Brow Beat

Bette Davis Talks Gender Roles in a Delightful, Animated Interview From 1963

The latest installment of PBS’s excellent Blank on Blank series features the late, great Bette Davis, who’s at her deadpan best while discussing gender roles, male dominance in the work world, and being an outspoken woman in Hollywood.

Entertainment columnist Shirley Eder conducts the interview, which took place in 1963. Eder asks if being an intelligent woman is a “hindrance” in Hollywood; Davis responds, with her usual wit and intellect, in the affirmative, noting that “we all work for men” and that they’ve “got to change an awful lot.” There’s much more discussed, and all of it is insightful, candid, and accompanied by Patrick Smith’s sublime and shadowy animation.

Previously:
A Lost Interview with Tupac About Life, Death, Race, and John Wayne
The Time JFK Correctly Identified Grace Kelly’s Designer Dress
20 Years Later, Kurt Cobain on Sexism, Punk, and Thinking He was Gay