Bette Davis filmography One of Davis' biggest successes at Warner Brothers was "Now, Voyager" (1942), which earned her another Academy Award nomination. Her later films for the studio, including "Winter Meeting" (1948) and "Beyond the Forest" (1949), failed at the box office. She turned down leading roles in "Mildred Pierce" and "Possessed" - both films eventually went to Joan Crawford. As her popularity waned, Warner Brothers dropped her contract in 1949, and from thereafter on, she occupied a freelance career. Davis received a career revival in "All About Eve" (1950) for 20th Century-Fox. She played an aging Broadway star, Margo Channing, who is
Bette Davis film as "an unfortunate finale to her brilliant career". Hedda Hopper wrote: "If Bette had deliberately set out to wreck her career, she could not have picked a more appropriate vehicle." The film contained the line, "What a dump!", which became closely associated with Davis after it was referenced in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", and impersonators began to use it in their acts. Davis filmed "The Story of a Divorce" (released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1951 as "Payment on Demand"). Shortly before filming was completed, producer Darryl F. Zanuck offered her the role of the aging