Bette Midler Biography Quotes 20 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Bette Midler was born on December 1, 1945, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Jewish family that had settled there before statehood. Raised in modest circumstances on Oahu, she found an early path through school plays and choir, discovering a facility for both comedy and torch songs. After graduating from Radford High School, she studied drama at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, then left to pursue performance full time. A small role as an extra in the epic film Hawaii helped her save enough to move to New York, where she set her sights on the stage.

Stage Beginnings and Breakthrough
In New York in the mid-1960s, Midler earned her first significant stage credits, including a run in the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, where she eventually took over the role of Tzeitel. Offstage, she refined a cabaret act that blended standards, pop covers, story-songs, and bawdy comedy. That act found an unexpected home at the Continental Baths, a now-legendary New York venue where she sang for an audience that embraced her warmth, humor, and emotional candor. The young arranger and pianist Barry Manilow, who became her musical director, helped shape the sound and pacing of those shows and later produced her debut album. With her brassy persona dubbed "The Divine Miss M", she built a fervent following and expanded her stage presentation with a sassy trio of backing vocalists known as the Harlettes, a training ground that at different moments included future star Melissa Manchester.

Recording Career
Midler's first records for Atlantic, guided by producers Ahmet Ertegun and Arif Mardin alongside Manilow, set out the range that would define her: 1940s close-harmony revivals like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, heartbroken ballads, and sly humor. The Divine Miss M established her as a recording artist, and subsequent albums in the 1970s and early 1980s mixed contemporary pop with American songbook material. The bittersweet title song from The Rose became one of her signature performances, as did later hits like Wind Beneath My Wings, associated with the film Beaches, and From a Distance, written by Julie Gold and newly popularized by Midler's recording. She collaborated over the decades with arrangers and music directors such as Marc Shaiman, maintaining a sound that balanced lush orchestration with storyteller intimacy. Her records garnered major industry awards and cemented her status as a cross-generational pop interpreter.

Film and Television
Midler's film breakthrough came with The Rose (1979), a powerful drama directed by Mark Rydell in which she portrayed a rock singer on a punishing rise. The performance earned her an Academy Award nomination and introduced her to broader audiences beyond the clubs and concert halls. Through the 1980s and early 1990s she moved easily between comedy and drama: Down and Out in Beverly Hills with Nick Nolte and Richard Dreyfuss; Ruthless People opposite Danny DeVito; Big Business with Lily Tomlin; and Beaches with Barbara Hershey, a friendship drama that became a touchstone for many viewers. For the Boys (1991), again directed by Rydell and co-starring James Caan, brought her a second Oscar nomination.

On television, she was a frequent and memorable guest, notably sharing an emotional farewell with Johnny Carson on his final Tonight Show. Her concert specials collected Emmys, including recognition for the spectacular Bette Midler in Concert: Diva Las Vegas. She also headlined a network sitcom, Bette, which showcased her flair for self-deprecating humor. In the 1990s she added family classics to her filmography with Gypsy for television and the Halloween favorite Hocus Pocus, playing the ringleader witch alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy; decades later they reunited for a sequel that introduced the trio to new audiences.

Broadway and Live Performance
Even as her film and recording careers thrived, Midler continued to return to the stage. Her concerts, renowned for comic alter egos and precise musicality, toured internationally, and she held a major Las Vegas residency at Caesars Palace titled The Showgirl Must Go On. In 2017 she returned to Broadway in a lavish revival of Hello, Dolly!, directed by Jerry Zaks and co-starring David Hyde Pierce. Her performance as Dolly Gallagher Levi was both a box-office phenomenon and a critical triumph, earning top theater honors and reaffirming her command of classic musical comedy.

Philanthropy and Advocacy
Beyond entertainment, Midler has been a persistent advocate for environmental and community causes. In 1995 she founded the New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and revitalizing under-resourced parks, street trees, and community gardens across New York City. Under her leadership, the organization has acquired and maintained green spaces, partnered with local communities, and used high-profile fundraising events to support long-term stewardship. Her early embrace by LGBTQ audiences shaped a lifelong connection; she has remained an outspoken ally, often linking her performance platforms to charitable work.

Personal Life
Midler married artist Martin von Haselberg in 1984. They have one daughter, Sophie von Haselberg, who pursued a career in the performing arts. While her professional schedule often kept her traveling, Midler has spoken about balancing family life with the demands of recording, touring, film sets, and rehearsal rooms, crediting close collaborators such as Barry Manilow and Marc Shaiman, as well as early manager and producer Aaron Russo, with helping her navigate shifting eras of the entertainment business.

Legacy
Bette Midler's career has spanned club stages, Broadway houses, arenas, television studios, and film sets, tied together by an unmistakable voice and a performer's instinct for intimacy, even at grand scale. She is one of the few entertainers to earn top honors across music, television, and theater, with multiple Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Awards, and two Academy Award nominations acknowledging her dramatic range. Just as important is the cultural imprint of "The Divine Miss M" persona: a mix of resilience, mischief, and emotional directness that made room for satire and sincerity in the same breath. From early nights at the Continental Baths with Barry Manilow at the piano to the ovations of Hello, Dolly! and the enduring affection for films like Beaches and Hocus Pocus, Midler's body of work reflects a rare versatility and an enduring bond with audiences who have followed her through decades of reinvention.

Our collection contains 20 quotes who is written by Bette, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Music - Faith - Art - Honesty & Integrity.

Other people realated to Bette: Johnny Carson (Comedian), David Zucker (Director), Goldie Hawn (Actress), Julie Gold (Musician), Judge Reinhold (Actor), Arthur Hiller (Director), Nanci Griffith (Musician), Shelley Long (Actress), Jenifer Lewis (Actress), Nick Nolte (Actor)