Television

Stardust: The Bette Davis Story, premiering tonight at 7 on Turner Classic Movies, gives you the movie star in blazing bursts. The real woman, however, is as elusive as the man in the moon. She was a teller of tall tales that cloak her life, a smart but combustible character who exhausted those around her before her death at age 81 in 1989.

Her life unfolds as a mix of good Bette and bad Bette, a throwback to the twins she played in A Stolen Life.

But in trying to explain Davis, writer-director Peter Jones runs into an insurmountable problem. Like many great stars, she is an enigma, a quality that reinforces her enduring appeal, so Jones struggles to sort out the Davis saga.

He first finds telling clues in her tumultuous childhood. Her father walked out on the family, which fostered her distrust of men. Her mother lived for Davis but used the actress as a meal ticket.

Jones reveals that, in contradiction to her oft-repeated statements, Davis had a warm relationship with her father and resented her mother.

The documentary discusses Davis’ alcoholism, her bullying style and her four disastrous marriages. In the most sensational bit, Stardust suggests that her physical abuse of her second husband could have contributed to his death from head injuries.

Davis, a two-time Oscar winner, could be a mercurial colleague. After The Little Foxes, director William Wyler kept his vow never to work with Davis again, although they had clicked on Jezebel and The Letter. All About Eve co-star Celeste Holm dubs Davis "the rudest woman I ever met."

Yet Jones achieves balance in profiling this formidable figure. Stardust makes it clear that daughter B.D. Hyman wrote her scathing Davis tell-all for money and against the wishes of Michael Merrill, Davis’ son.

Davis was tireless as the head of the Hollywood Canteen that catered to servicemen during World War II. She gleefully mocked her image by teaching TV host Jack Paar how to mimic her cigarette-waving mannerisms.

Despite a series of devastating strokes late in life, Davis valiantly continued to make appearances. "I think she gave people courage," co-star Gena Rowlands says.

If Jones doesn’t fit the pieces of the Davis personality together, he still excels in celebrating her career. He reminds viewers that she could be a subtle performer and far more versatile than mere campy icon or horror star. TCM will show her films on Wednesdays and Thursdays during May.

Stardust highlights famous Davis films, such as What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and All About Eve, but also such lesser-known gems as Old Acquaintance, The Catered Affair and Strangers, a TV movie for which she won an Emmy.

"I always felt her vulnerability," says Rowlands, who played her daughter in Strangers. "You could always see it, though she’d have killed you if you said so."

Jones artfully ties together the Davis biography by using Stardust, her favorite song, and a vignette about 7-year-old Bette looking at the nighttime sky. The star theme also recalls the ending of Now, Voyager and reminds viewers that she left a constellation of superb performances.