Abstract

Throughout a long film career, Bette Davis challenged the conventions of both gender and ageing, producing some of the most remarkable and controversial depictions of ageing femininity in films like Mr. Skeffington (1944), All About Eve (1950), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and The Whales of August (1987). Having triumphed in studio era Hollywood of the 1930s and ‘40s, she refused to retire gracefully in the 1950s and insisted on working throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Consequently, as a visibly ageing woman star, she unsettled one of gendered inequalities at the very heart of Hollywood. An examination of a number of Davis’ most successful films in terms of gender and age provides a fuller understanding of her controversial star image.