Bette Davis Talks About Speaking Her Mind and of Changing Gender Roles in Rare 1963 Interview Animated for PBS

I think it’s just too much trouble to be dishonest and keep up with yourself, you know.

The most recent episode of Blank on Blank features the legendary Bette Davis talking about her habit of speaking her mind and how she perceived the significant way that gender roles were changing in a rare 1963 interview at her home with the incredible Shirley Eder.

I think men have got to change an awful lot. I think somehow they still prefer the little woman. They’re just staying way, way behind and so as a rule I think millions of women are very happy to be by themselves, they’re so bored with the whole business of trying to be the little woman, when no such thing really exists anymore. It just simply doesn’t. This world’s gone way beyond it. The real female should be partly male and the real male should be partly female anyway. So if you ever run into that in either sex you’ve run into something very, very fine, I think.

Bette Davis Heads

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.