Bette Davis theatrical actress Margo Channing in "All About Eve" (1950). Davis read the script, described it as the best she had ever read, and accepted the role. Within days, she joined the cast in San Francisco to begin filming. During production, she established what would become a life-long friendship with her co-star Anne Baxter and a romantic relationship with her leading man Gary Merrill, which led to marriage. The film's director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, later remarked: "Bette was letter perfect. She was syllable-perfect. The director's dream: the prepared actress." Critics responded positively to Davis' performance, and several of her lines became
Carol Channing uninspired, says columnist Dick Kleiner: The show had first opened on Broadway on January 16, 1964, and by the time the show closed in late December 1970, it had become the longest-running musical in Broadway history, with nearly 3,000 performances. Besides Channing, six other stars played the title role during those seven years: Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller and Ethel Merman. Al Hirschfeld's illustration of her was printed on the front page of the "Sunday Theatre" section of the "New York Times", which she feels captured the essence of her character: "How did the great