"I do not wish to be told what to do!” – Bette Davis
In interviews given over nearly two decades, legendary movie actress Bette Davis shares her opinions and thoughts about her 'Dark Victory' costar Ronald Reagan both as an actor and American President, whom she called 'Little Ronnie Reagan.'
Bette Davis was no fan of Ronald Reagan, this was because of his stint as President of the Screen Actor’s Guild.
In 1947, Ronald Reagan was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild for the first of five consecutive terms. That same year, he testified as a friendly witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities that resulted in the blacklisting of several directors and writers that were thought to have Communist Party ties.
“Well before he led this nation, Ronald Reagan led the Screen Actors Guild during its first three strikes,” former Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said during remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. “As President of the Screen Actors Guild, President Reagan negotiated never-before-seen concessions for SAG members, which included residual payments and health and pension benefits.”
That was true, and that was good as far as it went, but it also meant actors would revive no residuals for their work in motion pictures made before the 196os.
For actors of Bette Davis’ era, that was most of their careers!
Bette could be catty, in fact she was known for it. "I used to think of him as 'little Ronnie Reagan’”, Bette Davis remarked. “Not because he was short, he wasn't, he was tall and well-built. The 'little' was for his acting talent." In one of her 2 autobiographies, Davis called Ronald Reagan “Dull.”
Her philosophy? “It's better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you're not. It's a sign of your worth sometimes, if you're hated by the right people.”
While we're on the subject, here's Don Rickles roasting Ronald Reagan.
Dark Victory, a 1939 American dramatic motion picture, was directed by Edmund Goulding. Starring Bette Davis, George Brent, Ronald Reagan, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Henry Travers and Cora Witherspoon.
Reagan's autobiography is titled Where's the Rest of Me?, a line from his 1942 movie King's Row published in 1965.
