By the time LIFE magazine put Bette Davis on its cover in January 1939, the 30-year-old actress had already appeared, as a star and in supporting roles, in more than two dozen films and won two Oscars (for 1935’s Dangerous and 1938’s Jezebel). What many fans and most critics (even those who dislike her) consider Davis’ signature work in movies like Dark Victory, The Little Foxes and Now, Voyager was still ahead of her, but there was no question that the Massachusetts native was one of the most electrifying movie stars of any era.
In fact, in its 1939 article, LIFE’s writer Noel F. Busch called Davis’ turn as the rough, vulgar London waitress Mildred Rogers in the 1934 version of Somerset Maugham’s classic, Of Human Bondage, “probably the best performance ever recorded on the screen by a U.S. actress.”
High praise but anyone who has seen the film knows what Busch meant. For sheer, melodramatic perversity, Davis’ Mildred is one of film’s most riveting, revolting creations: a vicious, self-absorbed viper who also exudes a magnetic and for the film’s protagonist, an addictive carnality.
In the decades since her great work of the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s and even into the ’60s, Davis has remained one of the seminal figures in Hollywood history. A powerhouse actress she was the first person ever to receive 10 career Academy Award acting nominations Davis was unique in her appearance (those eyes) and in what a New York Times critic once perfectly described as her recognizable, inimitable “tensile” acting. Like James Cagney, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable and a handful of other legitimately iconic figures, Bette Davis was a spellbinding talent (i.e,. someone with genuine acting chops, rather than merely a gorgeous face or outrageous figure) who was instrumental in defining what it meant to be a screen idol in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
LIFE’s 1939 cover story, meanwhile, featured the actress not as some sort of raving prima donna the image that has, bizarrely, attached to her in the decades since her death in 1989 but as a remarkably grounded, albeit supremely driven, artist. (It also pointed out that “Miss Davis is Warner Bros.’ top box-office star. She is 30 years old, 5 ft. 3 in. tall and weighs 113 lb. without dieting. She conducts herself with more dignity than most stars.”)
That the article’s writer, Busch, was genuinely impressed with Davis especially in light of what passes for talent in Hollywood is abundantly clear throughout. One marvelous example of the tone of the piece:
Since the ability to act is comparatively unnecessary in Hollywood, it is regarded with suspicion. Directors might be interested in a girl who was noted for her love affairs or able to balance a peanut on her nose, because these accomplishments would suggest that she had an interesting personality. Conversely, acting ability [like Davis’] suggests an arty personality and young movie actresses should conceal it more carefully than a craving for cocaine.
Published one month before Dark Victory was released, the article featured a number of portraits by the great LIFE photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt. Here, LIFE.com again publishes several of those Eisenstaedt pictures, as well as a number of equally strong, charming photos that never appeared in the magazine.
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
With her dog, Popeye, in her lap, Bette Davis is wheeled across her Beverly Hills home’s wide, red-tiled patio in a sun chair by her chauffeur, 1939.
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Original caption: “A daily sunbath in a well-shielded enclosure is Bette Davis’ health recipe. At her beautiful Mexican-style, 4-acre Beverly Hills home, she spends most of her time outdoors.”
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Original caption: “Popeye the Magnificent, a pet Pekingese … follows his mistress down to the patio.”
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills, California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills, California, 1939
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Original caption: “The top box-office star of Warner Bros., in blue slacks, skims through the morning newspapers in the playroom of her home. The walls are decorated with Mexican posters.”
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Bette Davis at home in Beverly Hills, California, 1939.
Alfred Eisenstaedt The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
