Bette Davis's Real Name: Ruth Elizabeth Davis

Quick answer: Bette Davis's documented original name is Ruth Elizabeth Davis. Britannica lists that form as an also-known-as and dates her birth to April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts. The Hollywood Walk of Fame independently uses Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis and the same April 5, 1908, Lowell, Massachusetts, birth (Britannica; Hollywood Walk of Fame).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Bette Davis. Both sources agree on Ruth Elizabeth Davis and on a Lowell, Massachusetts, birth on April 5, 1908. Britannica says she developed a taste for acting at her mother's alma mater, Cushing Academy in Massachusetts, gained experience in summer stock, and was accepted by John Murray Anderson's acting school. The Walk of Fame independently lists the John Murray Anderson School of Theatre, New York. In 1929, Britannica says, she made her first Broadway appearances in The Earth Between and Broken Dishes, which led to a movie contract with Universal Pictures. After early films including Bad Sister (1931), Universal dropped her option; actor Murray Kinnell then recommended her for Warner Brothers' The Man Who Played God (1932), and Warner Brothers signed her.

Career highlights

Britannica says she won an Academy Award for Dangerous (1935) and a second Oscar for Jezebel (1938), and lists later credits including Of Human Bondage (1934), Dark Victory (1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), Now, Voyager (1942), All About Eve (1950), and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). The Walk of Fame independently records two Academy Awards for best actress, says she was the first person to accrue 10 Academy Award nominations for acting, the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Britannica independently notes the AFI Life Achievement Award, a later Emmy for the 1979 television film Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter, and a Kennedy Center honor in 1987.

Death

Both sources date her death to October 6, 1989, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. The Walk of Fame says she continued acting until shortly before her death from breast cancer. Britannica's lede gives the date and place without naming a cause in the extract consulted.

Name notes for searchers

Ruth Elizabeth Davis is the documented original name in both sources; the Walk of Fame styles it Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis. The professional name is Bette Davis. Searchers looking for the star of Jezebel, Now, Voyager, or What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? are usually aiming at the same person.