Bette Davis of the thirties and into the forties", achieving notability for the variety of her characterizations and her ability to assert herself, even when her material was mediocre. Individual performances continued to receive praise; in 1987, Bill Collins analyzed "The Letter" (1940), and described her performance as "a brilliant, subtle achievement", and wrote: "Bette Davis makes Leslie Crosbie one of the most extraordinary females in movies." In a 2000 review for "All About Eve" (1950), Roger Ebert noted: "Davis was a character, an icon with a grand style; so, even her excesses are realistic." In 2006, "Premiere" magazine ranked her portrayal
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