Ranking Bette Davis's Performances

In honor of the release of a restored version of Now,Voyager, The Guardian ranked 20 of Bette's best performances. 

1.  All About Eve
2. Now, Voyager
3. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
4. Dark Victory 
5. The Little Foxes
6. Marked Woman
7. Jezebel
8. Dead Ringer     
9. The Letter
10. Dangerous
11. Mr. Skeffington
12. Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte
13. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
14. Of Human Bondage
15. The Man Who Came to Dinner
16. All This, and Heaven Too
17. Juarez
18. The Scapegoat
19. The Star
20. Death on the Nile

Here is my list.

1. The Letter
2. All About Eve
3. Now, Voyager
4. The Little Foxes
5. Jezebel
6. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
7. Dark Victory 
8. Of Human Bondage
9. Juarez
10. The Petrified Forest
11. Marked Woman
12. Dangerous
13. Mr. Skeffington
14. All This, and Heaven Too
15. Bordertown 
16. Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte
17. The Star
18. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
19. The Man Who Came to Dinner
20. The Cabin in the Cotton

Selecting my top 20 wasn't too difficult, but ranking them was. I was surprised at how low Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian ranked The Letter (#9 compared to my #1.) I also favor earlier films (The Petrified Forest, Bordertown, and The Cabin in the Cotton) while Bradshaw prefers later films (Dead Ringer, The Scapegoat, and Death on the Nile.) We both selected the same seven films in the Top 10. 

We can both agree that Bette Davis is a wonderful actress. 

8-2-21 Edited to add: I think I was wrong to exclude The Old Maid  from this list. We see Bette as a young woman in love, a mother hiding her illegitimate child away, a bitter spinster aunt, and a woman touched by a lovely gesture from the daughter who doesn't know their relationship.

My new 20: 

1. The Letter
2. All About Eve
3. Now, Voyager
4. The Little Foxes
5. Jezebel
6. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
7. Dark Victory 
8. Of Human Bondage
9. Juarez
10. The Petrified Forest
11. Marked Woman
12. Dangerous
13. Mr. Skeffington
14. All This, and Heaven Too
15. Bordertown 
16. Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte
17. The Star
18. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
19. The Old Maid
20. The Man Who Came to Dinner

I bumped The Cabin in the Cotton  out of the Top 20, added The Old Maid, and moved The Man Who Came to Dinner to #20.