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When
Bette was young, she attended several plays and musicals, which
sparked her interest in the theatre.
During school, Bette would partake in talent shows, where
she won the $2 first prize for her rendition of “Lullaby of
Broadway,” a song Bette still sings to this day.
After graduating high school, Bette got a bit part in the
movie “Hawaii” where she earned enough money to move to New
York, hoping someone would discover her.
In
1966, after many odd jobs, Bette landed a part in the chorus of
“Fiddler on the Roof,” and later moved up to the role of the
daughter Tizel. Bette’s
sister Judith had come from Hawaii to see Bette on the stage, but
on her way to the theatre she was struck by speeding taxi cab and
killed instantly. It
was hard for Bette to continue doing the show every night, and so
in 1969, she decided that part of her life was done and she moved
on to bigger and better things. In
1970, Bette started performing at small nightclubs for free where
Steve Ostrow, the man who ran the Continental Baths, noticed her.
He offered her a job immediately and Bette began creating
her unbelievable act and alter ego,
“The Divine Miss M.”
Bette would perform songs like “Delta Dawn,” “Boogie
Woogie Bugle Boy,” and Superstar - a song made popular by The
Carpenters. Bette
was a great hit and began performing at other clubs such as The
Bitter End where Ahmet Ertugun, the president of Atlantic Records,
stumbled upon her act. He
was amazed at her talent, and how the audience adored her, and
offered her a recording career on the spot.
With
great reviews on Bette's first album, she began work on her second
self-titled album, Bette Midler.
The album went gold immediately and peaked at #9, but it
was released to horrible reviews.
Jon Landau, of Rolling Stone, wrote such horrible things
that it devastated Bette to the point of felling completely
worthless as a human being and caused her to have a nervous
breakdown. Bette took
the next year off to relax and reinvent herself.
When
Bette returned in 1975, she had a brand new show, “Clams On The
Half Shell Revue.” Nobody,
including Bette, had any idea of how successful the show would be,
but it ended up breaking all Broadway records, and had to be
extended two months to keep up with the demand.
The show ran from April 14, to June 21st. While
working on “Clams” Bette also was working on her third album,
“Songs For The New Depression.”
It was released to melancholy
reviews and only peaked at #27 on the Billboard Charts. The album
was produced by Moogy Klingman.
In 1976, Bette set out on another cross-country tour
entitled “The Depression Tour,” which she hoped would help
album sales of her latest album. The
show, as with “Clams,” was very successful, and was turned
into a critically acclaimed HBO TV special called "The
Fabulous Bette Midler Show."
The tour also spawned the album "Live at Last,"
which to this day encompasses every essence of what a live Bette
Midler show is like.
In
1978, after long negotiations, Bette stepped into her first film
role as Mary Rose Foster, in the film “The Rose,” about a
self-destructive rock-singer loosely based on the life of Janis
Joplin. All
of Bette's performances were done live to extras, who were each
paid $50 to cheer, but as the night ended, they didn’t need the
money to cheer, and would have done it for free. While
“The Rose” was in postproduction, Bette took a highly
successful world tour all over Europe and Australia! “The Rose”
proved to be a great success for Bette, and she was nominated for
many awards, including films highest honor, an Academy Award.
Bette lost the Oscar to Sally Field, but won two Golden
Globe for her riveting performance.
Bette's
new passion was acting, and she wanted to peruse more of it!
With her new hit single “The Rose” from the soundtrack
of the film, more and more people were becoming fans of Bette’s,
and wanted to see more of her! Bette went on tour to satisfy those
fans, which became one of her most successful ever, called “Divine
Madness."
The tour was so successful that it inspired a live-concert
film of the same name.
The film was a complete success; fans and critics
everywhere loved it!
In 1982, Bette began filming her newest movie, Jinxed.
With Bette's success in The Rose, everyone assumed that
this movie would be just as successful.
While filming however, many of the cast members did not get
along at all.
Bette and co-star Ken Wahl often fought over little things,
such as publicity. Word of the feuds got out to the public, which
ruined the films image. When the film was released, Bette still
had high hopes, sadly, however, the film did not do well at all.
Overall, the film only earned $2.5 million dollars, losing plenty
of money for it's distributor, MGM.
Bette was also crushed by the flop of this film.
On December 14, 1984, Bette was married to Martin von
Hasselberg. Hasselberg was one half of the duo "The Kipper
Kids." Bette and Martin's daughter, Sophie, was born in 1986.
Bette's father, Fred, died shortly before Sophie was born. Also in
1986, Bette signed a contract with Disney to star in several
films, such as Ruthless People, with Danny DeVito, Outrageous
Fortune, with Shelley Long, and Down and Out in Beverly Hills,
with Nick Nolte, to name a few. Bette became the queen of comedy,
and one of Disney's highest grossing and highest paid stars of the
1980's. Bette won 5 American Comedy Awards for these films.
Starring in these movies also opened new doors for Bette, as well
as new fans.
In 1988, Bette starred in one of her most successful films
to date, Beaches, it dealt with the story of two childhood friends
who reunite and face many of life's problems while growing older.
Beaches earned about $60 million dollars at the box office, that
doesn't account for the numerous video rentals. The soundtrack to
the film was released to wonderful reviews and it went to #2 on
the Billboard charts, again winning Bette several Grammy Awards,
including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for the hit
"Wind Beneath my Wings." The single, "Wind Beneath
my Wings," went to #1 on the Billboard Charts, and is
probably Bette's most recognized song.
The years following that success, she starred in the film
"Stella" with John Goodman as well as "Scenes From
a Mall" with Woody Allen. Bette earned many awards and
important nominations. She was nominated for her second Academy
Award in 1992 for her portrayal of Dixie Leonard in "For the
Boys." She did win another Golden Globe for the film but lost
the Academy Award to Jodie Foster for "Silence of the
Lambs." The soundtrack of For the Boys went Gold. Her album
"Some People Lives," gave us the song "From a
Distance," earning Bette another Grammy Award. The album went
Platinum.
In May of 1992, Bette as well as America cried when Johnny
Carson stepped down as the King of Late Night. Bette was chosen to
be the final guest on the show and she closed with "One For
My Baby." Bette brought the audience, as well as Johnny
Carson to tears. Bette said it best when she said "It was the
end of an era."
In June of 1993, Bette released a compilation of her
greatest hits, the album was "Experience the Divine."
Bette also opened a show of the same name at Radio City Music
Hall. The shows were a major success for Bette. In 1993, she also
starred in the TV movie "Gypsy," one of Bette's favorite
roles was playing Mama Rose. It also earned Bette another Golden
Globe. The soundrack to the film was released in November of 1993.
Bette of Roses was released in 1995 and it included songs such as
"To Deserve You," "To Comfort You," and
"In This Life." The album peaked at number 45 on the
Billboard charts and the album went platinum.
In
1996, Bette starred in The First Wives Club along with Goldie Hawn
and Diane Keaton. The film proved to be Bette's highest grossing
film. It earned roughly $105 million. In 1997, Bette starred in
That Old Feeling with Dennis Farina. In September of 1998, Bette
released the album "Bathhouse Betty." The album had the
song "One True Friend" from the Meryl Streep film
"One True Thing" as well as "I'm Beautiful"
and "Laughing Matters." The album was later classified
Gold. Bette went on tour with Bathhouse Betty in October 1999, the
tour was called "The Divine Miss Millennium Tour." It
was a success.
In 2000, Bette released her album "Bette," and also starred in a CBS TV series called "Bette." The show proved to be a ton of work for the 56-year-old Bette. On March 7, 2001, the show was cancelled, much to the relief of Bette. In an infamous episode of The David Letterman, Bette said she felt like a dung beetle rolling a piece of dung uphill while filming the show. With the cancellation of the show, she now got to spend more time with her husband, Martin and daughter, Sophie. Bette's album "Bette" peaked in the Top 40 of Billboard's Top 200 Charts. |
Bette Midler, named after Bette Davis, was born to Fred and Ruth
Midler in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 1, 1945.
