Bette Midler

Biography

Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in nearby Aiea. She attended Radford High School in Honolulu. She is of Jewish descent. Her aspirations were clearly defined from the outset, and she majored in drama at the University of Hawaii, and earned money in the film Hawaii (released in 1966) as an extra, playing a seasick passenger.

After she relocated to New York City to pursue acting on stage, she landed her first professional onstage role in Miss Nefertiti Regrets. 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.

In 1970, Midler began singing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist, Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album, The Divine Miss M in 1973.

"Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of the gay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride."

In 1974, she received a Special Tony Award for her contribution to Broadway for her Clams on the Half Shell Revue at the Palace Theater. In 1979 she played the title role of a 1960s drug-addicted rock star, modeled after Janis Joplin, in The Rose, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

For the period of 1975 - 1978, she provided the voice of Woody the Spoon on the PBS educational series Vegetable Soup.

Her manager and boyfriend for a significant period was Aaron Russo.

Midler married Martin von Haselberg (Harry Kipper of her opening act the Kipper Kids) on December 16, 1984 in a chapel in Las Vegas. They had a daughter, Sophie Frederica Alohilani von Haselberg, on November 14, 1986. On the 13 December episode of The View Midler told how after 22 years she finally received her wedding pictures and was able to share them with her daughter:We got a call from the guy who married us. He said 'Yeah. I'm retiring and I've got your wedding pictures. Do you want them?'<laughs>. I said No no, why re-live the momemt. I was there! But it turned out fine because Sophie has never seen the pictures so she finally got to. Heck I've never seen the pictures so I finally got to!

In 1985, she was a performer on USA for Africa's fund-raising single We Are the World and participated at the 'Live Aid' event at JFK stadium in Philadelphia.

In 1986, she signed a contract with Touchstone Pictures , director Paul Mazursky cast her in Down and Out in Beverly Hills, beginning a successful comedic acting career. She appeared in other popular late-1980s comedies including Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, and Big Business. In 1988, she starred in the film drama Beaches. She also contributed her voice to the animated character Georgette, a snobbish poodle, in Disney's Oliver & Company that same year.

She has won four Grammy Awards including the 1973 Best New Artist and the prestigious Record of the Year in 1989 for the # 1 hit "Wind Beneath My Wings", the theme from Beaches. Her rendition of the 1990 "From a Distance" also earned her a Grammy and is another of her most popular songs. In 2004, she reunited with Manilow to record Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, which was nominated for a Grammy and was one of her best-selling albums in 20 years.

When The American Film Institute announced "The 100 years of the Greatest Songs" on June 22, 2004, two of her hits were selected by the board: "Wind Beneath My Wings" (#44) and "The Rose" (#83).

Other films include Scenes from a Mall, For the Boys (for which she was again nominated for an Academy Award), Hocus Pocus, The First Wives Club, and The Stepford Wives. Her television work includes an Emmy-nomination version of Gypsy.

Midler won an Emmy Award in 1992 for her memorable performance on the penultimate episode of The Tonight Show in May of that year, during which she sang an emotion-laden "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" to Johnny Carson. There was speculation later that there was a falling out between Midler and the only other guest on the show, Robin Williams. It was perceived that Midler had stolen the limelight from Williams, not an easy task. However, the rumors of a feud between them have been denied by both Williams and Midler, and they have since appeared together on several other talk shows, including The Rosie O' Donnell Show in 2003. After her Tonight Show appearance, Midler told USA Today, "It was a great night. Robin and I had a fabulous time, and we'll never forget it."

She had her own short-lived CBS sitcom Bette (2000 - 2001). Although the initial ratings were high, numbers soon declined and in the show's short lifespan her daughter (played by Lindsay Lohan in the pilot, then by Marina Malota starting with the third episode) and her husband were recast (Robert Hays succeeded Kevin Dunn in the final episode aired). The show was reportedly rocked by backstage turmoil, and did not last a full season. Also in 2001, Bette or Bust, a book chronicling Midler's Divine Miss Millenium Tour was released.

In 2003 - 2004 Midler toured her new show Kiss My Brass to sell-out crowds around the United States. In 2005, Kiss My Brass was equally successful in Australia. Bette Midler's most recent album, Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook, came out in October 2005.

Midler has guest-starred on The Simpsons in the episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled". Midler is first seen traversing a highway picking up trash when she is approached by Bart and Lisa with a request for Midler to appear on a show to revive Krusty's dying career. She has also appeared on Seinfeld, in the episode "The Understudy" which was the season finale of that show's sixth season.

In 2006, a new Christmas album Cool Yule was released by Midler featuring the title song (written by Steve Allen) and a duet with Johnny Mathis of Winter Wonderland/Let It Snow. She also begins filming on Then She Found Me to be directed by Helen Hunt and starring Hunt, Matthew Broderick and Colin Firth.

Charity work

In 1995, Midler founded the New York Restoration Project, a non-profit organization with the goal of revitalizing neglected neighborhood parks in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods of New York City. These include Highbridge Park, Fort Washington Park, and Fort Tryon Park in upper Manhattan and Roberto Clemente State Park and Bridge Park in the Bronx.

In 1999, the city planned to auction 114 community gardens for commercial development. Midler led a coalition of greening organizations to save them. NYRP took ownership of 60 of the most neglected plots. Today Midler and her organization work with local volunteers and community groups to ensure that these gardens are kept safe, clean and vibrant. In 2003, Midler opened Swindler Cove Park, a new five-acre public park on the Harlem River shore featuring specially designed educational facilities and the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, the first community rowing facility to be built on the Harlem River in more than 100 years. The organization offers free in-school and after-school environmental education programming to students from high-poverty Title I schools. The NYRP has been around for almost 11 years now, making New York a better and cleaner place.

Feature Films

Other films

Discography

Studio Albums

Soundtrack Albums

Compilations

Charted singles

from The Divine Miss M

from Bette Midler

from Songs for the New Depression

from Live at Last

from Broken Blossom

from Thighs and Whispers

from The Rose soundtrack

from Divine Madness

from No Frills

from Beaches soundtrack

from Some People's Lives

from For the Boys soundtrack

from Bathhouse Betty