Noted film biographer Charlotte Chandler interviewed Bette Davis extensively in the last decade of her life, resulting in a biography in which the great actress speaks for herself. Chandler also spoke with directors, actors, and others who knew and worked with Davis, and includes brief synopses of all of her theatrical films. Here are some more examples of Bette's wit to be found within these pages: “I'm the one who didn't get the man, which is the more interesting character on the screen, but in real life sometimes I wish I could just have been the girl who got the man, and kept him. I got four husbands and several lovers, but I didn't keep any of them. I was invited to the White House, but no man stayed to share my white cottage.” “My favorite actor with whom I never played, professionally or personally, was Laurence Olivier. I admired everything about him. He was a great actor, and he was my dream man. Literally and figuratively. Larry was my fantasy lover, the perfect man, or at least I thought he would be. He was not only beautiful, but intelligent.” "The high price of success in show business often goes unnoticed unless a perceptive writer reveals it to us, as Charlotte Chandler has done in her remarkable books about Groucho Marx, Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder, and Alfred Hitchcock. Now, in "The Girl Who Walked Home Alone, Chandler reveals Bette Davis as a valiant, often misunderstood heroine of the real star wars." -- Sidney Sheldon Charlotte Chandler (New York City)'s first book, Hello, I Must Be Going , was a national bestseller about Groucho Marx. Her book, I, Fellini , was selected as a New York Times notable book and has been published in more than 25 foreign editions. Her books Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder, A Personal Biography (1-55783-632-9) and It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock, A Personal Biography (1-55783-692-2) have been published as Applause paperbacks. Her next book Ingrid: Ingrid Bergman, A Personal Biography will be published in March 2007 by Simon & Schuster. The Girl Who Walked Home Alone Bette Davis - A Personal Biography By Charlotte Chandler Applause Books Copyright © 2007 Charlotte Chandler All right reserved. ISBN: 9781557837172 Introduction "One must live in the present tense, but I have always lived in the present tensely," Bette Davis told me. "I have few regrets, not because I've done everything in my life perfectly, but because my mother, Ruthie, instilled in me the idea that I should never think about what I've missed, only about what I'm missing." From the time she was a little girl, Bette felt that life had something exceptional waiting for her, and that it would find her or that she would find it. "None of us knows what our future will be, but you might say I was born with two crystal balls. "I wanted the lioness's share. I had to be the best. I'm an overachiever. I always had the will to win. I felt it baking cookies. They had to be the best cookies anyone ever baked. But there was a price to pay. "If a man is dedicated to his work, he's more of a man. If a woman feels that way, she's less of a woman. Those same qualities that women find so absolutely wonderful in a man, men don't find so wonderful in a woman. "I'm the one who didn't get the man, which is the more interesting character on the screen, but in real life sometimes I wish I could just have been the girl who got the man, and kept him. I got four husbands and several lovers, but I didn't keep any of them. I was invited to the White House, but no man stayed to share my white cottage." She enjoyed being Bette Davis but sometimes it was a burden. "People wished to see the character they saw on the screen, or there were looks of disappointment on their faces. "They actually expect you to be certain characters they saw in the films. They think I'm a difficult person because of the parts I've played. They're disappointed in you if you don't say those lines. They don't want you to be out of character. "I expect you to tell everyone that I'm not that person. Anyway, I'm not just that person. "I feel your audience, if you are a star, comes to see you with certain preconceptions and expectations. They do not want you so predictable that everything you are going to do is predictable, but they do want you to be at least within fifty percent of the character they are expecting. Speaking loosely, I would estimate about seventy-five percent is generally good. The trick is to go as far as you can, but not too far. "Of course, I understand that a public person gives up a certain right to privacy, but I never wanted to be in the 'slime light.' 'Press' is all too often made up of two words, 'pry' and 'mess.' They're too busy looking for 'bedlines.' "No one has been able to get any headlines, or bedlines, from me, thank you very much. I've never been the kiss-and-yell type. "I've never understood wanting to put public people under the microscope. I