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Bette Midler

Comedienne and actress, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. After studying drama at the University of Hawaii she was hired as a film extra, and made her stage debut in New York City in 1966. She then developed a popular nightclub act as a chanteuse and purveyor of outrageously bawdy comic routines. Not many superstars get their show-biz starts entertaining in gay bathhouses, but Bette Midler is not your average superstar. Short, busty, and totally uninhibited on stage, her brassy demeanor, passion for old songs and older jokes, and selfmocking devotion to the muse of comedy make her a refreshing change in an era when most divas take themselves so-o-o seriously. Her legendary concerts are preserved in several cable specials and albums, as well as the 1980 feature Divine Madness! (She earned two Emmys, one for a performance on "The Tonight Show," the program that introduced her to a national audience, and another for a 1978 variety special. She was also awarded a special Tony Award in 1974.) Later in 1979 she hit the big time with her first major role, playing a thinly disguised Janis Joplin in The Rose, and earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Midler would seem to have been finished in movies, though she did film a very funny music video, "Beast of Burden,"... Next

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