Bette Midler Overview

Born to the only Jewish family in a Polynesian Hawaiian neighborhood in Honolulu, Midler dropped out of a drama course at the University of Hawaii. She then moved to New York to try her luck in showbiz, following in the footsteps of her namesake, Bette Davis. Midler landed in the chorus of Broadway's A Fiddler on the Roof and eventually gained a lead role. Bawdy, brassy, and rambunctious, she told dirty jokes and belted out songs in Manhattan's Continental Baths in 1971, and she became a campy... See All