Just watching this on TMC now and in the bedroom scene with Borgnine Betty has her blouse off and you can see that the weight gain was actual, not stuffing. Even her face is fuller but she's still Betty, those eyes! Every one made a fuss when Robert Deniro gained weight for Raging Bull but I can see now that Betty beat him to it!
Her name is "Bette"..and the weight gain was on purpose. She was a housewife from the Bronx. And I don't recall anyone making a fuss about DeNiro gaining weight for Raging Bull..that's how LaMatta got when he got older..fat.
"If you can make a girl laugh, you can make her do anything!"....
Well you're wrong because there was a BIG FUSS about him gaining weight specifically to play Jake LaMotta in his older years for Raging Bull, did you see the movie???.. I remember because I was around then.
Sorry about the Bette. I stand corrected.
I've seen the film many times, jayc-8..La Motta aged in the movie and as he aged, he gained a lot of weight.
# Robert De Niro gained a record 60 pounds to play the older 'Jake La Motta' , and Joe Pesci lost weight for the same scene
Fact 1: Davis did NOT gain weight on purpose. Her figure had been shot
for quite some time. Not every Bronx housewife is fat.
Fact 2: There was INDEED tremendous press about Deniro's weight gain -
done on purpose - for this film.
what a ridiculous thing to argue about... bette davis got fat, so what? you people are insane, i swear!
at least i can feel better people are still watching the damn movie... close enough for 3 people to come here and jibber on about something entirely inconsequential.
but then.. i doubt davis or her movies will be forgotten too soon.
With all due respect, you come off as VERY sexist.
People gain weight as they get older. Deal with it!
De Niro gained "a record" 60 pounds?
If that's true, what was the previous record?
It's years after your post, but I still feel compelled to respond to it, billyed.
No, Davis did not "gain weight on purpose" for this role. She was naturally heavier at that particular time in her life and her matronly figure was the result of the weight gain that often comes with middle age -- Davis was 47 when she made this film -- as well as the onset of menopause. Many women gain weight during menopause, and Davis was no exception. Also, De Niro didn't gain weight because "LaMotta got fat when he got older." De Niro bulked up because that's how Jake LaMotta looked during his fighting years, not when he got older. LaMotta not only raged like a bull, but was built like one too. Don't confuse bulking up with fatness. Watch the film again and you'll see the difference.
I'm not sure how you define "a fuss being made," but yes, a fuss was made when De Niro gained weight for his role in Raging Bull because up to that time actors weren't willing to gain a significant amount of weight for a role regardless of the reasons or price. De Niro did so because he's a quintessential Method actor and as such wanted to not only act the part, but look it as well. It was a first for an actor to naturally increase his weight as much as he did without the aid of a fat suit and yes, it did cause quite a bit of discussion at the time, what you might call "a fuss."
Sorry cookie, while it was unusual at the time De Niro gained weight for RAGING BULL, Shelley Winters beat him to it for THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE seven years earlier. It was in her contract that the producers had to pay for her weight loss at a fat farm when filming ended. By coincidence, Winters & De Niro were good friends having made BLOODY MAMA together for Roger Corman years earlier.
shareSo what?
Jeez, I am so sick of this nonsense that women have to look like stick insects.
She was playing a middle-aged housewife in the 1950s. It's called realism.
Bette was a bit overweight even in 1950 as Margot Channing and that was 6 years before A Catered Affair. She did not gain weight for this role, as she stated in both of her books and in numerous interviews. She was going through a lot of grief at this time with her then-husband Gary Merrill and she gained weight because of that. At least that was the reason according to Bette.
shareShe gained weight after having B.D., and she never really quite lost it after that either. She really looked great for this part too though. Was she nominated for an Oscar?
The Divine Genealogy Goddess
Just thought of an edit to my previous post. If you look at the movie she made before June Bride, Winter Meeting, she looks almost alarmingly thin. I don't know if its the make-up or the style of clothes but she doesn't look good due to looking too thin. And Winter Meeting began filming just 4.5 months after B.D. was born so having a baby, while it did age her in the face, certainly did not attribute to any lasting weight gain.
However, the weight gain in A Catered Affair could probably be blamed on her very long recovery from her jaw surgery and spending 3 years in Maine being a wife and mother and not working.
You are very astute in your posts. Thank you.
The Divine Genealogy Goddess
When Davis filmed "All About Eve" she was going through a bitter divorce (and was involved with Gary Merrill at the same time), and lost a bit of weight. In fact, the dress she wore for that infamous party in the film was actually too large for her and they were not able to alter it before that party scene was filmed. It kept slipping off her shoulders, so they decided to have her wear the dress as an off-the-shoulder one and it worked very well.
In "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" her weight gain is also very evident, yet for "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" which was done after "Baby Jane," she had clearly lost some weight - a couple of the outfits she wears are fitted-waist dresses. She is not pencil-slim, but she is thinner than she had been for a few years.
English/History MA: Symbolism rules. "Loyaulte me lie...Richard III
Aside from the nonsense of the original post, anyone who refer to Bette as "Betty Davis" is not worth responding to. Of course here I am, answering...!
shareShe was 48. Likely going through the change of life, and reportedly, a bad marriage. It happens.
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