Dark Victory:  The Life of Bette Davis by Ed Sikov is a 479-page hardcover published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2007, stated first edition.  There is very minor bumping to the foot of the spine and minor pen markings on the endpapers. Otherwise the pages are crisp and clean with tight, squared binding.

Book Summary

She was magnificent and exasperating in equal measure.  Jack Warner called her “an explosive little broad with a sharp left.”  Humphrey Bogart once remarked, “Unless you’re very big, she can knock you down.”  Bette Davis was a force of nature–an idiosyncratic talent who nevertheless defined the words “movie star” for more than half a century and who created the extraordinary body of work filled with unforgettable performances.

In Dark Victory, the noted film critic and biographer Ed Sikov paints the most detailed picture ever delivered of this intelligent, opinionated, and unusual woman who was–in the words of a close friend–“one of the major events of the twentieth century.”  Drawing on new interviews with friends, directors, and admirers, as well as archival research and a fresh look at the films, this stylish, intimate biography reveals Davis’s personal as well as professional life in a way that is both illuminating and sympathetic.  With his wise and well-informed perspective on the production and accomplishments of such movie milestones as Jezebel, All About Eve, and Now, Voyager, and on the turbulent life and complicated personality of the actress who made them, Sikov brings to life the two-time Academy Award-winning actress’s unmistakable screen style and shows us how Davis’s art was her own dark victory.

ISBN-13:  978-0-8050-7548-9

ISBN-10:  0-8050-7548-8