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Bette Midler

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Bette Midler
File:Bette33.jpg
Born
Bette Midler

December 1, 1945, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Occupation(s)Actress, Singer
This is about the performer also called The Divine Miss M; for her eponymous albums, see her list of albums.

Bette Davis Midler (December 1, 1945) is a singer, actress, and comedian, also known to her fans and especially in gay culture, as The Divine Miss M. She is named after the actress Bette Davis although Davis pronounced her name in two syllables, and Midler uses one.

Biography

Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 1, 1945. She is of Jewish descent. Her aspirations were clearly defined from the outset, and she majored in drama at the University of Hawaii, and earned money in the film Hawaii (released in 1966) as an extra playing a seasick passenger.

After she relocated to New York City to pursue acting on stage, she landed her first professional onstage role in Miss Nefertiti Regrets. From 1966 to 1969 she played the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway; during this period her sister Judith, visiting New York to see her perform, was killed by a taxi cab.

In 1970 Midler began singing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album, The Divine Miss M in 1973.

In 1974, she received a Special Tony Award for her contribution to Broadway for the "Clams on the Half Shell Review" at the Palace Theater. She played the title role of a 1960s drug-addled rock star, modeled after Janis Joplin, in The Rose, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Her manager and boyfriend for a significant period was Aaron Russo.

Midler married Martin von Haselberg (Harry Kipper of the Kipper Kids) on December 16, 1984. They had a daughter, Sophie Frederica Alohilani von Haselberg, on November 141986.

In 1986, director Paul Mazursky cast her in Down and Out in Beverly Hills, beginning a successful comedic acting career. She appeared in other popular late-1980s comedies including Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, and Big Business.

File:Timebette.jpg
Bette on the cover of TIME Magazine with Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn in 1995.

In 1988, she starred in the film drama Beaches. She also contributed her voice to the animated character Georgette, a snobbish poodle, in Disney's Oliver & Company that same year.

She has won four Grammy Awards including the 1973 Best New Artist and the prestigious Record of the Year in 1989 for the # 1 hit "Wind Beneath My Wings." Her rendition of the 1990 "From a Distance" also earned her a Grammy and is another of her most popular songs. In 2004 she reunited with Manilow to record Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, which was nominated for a Grammy and was one of her best-selling albums in 20 years.

When The American Film Institute announced "The 100 years of the Greatest Songs" on June 22, 2004, two of her hits were selected by the board: "Wind Beneath My Wings" (#44) and "The Rose" (#83).

Other films include Scenes from a Mall, For the Boys (for which she was again nominated for an Academy Award), Hocus Pocus, The First Wives Club, and The Stepford Wives. Her television work includes a production of Gypsy.

Midler won an Emmy Award in 1992 for her memorable performance on the final episode of The Tonight Show in May of that year, during which she sang an emotion-laden "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" to Johnny Carson. There was speculation later that there was a falling out between Midler and the only other guest on the show, Robin Williams. It was perceived that Midler had stolen the limelight from Williams, not an easy task.

She had her own short-lived CBS sitcom Bette (2000-2001). Although the initial ratings were high, numbers soon declined and in the show's short lifespan her daughter (played by Lindsay Lohan in the pilot, then by Marina Malota starting with the third episode) and her husband were recast (Robert Hays succeeded Kevin Dunn in the final episode aired). The show was reportedly rocked by backstage turmoil, and did not last a full season.

In 2003-2004 Midler toured her new show Kiss My Brass to sell-out crowds around the United States. In 2005 Kiss My Brass was equally successful in Australia. Bette Midler's most recent album, Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook, came out in October of 2005.

Midler has appeared on The Simpsons show, on the episode "Krusty get Kancelled". Midler is first seen traversing a highway picking up trash when she is approached by Bart and Lisa with a request for Midler to appear on a show to revive Krusty's dying career. She also appeared on Seinfeld, in the episode "The Understudy" which was the season finale of that show's sixth season.

Charity Work

In 1995, Midler founded the New York Restoration Project, a non-profit organization with the goal of revitalizing neglected neighborhood parks in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of New York City. These include Highbridge Park, Fort Washington Park, and Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan and Roberto Clemente State Park and Bridge Park in the Bronx.

In 1999 the city planned to auction 114 community gardens for commercial development. Midler led a coalition of greening organizations to save them. NYRP took ownership of 60 of the most neglected plots. Today Midler and her organization work with local volunteers and community groups to ensure that these gardens are kept safe, clean and vibrant. In 2003 Midler opened Swindler Cove Park, a new five-acre public park on the Harlem River shore featuring specially designed educational facilities and the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, the first community rowing facility to be built on the Harlem River in more than 100 years. The organization offers free in-school and after-school environmental education programming to students from high-poverty Title I schools.

File:Bettefilm.jpg
Midler in the 2000 film "Isn't She Great".

Filmography

Albums

Charted Singles (U.S.)

  • 1972 "Do You Want To Dance?" POP: #17; AC: #8
  • 1973 "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" POP: #8; AC: #1
  • 1973 "Friends"/"Chapel Of Love" POP: #40; AC: #9 ("Friends" only)
  • 1974 "In The Mood" POP: #51; AC: #18
  • 1976 "Strangers In The Night" AC: #45
  • 1976 "Old Cape Cod" AC: #36
  • 1977 "You're Movin' Out Today" POP: #42; AC: #11
  • 1978 "Storybook Children (Daybreak)" POP: #57; AC: #37
  • 1979 "Married Men" POP: #40
  • 1980 "When A Man Loves A Woman" POP: #35
  • 1980 "The Rose" POP: #3, AC: #1 <GOLD>
  • 1980 "My Mother's Eyes" POP: #39; AC: #8
  • 1983 "All I Need To Know" POP: #77; AC: #39 (same song as "Don't Know Much" by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville)
  • 1983 "Favourite Waste Of Time" POP: #78
  • 1984 "Beast Of Burden" POP: #71
  • 1989 "Wind Beneath My Wings" POP: #1; AC: #2 <PLATINUM>
  • 1990 "From A Distance" POP: #2; AC: #1 <PLATINUM>
  • 1991 "Night And Day" POP: #62; AC: #15
  • 1991 "The Gift Of Love" AC: #19
  • 1991 "Every Road Leads Back To You" POP: #78; AC: #15
  • 1992 "In My Life" AC: #20
  • 1998 "My One True Friend" AC: #16
  • 1999 "I'm Beautiful" DANCE CLUB PLAY: #4; POP SINGLES SALES: #60

See also

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