Lauren Bacall "Cactus Flower" (1965), "Applause" (1970), and "Woman of the Year" (1981). She won Tony Awards for her performances in the latter two. "Applause" was a musical version of the film "All About Eve", in which Bette Davis had starred as stage diva Margo Channing. According to Bacall's autobiography, she and a girlfriend won an opportunity in 1940 to meet her idol Bette Davis at Davis' hotel. Years later, Davis visited Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her performance in "Applause". Davis told Bacall, "You're the only one who could have played the part." The few films Bacall made during this
Bette Davis derided; Pauline Kael described "Now, Voyager" (1942) as a "shlock classic", and by the mid-1940s, her sometimes mannered and histrionic performances had become the subject of caricature. Edwin Schallert, for the "Los Angeles Times", praised Davis' performance in "Mr. Skeffington" (1944), while observing, "The mimics will have more fun than a box of monkeys imitating Miss Davis"; and Dorothy Manners, at the "Los Angeles Examiner", said of her performance in the poorly received "Beyond the Forest" (1949): "No night club caricaturist has ever turned in such a cruel imitation of the Davis mannerisms as Bette turns on herself in this