Born April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA Died October 6, 1989 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France Height 5' 3" Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but then she discovered the stage, and gave up dancing for acting. To her, it presented much more of a challenge. After graduation from Cushing Academy, she was refused admittance to Eva Le Gallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory. She enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School and was the star pupil. She appeared in "Solid South". Late in 1930, she was hired by Universal, where she made her first film, called Way Back Home (1931). When she arrived in Hollywood, the studio representative who went to meet her train left without her because he could find no one who looked like a movie star. An official at Universal complained she had "as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville" and her performance in The Bad Sister (1931) didn't impress.In 1932, she signed a seven-year deal with Warner Brothers Pictures.