Bette Davis her in the role of Margo Channing in "All About Eve". The First Day of Issue celebration took place September 18, 2008, at Boston University, which houses an extensive Davis archive. Featured speakers included her son Michael Merrill and Lauren Bacall. In 1997, the executors of her estate, Merrill and Kathryn Sermak, her former assistant, established The Bette Davis Foundation, which awards college scholarships to promising actors and actresses. Bette Davis became the first person to earn five consecutive Academy Award nominations for acting, all in the Best Actress category (1938-1942). Her record has only been matched by one other
Cousin Bette (film) Cousin Bette (film) Cousin Bette is a 1998 British-American comedy-drama film starring Jessica Lange in the title role and is loosely based on the novel "Cousin Bette" by Honoré de Balzac. The wealthy Hulot family gathers at the deathbed of their matron Adeline (Geraldine Chaplin). Adeline's husband, the Baron Hector Hulot (Hugh Laurie) has squandered their fortune on an extravagant string of mistresses and plunged them heavily into debt, a fact which stresses the entire family. Adeline's Cousin Bette (Jessica Lange), a poor and aging spinster, has spent her life supporting Adeline and her family with little return, and promises