Bette Davis filmography

She continued in a succession of films, but did not gain further recognition until she agreed to star in John Cromwell's adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage on a loan-out to RKO.

The role of Mildred Rogers had been rejected by several actresses, but Davis achieved critical acclaim for her performance.

Davis explained her viewpoint to a journalist, saying: "I knew that, if I continued to appear in any more mediocre pictures, I would have no career left worth fighting for."

Davis was at the peak of her career in the late 1930s and early-to-mid 1940s, at a time when she was one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood and turned down parts she found inferior.

Her later films for the studio, including Winter Meeting and Beyond the Forest, failed at the box office.

Although Davis earned strong reviews for her performance in The Star, her career waned throughout the remainder of the decade.