Bette Midler Bette Midler, or the Divine Miss M. as her fans call her, was named after the actress Bette Davis. The talented singer, actress, and comedian has won multiple Grammy awards and has also won a Tony, an Emmy, and has had two Academy Award nominations. Bette was born on December 1, 1945, in Honolulu, Hawaii. She spent her childhood in Honolulu and after graduating from high school, spent one year majoring in drama at University of Hawaii in Honolulu. In 1966, Midler moved to New York City to pursue her career. She quickly landed a role on Broadway playing Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, which she played from 1966 to 1969.
Midler was a popular performer at the gay bathhouse Continental Baths, where she was accompanied on the piano by Barry Manilow. Manilow became a friend and he produced her first album, which was released in 1972. Its release began a long and successful recording career. Bette was romantically involved with Aaron Russo, her manager from 1972 to 1979. He was also the producer of her first major film, The Rose in 1979, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. The film was loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin. She also had her first gold single with the song “The Rose” from the movie. It would be seven years before Bette had another hit movie. She was cast with Richard Dreyfuss and Nick Nolte in Down and Out in Beverly Hills in 1986, and she got the opportunity to show her comedic chops. This led to a series of roles in comedies including Ruthless People in 1987, with Danny DeVito; Outrageous Fortune in 1987, with Shelley Long; and Big Business in 1988, with Lily Tomlin. In 1988, Bette took a break from comedies to star in the movie Beaches with Barbara Hershey. The film was popular with critics and viewers alike and gave Bette another hit song, called “The Wind beneath My Wings.”
Along with her professional success in the 1980s, Bette achieved personal success when she married Martin von Haselberg in 1984. In 1986 she gave birth to their only child, Sophie Frederica Alohilani von Haselberg. The couple is still married. The 1990s was another successful decade for Bette. She had hit movies with For the Boys in 1991, for which she was nominated for another Academy Award; Hocus Pocus in 1993, with Sarah Jessica Parker; and The First Wives Club in 1996, with Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn. In 2000 Bette tried her hand at TV with the short lived sitcom Bette, which was cancelled after eighteen episodes. Cast changes and behind the scenes turmoil led to declining ratings, and the show didn’t last an entire season. That same year she played a psychiatrist in the comedy What Women Want. Midler then turned her attention back to recording and teamed up with long time pal and producer Barry Manilow to record Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, one of her best selling albums ever. Bette’s next projects are two films to be released in 2007, Then She Found Me and In the Pink. YUDDY | 
