About Me
Profile Edited by MPS MySpace Editor 2.0Bette Midler, named after Bette Davis, was born to Fred and Ruth Midler in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 1, 1945. Bette's father was a house painter and her mother was a movie fanatic housewife. Bette grew up with her two older sisters Judith, named after Judy Garland, and Susan, named after Susan Hayward, and her younger brother, Daniel, who was mentally disabled.
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.
In 1972, Bette began working on her first album, “The Divine Miss M,†and took a cross-country tour exposing unsuspecting Americans to her “trash with flash†act. When the album was released in late 1972, after 9 months in the making, Bette began a larger scale tour that hit all the main cities in the US and Canada. She called the tour "The Divine Miss M Tour," to correlate with her new album, and both the tour and album turned out to be a huge success. The album peaked at #9 on Billboard's Top 200 Chart and spawned several hit singles, such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,†and “Do You Want to Dance?†During the 1974 Grammy awards, Bette was awarded a Grammy for “Best New Artist.†Also in 1974, Bette debuted in the low budget film "The Divine Mr. J." it was later called "The Thorn."
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 1977, she released her fourth studio album, “Broken Blossom†and starred in her first TV special “Ol’ Red Hair Is Back.†The album was critically successful, gaining a lot of positive reviews, but the sales were no comparison to her first two albums. Her special however got great reviews and even won an Emmy award for best variety show. Bette went on a smaller based tour to promote the album called "An Intimate Evening With Bette," singing many new and old songs, along with her infamous vulgar jokes
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.
In 1983, Bette started a new tour called "De Tour" to get back to what she loved, performing, the tour lasted almost a year, and at it’s close Bette released the album "No Frills," which is still a favorite of many fans. The album included many of the new songs Bette had featured in the tour including "My Favorite Waste of Time," "My Eye on You," and the gut wrenching “Beast Of Burden.â€
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.In 2003, Bette teamed up with old musical partner, Barry Manilow to pay tribute to one of their idols, Rosemary Clooney. Their Album "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook" was released on September 30, 2003. The album soon went to Gold, selling over 500,000 copies in less than 3 months. In 2003, Bette also kicked off a brand new tour titled "Kiss My Brass" she visited many cities in North American and even stopped in Toronto, Canada. The tour was a huge success. Bette also finished up work on "The Stepford Wives" in 2003, a re-imagining of the 70's thriller of the same name. The film was released on June 11, 2004 to mixed reviews. "The Stepford Wives" earned a little over $21 million in its first weekend. Bette will con tinue to tour in the Fall of 2004.Written by Brandon Hall
