Hollywood Memorial

She began her career on Broadway and appeared in over 100 films. During her lifetime, she received many honors: The first women to receive the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award – The first woman to be president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences – received two Oscars, 10 nominations and three Emmy awards. She opened the famous Hollywood Canteen, transforming an abandoned nightclub in Hollywood into a layover for servicemen during WWII using her own money and having her famous show biz friends entertain the troops. Davis was a difficult actress with a sharp tongue and many were on the receiving end. She was known for her witty and sometimes sarcastic sayings and none was more poignant then when diagnosed with cancer and then suffering a stroke nine days later said, ‘Growing old is not for sissies.’ Her demeanor was not without cost; she had four unhappy marriages, numerous affairs, estrangement from her children and a number of publicized feuds with other celebrities and movie studios. Later a public memorial service was held on a Hollywood sound stage. A few months prior to her death she said, ‘You know what they’ll write on my tombstone, ‘she did it the hard way.’’ This epitaph is emblazoned on her large marble sarcophagus at Forest Lawn.