Bette Midler

About Bette Midler

Bette Davis Midler (born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress and comedian, also known to her fans as The Divine Miss M. She is named after the actress Bette Davis although Davis pronounced her first name in two syllables, and Midler uses one (/bɛt/). During her career, she has won four Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards. She is currently performing a new concert show, The Showgirl Must Go On, live five nights a week as one of the current headliners at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas (together with Cher and Elton John).

Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is the daughter of Ruth (née Schindel), a seamstress and housewife, and Fred Midler, a house painter who worked at a Navy base in Hawaii. Her parents were from Paterson, New Jersey and moved to Honolulu shortly before Midler was born. Midler's family was one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighborhood. She was raised in nearby Aiea and attended Radford High School Senior Photo in Honolulu. She was voted in Hoss Election 1961 "Most Talkative" and in her Senior Year (Class of 1963) "Most Dramatic". She majored in drama at the University of Hawaii (though she only attended for three semesters), and earned money in the film Hawaii (released in 1966) as an extra, playing a seasick passenger.

In 1965, she relocated to New York City after using the money she got for playing an extra, and landed her first professional onstage role in Tom Eyen's Off-Off-Broadway plays in 1965, Miss Nefertiti Regrets and Cinderella Revisited, a children's play by day and an adult show by night. From 1966 to 1969 she played the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway; during this period her sister Judith, visiting New York to see her perform, was killed by a taxi cab.[citation needed]