Bette Midler

• 1. Introduction

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  Bette Midler was born on the 1st of December 1945, and her trophy shelf is very nearly complete. She has won three Emmys, three Grammys, two Tonys and four Golden Globes. Only the Oscar has eluded her, despite two nominations.

  Across about six decades she has worked as an actress, comedian, singer and author. She has released 14 studio albums as a solo artist and sold more than 30 million records worldwide.

  But her professional life began far from any awards ceremony. She was born in Honolulu, and the road from there to Broadway, Hollywood and the Kennedy Center was anything but straight.

  What did a young woman from Hawaii have that made audiences follow her from one stage to the next? Why did some of her biggest hits come from songs other people wrote, while some of her best-known films were panned on release? And how did a performer so closely tied to show business end up leading a campaign to rescue neglected parks and gardens in New York City?

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• 2. Honolulu to Broadway

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  Fred Midler painted houses, and he also worked as a painter at a U.S. Navy base in Hawaii. His wife Ruth was a seamstress who kept the household running. Their third child, Bette, grew up in Aiea, in one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighborhood. Both parents had been born in New Jersey.

  The actress Bette Davis gave the girl her name, though Davis pronounced it in two syllables, like Betty. Midler says hers in one, rhyming with bet.

  At Radford High School in Honolulu, classmates voted her Most Talkative in the 1961 Hoss Election. In her senior year, the class of 1963, they voted her Most Dramatic.

  She majored in drama at the University of Hawaii at Manoa but left after three semesters. Her first screen work was as an extra in the 1966 film Hawaii, where she played an uncredited seasick passenger named Miss David Buff. The money from that job paid for her move to New York City.

  There she studied theatre at HB Studio under Uta Hagen. Her first professional stage work came in 1965, in two plays by Tom Eyen, Miss Nefertiti Regrets and Cinderella Revisited. The second ran as a children's play by day and an adult show by night.

  In October 1966 she joined the Broadway company of Fiddler on the Roof. She played the ensemble role of Rivka and understudied Tzeitel, the oldest daughter. She took over as Tzeitel in February 1967 and kept the part until February 1970. In 1969 she also joined the original cast of Salvation.

  On the 22nd of December 1968, during those Fiddler years, her eldest sibling, Judith, died when a car struck her on West 44th Street in New York City.

  Her run as Tzeitel ended in February 1970. By that summer she had found a very different kind of stage.

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• 3. Bathhouse Betty

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  In the summer of 1970, Midler began singing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel. Her own list of tours counts the Continental Baths as the first, running from 1970 to 1972. It was there that she built a devoted core following.

  When she released the album Bathhouse Betty in 1998, she looked back on that time. She said: "Despite the way things turned out with the AIDS crisis, I'm still proud of those days. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride." The album took its title from the nickname she earned singing at such venues.

  In 1971 she starred in the first professional production of the Who's rock opera Tommy. Richard Pearlman directed it, and the Seattle Opera staged it. During that run she made her first appearance on The Tonight Show. The show's guest list shows 11 appearances by her between 1970 and 1992.

  Her pianist at the baths, a fellow regular performer there, was already preparing to help her make a record.

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• 4. Bugle Boy and Barry

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  Barry Manilow, her piano accompanist at the Continental Baths, co-produced her first album, The Divine Miss M, released on Atlantic Records in December 1972. It reached the Top 10 on Billboard's chart, sold a million copies and earned Platinum certification. It also won her the 1973 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

  Three singles came from it: "Do You Wanna Dance?", "Friends" and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". The last became her first No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

  The Andrews Sisters had made that swing tune popular in 1941, and Midler has repeatedly called them her idols and inspiration. She told Johnny Carson that she had always wanted to move the way the sisters did. Patty Andrews later recalled: "When I first heard the introduction on the radio, I thought it was our old record."

  Patty and her sister Maxene went backstage to meet Midler when she opened in Los Angeles. At another concert, Maxene walked on stage and handed her an honorary bugle. Midler went on to record more of their hits, including "In the Mood" and "Lullaby of Broadway".

  A self-titled follow-up arrived at the end of 1973, again co-produced by Manilow. It reached the Top 10 and sold close to a million copies in the United States alone.

  The partnership later went through a rough patch. Midler was dropped from the Warner Music Group in 2001, after nearly three decades of erratic sales. The two had reportedly feuded for a long time. Even so, they reunited in 2003 for Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, her first album for Columbia Records.

  It was certified gold by the RIAA and drew a Grammy nomination the following year. One of its tracks, "This Ole House", became her first Christian radio single.

  In October 2005 the pair released Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook. It sold 55,000 copies in its first week, returned her to the top ten of the US Billboard 200 and earned another Grammy nomination.

  Nearly a decade later, she would turn again to the girl groups of the 1930s, the Andrews Sisters among them, for her 25th album.

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• 5. From The Rose to Beaches

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  In 1979, Midler made her starring film debut in The Rose, playing a drug-addicted rock star modeled after Janis Joplin. The role brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a comedy or musical. It also brought a BAFTA nomination.

  The soundtrack sold over two million copies in the United States. The title song was written by Amanda McBroom. It spent five straight weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. It became her first Gold single and won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

  That same year she released Thighs and Whispers, her fifth studio album and first attempt at disco. It flopped, peaking at No. 65 on the Billboard album chart, her lowest showing ever. A show in Pasadena on her world tour was filmed and released as the concert film Divine Madness in 1980.

  The comedy Jinxed! in 1981 brought friction with co-star Ken Wahl and director Don Siegel. When it was released in 1982, it was a major flop. She was an early choice for Miss Hannigan in the film Annie, yet she did not appear in another film until 1986.

  Instead she turned to music. In 1983 she released No Frills, produced by Chuck Plotkin, who was best known for his work with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. It included a cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "You're My Favorite Waste of Time". She fell for that song after flipping over his 45 of "Someday Someway". She followed it in 1985 with an all-comedy album, Mud Will Be Flung Tonight.

  That year she sang on the charity single "We Are the World" and took part in Live Aid at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. She also signed a multi-picture deal with Walt Disney Studios, where the newly formed Touchstone Pictures division made her films. She produced them through her own company, All Girl Productions, with partner Bonnie Bruckheimer.

  On the 16th of December 1984 she married the artist Martin von Haselberg. Their daughter, the actress Sophie von Haselberg, was born on the 14th of November 1986.

  Director Paul Mazursky cast her in Down and Out in Beverly Hills, and a run of Touchstone comedies followed. They were Ruthless People in 1986, Outrageous Fortune in 1987 and Big Business in 1988.

  In 1988 she also voiced Georgette, a snobbish poodle, in Disney's Oliver & Company. Then came Beaches, co-starring Barbara Hershey. Its soundtrack remains her biggest seller, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard album chart with four million copies sold in the United States.

  It carried "Wind Beneath My Wings", which went to No. 1 on the Hot 100 and reached Platinum. At the 1990 telecast it won her a third Grammy, for Record of the Year.

  Her next single, a cover of Julie Gold's "From a Distance", would top the Adult Contemporary chart that same year.

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• 6. Flops and Cult Favorites

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  Stella, released in 1990, was the third film adaptation of Olive Higgins Prouty's 1920 novel Stella Dallas. Midler played a vulgar single mother in Watertown, New York, who makes a selfless sacrifice for her daughter's happiness. Trini Alvarado played the daughter. Reviews were mediocre, and the role earned Midler her first Razzie nomination for Worst Actress.

  In 1991 she appeared in Scenes from a Mall, again for Paul Mazursky. Woody Allen played her husband, who confesses an affair to her character, an author named Deborah. The film performed poorly.

  In 1992 she turned down the lead in Sister Act. Whoopi Goldberg took the part instead.

  The following year, Hocus Pocus opened to initially mixed reviews. Midler played Winifred Sanderson, the eldest of three colonial-era witches who were hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. A teenager lights a magic candle and brings them back to life in the 1990s. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy co-starred.

  Strong DVD sales and annual record-breaking airings on 13 Nights of Halloween turned it into a cult favorite. Every year Midler hosts a costume party called Hulaween, which benefits the New York Restoration Project. In October 2022 she returned as Winifred in Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+.

  In 2000 she starred in her own CBS sitcom, Bette, playing a version of herself. It had the network's best sitcom debut in more than five years. Viewership soon slid, and the show was cancelled in early 2001.

  Midler complained openly about the demanding shooting schedule. Reports of backstage turmoil followed the replacement of co-star Kevin Dunn, whose exit the media linked to quarrels with her. She still won a People's Choice Award for the role and a Golden Globe nomination the next year.

  That same year brought two films critics disliked. In Isn't She Great she played the author Jacqueline Susann, which earned her a second Razzie nomination. In Drowning Mona she played a cruel woman whose mysterious death is investigated. Reviewers said the film never rose above sitcom humor.

  Her uncredited cameo as a therapist in What Women Want that year was a different story. The film took in $183 million in the United States and more than $370 million worldwide.

  In 2004 she appeared in The Stepford Wives, directed by Frank Oz. The remake lost approximately $40 million at the box office. Oz later said Midler, busy recording an album and rehearsing a tour, had made "the mistake of bringing her stress on the set."

  Her next big recognition would come in front of live audiences, beginning with a Las Vegas showroom in 2008.

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• 7. Applause and Honors

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  In May 1992, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show was nearing its end. On the second-to-last episode Midler sang "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" to him. She also began "Here's That Rainy Day", his favorite song, and Carson joined in a few lyrics later. The performance won her an Emmy Award.

  She had already had a strong 1991 with For the Boys, reuniting with Mark Rydell, the director of The Rose. She played Dixie Leonard, a singer and actress who teams with a famous performer named Eddie Sparks to entertain American troops. Critics were mixed on the film but raved about her. She won her second Golden Globe and a second Academy Award nomination.

  In 1997 her HBO special Diva Las Vegas brought her a third Emmy. That year she also shared the Women in Film Crystal Award with her First Wives Club co-stars Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton.

  On the 20th of February 2008, she opened Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The cast included The Staggering Harlettes, 20 dancers called The Caesar Salad Girls and a 13-piece band. The last performance came on the 31st of January 2010. A Primetime Emmy nomination followed in 2011.

  In December 2009 she closed the Royal Variety Performance, a British charity event attended by Queen Elizabeth II. She sang "In My Life" and "Wind Beneath My Wings".

  On the 24th of April 2013 she opened at the Booth Theatre as the Hollywood super-agent Sue Mengers in I'll Eat You Last, her first time on Broadway in three decades. The play recouped its $2.4 million investment and moved to the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.

  In 2014 she sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" during the in memoriam tribute at the Academy Awards, held at the Dolby Theatre.

  Previews of the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! began in March 2017, and the show opened at the Shubert Theatre that April. It was her first leading role in a Broadway musical, and it won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She stayed through January 2018, then came back that July to close the run.

  She has also written several books, including The Saga of Baby Divine and A View from a Broad. In 2020 she published a children's book, The Tale of the Mandarin Duck. It was based on the 2018 story of a rare duck spotted in Central Park.

  The Songwriters Hall of Fame gave her the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in June 2012. Her Kennedy Center Honor medallion ceremony was held at the Library of Congress on the 4th of December 2021, and she attended the gala the next day.

  Later that month she criticized Senator Joe Manchin for not backing Joe Biden's Build Back Better Plan. In a tweet she also insulted the state of West Virginia, then apologized. In 2023 she starred in the comedy-drama Sitting in Bars with Cake.

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• 8. Gardens and Highways

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  In 1991, Midler was an early sponsor of California's Adopt-a-Highway program. She paid $2,000 a month for a crew to clean a 2 mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway in Burbank. Signs at both ends read "Litter Removal Next 2 Miles, Bette Midler."

  The stretch was famous enough that The Simpsons used it in the 1993 episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled". There she appears picking up trash and causing car crashes among drivers who litter on purpose. In 1995 she took the same idea east, adopting a stretch of the Long Island Expressway and the Bronx River Parkway.

  That same year she founded the New York Restoration Project, a non-profit working to revive neglected neighborhood parks in economically disadvantaged parts of New York City. They include Highbridge Park, Fort Washington Park and Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan. In the Bronx they include Roberto Clemente State Park and Bridge Park.

  The seeds of it were planted back in 1991, when the city planned to auction 114 community gardens for commercial development. Midler led a coalition of green organizations to save them. Her organization took ownership of 60 of the most neglected plots. It has since worked with local volunteers and community groups to keep them safe, clean and vibrant.

  In 2003 she opened Swindler Cove Park, five acres on the Harlem River shore. It has educational facilities and the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, the first community rowing facility built on the Harlem River in more than 100 years. The organization offers free environmental education, in school and after school, to students from high-poverty Title I schools.

  In 2001, after the attacks of 9/11, her foundation set up programs to help wounded service members and their families with resources, including custom homes. One initiative supports service members through recovery from trauma, injury and bereavement. Since the first Gulf War she has also visited the USO and military bases to serve meals to service members just before deployment.

  In 2020 she pledged to match Pink with a donation of $500,000 to help Australia during its wildfires.

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