Added: 4 years ago
From: asw88
Views: 123,378
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (326)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • what a wonderful tribute! love them both so much! :)

  • WHAT IF MERYL STREEP PLAYED BETTE DAVIS IN A FILM?

  • I watch Meryl Streep and Bette Davis movies with my niece all the time and she absolutely loves them!I've taught her well. =)

  • Without doubt the two greatest actresses Hollywood has ever known

  • I wish Meryl Streep had tried harder to have worked directly with Bette Davis. 

  • It's shocking to discover how influential in fact was Bette Davis on shaping my free will and determination w/out ever thinking of it ! I grew up in a political system in which the young girl/woman had to conform to the rigid society's norms when even a laughter had to be measured to avoid misjudgment....I could not restrain my laughter and this how I became the woman I am today: courageous enough, determined and good spirited. Thank you Miss Bette Davis! Meryl, you are perfect!

  • Comment removed

  • @ 3:16 5 people don't have a heart

  • Now Voyager! God Bless Bette Davis, the greatest of the great. From a time when there were dozens of Great Hollywood Actors and Actresses, she stood and stands apart as the greatest of them all. Along with Hepburn and Stanwyck, but she stands just a little ahead of even them.

  • anyone know what movie that is from at 1:11 where she is popping the balloons!!! Ive seen it before and want to look it up, but cant remember the name of it...

  • No one will ever beat Bette Davis and Meryl Streep. Two greatest stars. Period.

  • What is the name of the movie at 0:30 with Errol Flynn?

  • @twilightfan2468 HUMAN BONDAGE

  • @twilightfan2468 It's right there on the screeen: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Good movie , too; Errol hadn't yet ruined himself with drink and was still magnificent in those Warner Bros. historicals.

  • I really think Bette was the best actress that ever graced the screen! Also adore Meryl!

  • There will never be another specific individual from the whole gamut of individuals that can duplicate another character/personality, only glimmers here and there and stunning shinning brilliant stars; Betty Davis, one of those of brilliance up above!

    Meryl, you have shown yourself to be as the fine protégé of wine that you were and have become in your own unique, individual, magnificent, presence on the silver screen; another brilliant star!

  • One of the greatest actresses, personalities, and role models of all time. A true icon.

  • You can see where some of Davis' influence has rubbed off on Streep in some of her movies.

  • Whoever has possibly visited my channel will know 4 things, I love and adore Harold Lloyd,Bette Davis is my favorite actress of all time.James Stewart is my very favorite actor,and lastly,Imo I consider Meryl Streep the ONLY actress from modern time to come close to the greatness of Bette Davis.

  • @4MaryAnna i totally agree with you... I wholly adore Bette and Meryl, and only Meryl has ever come close to Bette...My dream? to see Meryl portray Bette in a biopic :D

  • My daughter loves Meryl so I was delighted to watch this. I love bettes handwriting and good to see Kathryn still in the mix

  • I'm surprised they didn't mention "All About Eve", or show the "fasten your seat belts" clip.

  • dark victory she play that movie too a blind woman that was unbelieveable

  • anybody know what movie she's in at 2:20? she's on the floor with a cigarette looking like a crack whore.

  • @alllisonnorrie of human bondage 1934

  • Meryl...is one of THE finest actors that are living...she never juss 'phones it in'...she is relly right THERE...in every flick that ah have watched ,she is always the consumate charachter actress...gicing 100% of her being,into whatever role it is that she is inhabiting...absolutely brilliant,and technically fantastic also!!And Miss Bette...well...what can one say that hasn't already been said,about the well deserved legend,that she certainly is,and always WILL be also!!Plaudits galore to both!

  • Bette is the best! I never tire of watching her on screen.

  • See the look she gave Errol Flynn at 0:30? Paws off or I'll break it, baby! Ha ha,God I love her!

  • Comment removed

  • I'm proud to say I've seen every movie highlighted in this tribute to Bette.

  • We "fans" is what I meant to type! LOL

  • Bette Davis, without a single doubt, was indeed a Movie Star...in every sense of the word. Meryl Streep, without a doubt, is indeed a Movie Star...in every sense of the word. How fitting that they compliment eachother. Without one, we fabs, could not have the other. Thank you for this post.

  • well, I think Bette's letter to Meryl should have said it all...I think Bette would have cheered Meryl's performance as Miranda Priestly...if only for her portrayal of that character.

  • so kind of Miss Streep. both such talents. such kindness from another amazing talent.

  • I love Bette Davis,She was One Of A Kind!

  • Jodie Foster reminds me of a young Bette !

  • @ednuk I always saw Jodie as more a younger Katharine Hepburn..

  • Heartbreakingly sincere and so uplifting.

  • At 2:24, the shot of her drinking the champagne and looking over the glass--good grief, that's the full Bette Davis eyes treatment and no mistake. What movie is it from?

  • Meryl Streep should play Bette Davis in a movie about her....she would be great!

  • Bette was the greatest and Meryl is great great actress but I don't think she's the greatest actress still alive as someone said over there. I think many GREAT actresses still alive have been forgotten in that comment.

  • "When I was a girl in the 60's, I'd come home from school and I'd turn on the old movie channel and plunk down on the couch with my girlfriends and take lessons from Bette Davis on how to scare the hell out of a man. Ha-ha!"

    Ughh.... -__-

  • Bette Davis is one of the best american actors of all time !!!

  • Comment removed

  • Comment removed

  • I always comeback to watch this video! Very time i listen Meryl talk about THE GREATEST ACTRESS EVER LIVE makes my heart smile :)

  • @EJperfection she man with penis lol

  • I love them both, but it will always be Bette for me!

  • Bette Davis was the greatest screen actress of her generation, a true genius, even better than the mannered Hepburn. Who could do her justice more than Meryl Streep, the greatest living screen actress in the world today.

  • @philipc67 VERY WELL SAID!

  • I Love It!! :DD

    Meryl S. And Bette D. Are my two favorite actresses of all time!!! <3

    Thanks for posting asw88 :DD

  • A great actress speaking about a great actress, what more can you ask for?

  • Meryl is the Bette Davis nowadays for me. Shes such a phenomenal actress. I think her and Bette act quite similarly they both have done very dramatic film roles. Meryl is one of my favourite actresses along with Bette! xx

  • No the reason Meryl didn't narrate Katharine Hepburn's tribute is because Hepburn was extremely critical of Streep's acting style.

  • Still miss her- she gave me heaps of pleasrue!

  • lol, betty davis didn't like meryl streep

    they should have picked someone else

  • @2law2be - Well Meryl got a letter from Bette herself giving her a lot of compliments as an actress, as Meryl really looked up to her and she always said she was her favourite actress and she loved watching her movies so I dont no where you got that from.

  • @2law2be it's Bette, you obviously have no idea what you're talking about =)

  • @2law2be, you are incorrect. Bette greatly admired Meryl Streep. It was Katharine Hepburn who said she didn't like Meryl.

  • I wish I could say from 1:46 to 2:07 to a guy I used to like! Ha ha ha ha

  • I had been an ardent fan of Bette Davis even before I got access to You Tube. And this website helps me reconfirm how great and peerless she was. She WAS beautiful, which some might stupidly deny. I also like Meryl Streep's narration.

  • I sing about Davis in The Celebrity Song.

  • I love Now Voyager, one of my top 3 fav BD movies.

  • LOL @ Meryl Streep being a better actress than Bette Davis. Meryl knows her place, and you should too. When you're watching a Bette Davis film, know that you're watching the best actress of all time in motion. Cheers!

  • I find it sooo sweet Bette wrote to her and Meryl was so happy - cute! great tribute

  • MAYBE, just MAYBE, Meryl Streep could portray Bette Davis

  • @introuble4ever07 no but susan sarandon could as far as looks go.

  • Bette Davis is FABULOUS!

    and Meryl Streep lived two houses down from my dad in New Jersey, but he was a freshman and she was a senior at the high school. But he'd see her walk to school and stuff. (just felt like putting that out there)

  • the greatest actress of all time

  • So strange, because Meryl's acting is so much better than Bette's.

  • @AtLastOnTheGround Well Bette was voted the second best actress of all time by the AFI after Katherine Hepburn...acting was just different in those days then it is now...I wouldn't say that Meryl is "so much better'...

  • @thekingofmoney2000

    Good acting is timeless and universal. Bette Davis was really not much of an actress, she was a performer. She said her lines with preconceived inflections, she made faces when she thought they were fitting, and she pretty much made that work for her.

    Meryl Streep, on the other hand, lives from moment to moment as her character. Streep is a genius actress, Davis was a mere performer.

  • @AtLastOnTheGround different eras , different acting styles. today audiences require realism, in bettes day audiences required theatrics, you have little understanding of the genre of the times. streep is a great actress but bette surpassed her by a mile.

  • Whats the movie at 2:20 where she is laying on the floor by the bed with a cig in her hand looking like stoned Kate Moss lol

  • I would actually say Streep is more similar to the gerat Garbo, but she certainly shares qualities with Davis.

  • Beauty is what you put out there, for the world to share with you. She wasn't a statue, she was a living, breathing human in every word she spoke, every cigarette she lit, every tear she shed, every man she slapped. Immortality comes to those whose generosity had no limit.

  • Bette Davis we love you

  • @marmavit VOGUE

  • she looked cuter than cute...absolutely delicious...gorgeous & vey very sexy on "marked woman"..didn't she? :)

  • Its true only a good actor can bring tears to your eye,and Bette was one of them...

  • i love bette

  • "you see, no one ever called me darling before" gets me every time. the greatness of that line really depends on the talent of the actress...anyone could've made that line disposable as hell, but the great Bette knew exactly what she was doing...you knew EXACTLY what she felt when she was saying that line.

  • two of my most faves--- meryl streeo and bette davis!

  • Beautiful tribute! Very touching.. For me Meryl is the greatest now in our time and Bette Davis is the greatest in her time. So both are the GREATEST of all time! :))

  • @EJperfection i feel glenn close is closer in our lifetime to assuming davis's mantle ... but streep is a huge talent too. but they pale in comparison to the early masters - bette davis, mae west, vivien leigh, elizabeth taylor and katherine hepburn.

  • @EJperfection Exactly how I see it.

  • @EJperfection I agree! Meryl Streep is the best now and Bette Davis was the best then. They're the best American actresses.

  • @Karosanyo Yes they are! :)

  • @EJperfection I agree whit you I always loved her

  • Meryl Streep is a wonderful woman and actress. Love, Love, Love Bette Davis! What movie was 4:29? Those bangs make her look adorably cute!

  • Marked Woman. I think its posted on here somewhere. Its really good, u should watch it! and I know, right?

  • Oh, yes I know :) I saw it not too long ago, but thank you anyways. And yes, it is here on youtube. I loved it! It was great. And oh God, I know! Her hair was adorable.

  • Bette is one of the greatest. Love her! Meryl is one of the greatest living actresses today. It would have been really nice to see those two work together, but I'm glad Meryl said she's worked with Bette through an inspiration :)

  • The woman on the right at 0:52 couldn't look more bored. Next time decline the invitation you douchenozzle.

  • Meryl and Bette did meet on several occasions (mostly at the Oscar ceremonies) Talk about passing the torch

  • wow that was completely touching...

  • Meryl streep is sort of a reincarnation of bette davis. I love Meryl Streep. I am her hugest fan and bette davis' brilliance is out worldly.

  • whats 2:54 from? What film? x

  • "The private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex".

  • Bette Davis is such an amazing actress, and so is Meryl Streep! Maybe about 20 years from now people will look at Meryl Streep how people today look at Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor ect... I love Bette Davis' range. She always played a different role! She is a very rare talent! By the way I love TCM! I'm watching South Pacific with Mitzi Gaynor right now!

  • And the reason Bette Davis was such a good actress was because she had the wisdom, very early in her career, to realize the true actors and actresses are character actors.

    Beauty only takes one so far, and after one's ingenue or leading man days are over one jolly well better know how to play a role, any role--be it a gangster, a mental patient, a prostitute, a spinster librarian.

  • One of Davis' very early roles was as a very unappealing, Cockney prostitute who took advantage of a club-footed professor, in Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage."

    Davis won her first of two Best Actress Oscars the following year, for a film ("Dangerous") she hated. But Davis and her peers knew her first Academy Award was really for her role in "Bondage" the previous year.

  • And Davis wasn't afraid, in 1962, to take out an ad in "Variety" selling herself, after many thought her career over. She was hired for "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and wasn't afraid the appear grotesque. In fact, her boldness started a trend of older actresses playing horror films.

  • @gymnastix

    that was Joan crawford who hired her for baby jane..that was joan's property.

  • And Davis was one of the early 'big" film stars to recognize the value of television, wasn't afraid the then-new medium would cheapen her image, in fact praised soap operas and TV films as providing some better opportunities than theatrical releases.

  • Kate "Ignore-My-Awful-Performance-A­nd-Throw-Me-An-Oscar-Cuz-Im-Ov­erdue" Winslet as Bette Davis?

    I think I'm gonna be sick...

  • I don't know who the hell you think you are, but please, don't comment negatively on an actress of that caliber if you don't have the talent and means to give a performance one eigth as monumental as she can.

    Also, I'm suprised your nose isn't bleeding from that pedastil you seem to have placed yourself on. Kate Winslet is a magnificent actress, and you are just one of the millions of random anonymous people on you tube.

  • Meryl Streep has become the Bette Davis of this generation.

  • When it comes to Bette in her younger years, I think the best actress to play her would be Kate Winslet. For her older years, I would pick Susan Sarandon.

  • This maybe a bit of a controversial response, but someone who could play a young Bette is Lacey Turner of Eastenders fame as Stacey Slater...she is an amazing actress and I can see a resemblence. Beautiful!!

  • my 2 favorite actresses of all time from the best channel ever created.

    best. thing. ever.

  • WoW...I`m crying right now!

    I miss her so much!

  • It's so befitting that they got Meryl Streep to do the narraration for this mini tribute to Bette Davis.

    You know, if Bette Davis' life were to be made into a movie today, the kind that would be shown in the theatres, I think that Meryl should play Bette in her later years (e.g. late '60 early '70s) and for the period of "All About Eve" they should have Susan Sarandon play Bette at the point in her life. I don't know who could play Bette during her reigning period at Warner Bros. in the '30s.

  • I'm friends with Susan and i've ALWAYS thought that as well!!!!Also agree with the Meryl 'casting'...hmmmmmmmm...the early 'Warner years'...ya know who keeps poppin into my head (and the image that i keep seeing is that b&w scene from 'Of Human Bondage'...'Mildred's' scene berating Leslie Howard's character!!) it's Gwyneth Paltrow!!I'm not 'big' on her as it gos,but ya know i think she could pull it off,brilliantly!!Imagine those 3 in a Davis biog'!!That'd be GREAT ta see!!!!LOVE Bette...!!

  • Bette was to acting, what Michael Jordan was to basketball..what Michael Jackson was to dancing & singing...and what Jack Nicholson was in being imitated so much. She was the best that ever did it, in my opinion. And it was impossible to take your eyes off of her, which is the true measure of greatness....wont be another one like her. As much as I respect Meryl, she cant touch Davis.

  • hmm that is debatable if you have seen's Sophie's Choice then you would know the unparallel range that Meryl has compared to any other actor or even actress ever...its said to be the greatest performancecaptured on film. But i agree Bette and Meryl are way to close of a call Bette is just so tenacious and passionate and Meryl is just breathtaking and genius <3 them both.

  • i was smiling listening to meryl talk about bette davis. it seems that her description of ms davis also suits herself...

  • susan sarandon totally should have played her in a biopic at some point.

  • You KNOW iss true!!!!!!

  • 'and after you kissed me, i always used to wipe my mouth....WIPE MY MOUTH!!!!!!!'. Stop the film anywhere in that particular take...... that's believing your lines...

    Jaw dropping.

  • NO!!!!!!That is making YOU believe that she believes...it's called 'acting'...otherwise it would be a documentary (of sorts)!!That is EXACTLY WHY she was so BRILLIANT!!!!Bette was FAMED for her ability to 'drop in' to character and whatever the characters emotion in the scene being shot was...on cue...whereas Lana (Turner,in say 'Annie's deathbed scene' in 'Imitation Of Life') cried for THREE DAYS solid,same way Joan (Crawford) had to 'work herself in' to a scene/emotion!!Bette could ACT!!!!XX.

  • Yes indeed, maybe i should have said, 'believing in your lines'...but i take the point.  She could act.

    Either way.....Jaw dropping.

  • Some day, a great actress will be making one of these for Meryl. And the cycle will continue. :)

  • Meryl Streep's voice is soo calming. I could listen to her speak all day.

    Ahhh Bette Davis and Meryl Streep 2 of the best actress's ever.

  • wow! this is such a lovely, sincere tribute. Both Meryl Streep and Bette Davis are absolutely phenomenal and the bit in Meryl Streep's speech at the awards when she says about being mentioned in the same breath as Bette Davis is the same as what Kate Winslet said about Meryl Streep at the 81st Oscars in one of her speeches!

  • aww how sweet. Meryl i love you hunn x

  • I love them both. LOL!

  • What movie is Davis playing in at 2:21 where she looks strung out, on the floor next to the bed?

  • That's from Of Human Bondage (1934). If I remember correctly, she's actually supposed to be DEAD right there. My god Bette Davis had guts!

  • Thank you.

  • She wasn't supposed to be dead, just REALLY ill and on the verge of dying. A great, goosbump provoking performance!!

  • Bette Davis never cared about being the glamor girl, boss, or anything else--she cared about being the consummate actress ), with minimal ego, and portraying each persona to perfection. Meryl Streep is the finest example of that legend continuing. Hepburn, like J. Roberts, and nearly every other actress plays/played themselves,not the role,much like Jack Nichols plays himself,wonderfully,but it is never the character, just him saying the lines. Davis and Streep ARE actors, and both legends.

  • Love Bette and Meryl like you!

    But don't compare Miss K Hepburn with the awful Julia Roberts...they just don't compare! Hepburn sometimes just played herself but so did Bette sometimes. Both, however, were brilliant character actors too.

  • Julia Roberts is def like hepburn in more ways then one. But i think Anne Hathaway reminds me Audrey so classic and elegant.

  • I think Davis, Dunne & Stanwyck were the best. of their generation.

  • AFI goofed giving Hepburn #1 ranking. Hepburn was good...but she always played a version of Hepburn. Davis...played whatever she needed to do for character development...and I mean whatever. Streep is absolutely right...and not to take away from other great actresses...Miss Bette Davis was...and is...a national treasure.

  • From which movie is the clip with her popping balloons?

  • It's from Fog Over Frisco (1934)

  • How very sweet of Meryl. If anyone has a right to be arrogant, it's her, and yet she's humble enough to acknowledge the talent of another legend.

  • Comment removed

  • "A direct benefitiary of Bette Davis' will and determination ".... isn't that just a lovely, heartfelt thank you from Meryl Streep. And the beautiful music at the end. I think Bette Davis would have been very humbled by the gratitude that today's generation of actress feel toward her.... Just lovely. Thanks for posting.

  • Very nice tribute from Streep. How eloquent! Bette Davis was very special and will always be missed by this fan.

  • meryl streep and bette davis. total legends :)

  • Bette Davis is a true legend

  • susie5 , I totally agree with you i study acting and bette davis stopped me in my tracks and made me freeze! she is amazing the lengths she went to to play a part is amazing to me, if i could be q#a quater of the sctress she was i will have truly lived my life ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, beyind brilliant and my favourie line ever is id like to kiss ya ,,,, but i just washed my hair bye!!! hahax

  • i love this video it rules bette davis and meryl streep are my favourite actresses they rule brilliant bette davis has always inspired me in acting i love them both their so amazing

  • Wonderful :). Absolutely classic-- I love Bette.

  • That was really beautiful! I would have loved to see Bette Davis and Meryl work together.

  • Kate Winslet could definitely play Bette Davis. How about Angelina as Crawford?

  • But no one can has charisma than bette amazing davis!

  • what movie of hers is is at 02:21 ??

    she sits there on the ground, it looks sad but beautiful , kp

  • of human bondage :)

  • I think that was from Of Human Bondage. A ground breaking performance in film.

  • of human bondage!

  • aw.. They should have been movie together. Two of the gratest actress of all time.

  • Such a wonderful tribute to a great actress and even greater woman. Love you, Bette.

  • I've never seen eyes like that, so big and expressive. She always down played her beauty throughout her life. It was her acting that she wanted to be known for. It was always about the "role". The characters she chose to play, her fight with Warner Brothers: always about the product. Never about the money or image.

  • WIPE MY MOUTH! never forgot that:) thank you meryl this is beautiful tribute. can't you just see bette play the nun in Doubt too? maybe she'd drop her crucifix...:D

  • Thanks for posting - gotta be seen to understand how unusual she was.

  • I meet 1 artist Brasilian is like a Bette Davis is really like her! *=).

    kiss bette you are beauty.

  • Of Human Bondage.

  • Which film is it at 2:27? She's really gorgeous there!

  • awesome daweling simply awesome

  • Makes me misty eyed!!!!!

  • Thank you for posting this!

  • Thanks for Greate posting!

    Meryl & Bette

    Divine.

  • damn right. =) my two favorites, ugh just straight up divinity, meryl and bette are the greatest of their generations

  • She's a genius in "Of Human Bondage"

  • Bette Davis ~ Divine ~ copied but not rivaled ~ Truly THE GREATEST; Wall St. Journal 2007 "America's Greatest Film Actress"

  • Bette did it her way, and so does Meryl!! GREAT Tribute!

  • I love Bette Davis

  • The best Actress the world will ever see, brilliant tribute. i know all the angles and i think im smart enough to keep o