Hollywood Never Knew What to Do with Bette Davis

She didn’t win the presidency of the Motion Picture Academy by accident. She was the first woman ever elected to the role, and when she arrived, she shook the doors. But the men in charge weren’t ready.

They wanted her name, not her voice. She resigned before the year was over. It wasn’t the first time a room underestimated her, and it wouldn’t be the last. But it proved something: she wasn’t interested in titles without power.