worked with Wyler again.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Miller|first1=Gabriel|title=William Wyler: The Life and Films of Hollywood's Most Celebrated Director|date=2013|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=Lexington|isbn=978-0-8131-4209-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=np73uKbqL3UC&pg=PT202}}</ref>