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BETTE DAVIS COVERS SOME PRETTY HEAVY SUBJECTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL, 1987
Published on Nov 26, 2014
This was after Bette had four strokes within two weeks, which very nearly wiped her out. She talks about her heartbreak when her daughter wrote a book in the same
mean spirited manner as the one Christina Crawford wrote about her mom, Joan.
Please click "Show More" for interesting information concerning her daughter.
The following courtesy of Wilipedia: ""In 1983, after filming the pilot episode for the television series Hotel, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Within two weeks of her surgery she suffered four strokes which caused paralysis in the left side of her face and in her left arm, and left her with slurred speech. She commenced a lengthy period of physical therapy and, aided by her personal assistant, Kathryn Sermak, gained partial recovery from the paralysis.During this time, her relationship with her daughter, B. D. Hyman, deteriorated when Hyman became a born-again Christian and attempted to persuade Davis to follow suit. With her health stable, she traveled to England to film the Agatha Christie
mystery Murder with Mirrors (1985). Upon her return, she learned that Hyman had published a memoir, My Mother's Keeper, in which she chronicled a difficult mother-daughter relationship and depicted scenes of Davis' overbearing and drunken behavior. Several of Davis' friends commented that Hyman's depictions of events were not accurate; one said, "so much of the book is out of context." Mike Wallace
rebroadcast a 60 Minutes interview he had filmed with Hyman a few years earlier in which she commended Davis on her skills as a mother, and said that she had adopted
many of Davis' principles in raising her own children. Critics of Hyman noted that Davis had financially supported the Hyman family for several years and had recently
saved them from losing their house. Despite the acrimony of their divorce years earlier, Gary Merrill also defended Davis. Interviewed by CNN, Merrill said that Hyman was motivated by "cruelty and greed." Davis' adopted son, Michael Merrill, ended contact with Hyman and refused to speak to her again, as did Davis, who also disinherited her.
In her second memoir, This 'N That (1987), Davis wrote, "I am still recovering from the fact that a child of mine would write about me behind my back, to say nothing about
the kind of book it is. I will never recover as completely from B.D.'s book as I have from the stroke. Both were shattering experiences." Her memoir concluded with a
letter to her daughter, in which she addressed her several times as "Hyman," and described her actions as "a glaring lack of loyalty and thanks for the very privileged life I feel you have been given". She concluded with a reference to the title of Hyman's book, "If it refers to money, if my memory serves me right, I've been your keeper all these many years. I am continuing to do so, as my name has made your
book about me a success." ""
(Note: Her first memoir was "The Lonely Life" published in 1962. I have just finished reading it - very well written and gives an in-depth look at Bette's straight-forward,
no-nonsense, 'Yankee' persona but at the same time shows what a generous, intelligent, and loving person she was. I recommend it highly....Gladstone Girl2)
