Sarah Siddons painting. The film opens with a close-up of the statuette, and ends with a character holding it. Actress Bette Davis, who played Margo Channing in the film, posed as Siddons in a 1957 re-creation of the Reynolds portrait staged as part of the Pageant of the Masters. In April 2010, BBC Radio 4's "Woman's Hour Drama" presented "Sarah Siddons: Life in Five Sittings", a radio drama by David Pownall about the long relationship between Siddons and artist Thomas Lawrence, in five 15-minute parts. When the film "All About Eve" was released in 1950, the "Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement"
Bette Davis that she was 'Larger Than Life', a tough broad who had survived? Probably some of both." Her film choices were often unconventional: Davis sought roles as manipulators and killers in an era when actresses usually preferred to play sympathetic characters, and she excelled in them. She favored authenticity over glamour, and was willing to change her own appearance if it suited the character. As she entered old age, Davis was acknowledged for her achievements. John Springer, who had arranged her speaking tours of the early 1970s, wrote that despite the accomplishments of many of her contemporaries, Davis was ""the" star