More than a woman

the long version

A biography of Bette Davis, revealing a life replete with scandal, sex, violence, courage, sacrifice and heartbreak. After three years of research and more than 150 interviews, James Spada has written a revealing biography of one of the greatest Hollywood Legends. Spada has convinced Bette Davis's relatives and friends to speak out for the first time, and he has gained new access to court documents, long-lost inquest transcript, and personal correspondence to paint a portrait of one of the most complex and misrepresented women in Hollywood history. This book reveals Bette Davis' oddly close relationship with her mother (who bathed her until she was in her teens); her ambivalent feelings about the sex act, as revealed by a director/lover; her possible role in the brain damage of her adopted daughter; the bizarre behaviour of her husband Gary Merrill and the vicious custody battle for their son, Michael; her pursuit of much younger men she entered her sixties; and her tragic and courageous last days.