# The 15 Greatest Bette Davis Roles

> Acid-tongued divas, doomed romantics, ruthless schemers and faded stars from the studio era's heights to its gothic twilight. Where do you stand?

*By YPB Team · Published June 7, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-15-greatest-bette-davis-roles*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Margo Channing (All About Eve)** — score 1000/1000
   Davis's acid-tongued aging Broadway star in the 1950 classic, widely cited as the finest performance of her career.
2. **Baby Jane Hudson (Baby Jane?)** — score 929/1000
   The grotesque faded child star tormenting her sister in the 1962 thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
3. **Julie Marsden (Jezebel)** — score 817/1000
   The headstrong Southern belle whose defiance earned Davis her second Academy Award in 1938.
4. **Mildred Rogers (Of Human Bondage)** — score 566/1000
   The cruel, callous waitress in the 1934 film that first made Davis a major star.
5. **Judith Traherne (Dark Victory)** — score 565/1000
   The doomed socialite facing a terminal illness in the earnest 1939 melodrama.
6. **Charlotte Hollis (Sweet Charlotte)** — score 440/1000
   The tormented Southern recluse of the 1964 gothic thriller Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.
7. **Kit Marlowe (Old Acquaintance)** — score 264/1000
   The poised novelist navigating a lifelong rivalry with a friend in the 1943 drama.
8. **Queen Elizabeth I (Elizabeth and Essex)** — score 264/1000
   Davis's regal, imperious Virgin Queen in the 1939 Technicolor historical epic.
9. **Margaret Elliot (The Star)** — score 264/1000
   The fading Hollywood actress clinging to past glory in the 1952 drama that earned an Oscar nod.
10. **Fanny Skeffington (Mr. Skeffington)** — score 264/1000
   The vain society beauty confronting aging across decades in the 1944 drama.
11. **Rosa Moline (Beyond the Forest)** — score 264/1000
   The discontented small-town wife whose line 'What a dump!' became legend in the 1949 melodrama.
12. **Charlotte Vale (Now, Voyager)** — score 1/1000
   The repressed spinster who blossoms into elegance in the beloved 1942 romantic drama.
13. **Regina Giddens (The Little Foxes)** — score 1/1000
   The ruthless, scheming Southern matriarch of the 1941 drama, among Davis's most callous roles.
14. **Leslie Crosbie (The Letter)** — score 1/1000
   The cool, calculating wife who kills her lover in the gripping 1940 noir melodrama.
15. **Joyce Heath (Dangerous)** — score 1/1000
   The self-destructive actress role that won Davis her first Academy Award in 1935.

Tags: movies, actors, classics, bette davis, old hollywood