Bette Midler on the set." While the original book and film had tremendous cultural impact, the remake was marked by poor reviews by many critics, and a financial loss of approximately $40 million at the box office. Midler joined forces again with Manilow for another tribute album, "Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook". Released in October 2005, the album sold 55,000 copies the first week of release, returned Midler to the top ten of US "Billboard" 200, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Midler released a new Christmas album titled "Cool Yule" in 2006, which featured a duet of Christmastime
Bette Midler father, Fred Midler, worked at a Navy base in Hawaii as a painter, and was also a housepainter. Both parents were born in New Jersey. She was named after actress Bette Davis, though Davis pronounced her first name in two syllables, and Midler uses one. She was raised in Aiea and attended Radford High School, in Honolulu. She was voted "Most Talkative" in the 1961 school Hoss Election, and "Most Dramatic" in her senior year (class of 1963). Midler majored in drama at the University of Hawaii at Manoa but left after three semesters. She earned money in the 1966