Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was reputed for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.

After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, but her early films for Universal Studios (and as loanout to other studios) were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances. In 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract and although she lost a well-publicized legal case, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinema's most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful and intense style. Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative, and confrontations with studio executives, film directors and costars were often reported. Her forthright manner, clipped vocal style and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona, which has often been imitated and parodied.

Bette Davis Eyes

Bette Davis Eyes is a song written by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, and made popular by American singer Kim Carnes. DeShannon recorded it in 1974; Carnes' 1981 version spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Billboard's biggest hit of the entire year for 1981. The 1981 recording won the 1982 Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

History

The song was written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon. DeShannon recorded the song that same year on her album New Arrangement. In this original incarnation, the track is performed in an "R&B lite" arrangement, featuring a prominent uptempo piano part, as well as flourishes of pedal steel guitar and horns. However, it was not until 1981, when Kim Carnes recorded her version of the song in a radically different synthesizer-based arrangement, that "Bette Davis Eyes" became a commercial success.

The Carnes version spent nine non-consecutive weeks on top of the US Billboard Hot 100 (interrupted for one week by the "Stars on 45 Medley") and was Billboard's biggest hit of the year for 1981. The single also reached No. 5 on Billboard's Top Tracks charts and No. 26 on the Dance charts. The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a number one hit in 21 countries and peaked at number 10 in the United Kingdom.

Kim Carnes

Kim Carnes (born July 20, 1945) is a two-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter. Born in Los Angeles, California, Carnes now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, where she continues to write music. She began her career as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing for other artists while performing in local clubs and working as a session background singer with the famed Waters sisters (featured in the documentary, 20 Feet from Stardom). After she signed her first publishing deal with Jimmy Bowen, she released her debut album Rest on Me in 1972.

As a solo artist, Carnes saw some success with her singles "More Love," "Crazy in the Night (Barking at Airplanes)," "Make No Mistake (He's Mine)," with Barbra Streisand, and "I'll Be Here Where the Heart Is." Her most successful single was "Bette Davis Eyes," released in 1981. The song won two Grammy Awards; Song of the Year and Record of the Year, and became the best-selling single of the year in the United States.

Carnes' self-titled debut album primarily contained self-penned songs, including her first charting single "You're a Part of Me", which reached number thirty-five on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1975. In the following year, Carnes released Sailin', which featured "Love Comes from Unexpected Places". The song won the American Song Festival and the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival in 1976. Other successes as a songwriter include co-writing the number one duet "The Heart Won't Lie" with Donna Weiss, recorded by Vince Gill and Reba McEntire, and co-writing the songs for Kenny Rogers' concept album Gideon (1980).

Horror fiction

Horror fiction is a genre of literature, and film which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle their readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon has defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length... which shocks or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror is frequently supernatural, though it can be non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society.

History

The genre of horror has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These were manifested in stories of beings such as witches, vampires, werewolves and ghosts.

Gothic horror in the 18th century

18th century Gothic horror drew on these sources with the seminal and controversial The Castle of Otranto (1764) by Horace Walpole. This marked the first time a modern novel incorporated elements of the supernatural instead of pure realism. In fact, the first edition was published disguised as an actual medieval romance from Italy discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as contemporary, many found it anachronistic, reactionary, or simply in poor taste — but it proved to be immediately popular. That first novel of Gothic horror inspired such works as Vathek (1786) by William Beckford, A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and The Italian (1796) by Ann Radcliffe and The Monk (1797) by Matthew Lewis. A significant amount of horror fiction of this era was written by women and marketed at a female audience, a typical scenario being a resourceful female protagonist menaced in a gloomy castle.

American Horror Story

American Horror Story (often abbreviated AHS) is an American anthology horror television series created and produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Described as an anthology series, each season is conceived as a mostly self-contained miniseries, following a disparate set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end." Some plot elements are loosely inspired by true events.

The first season, retroactively subtitled Murder House, takes place in Los Angeles, California during the year 2011 and centers on a family that moves into a house haunted by its deceased former occupants. The second season, subtitled Asylum, takes place in Massachusetts during the year 1964 and follows the stories of the patients and staff of an institution for the criminally insane. The third season, subtitled Coven, takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana during the year 2013 and follows a coven of witches who face off against those who wish to destroy them. The fourth season, subtitled Freak Show, takes place in Jupiter, Florida during the year 1952 and centers around one of the few remaining American freak shows. The fifth season, subtitled Hotel, takes place in Los Angeles, California during the year 2015 and focuses on the staff and guests of a supernatural hotel.