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Bette Davis
Roy Moseley’s classic account of his fifteen tumultuous years with Bette Davis was first published just before her death in 1989. This eagerly anticipated new edition reveals additional material that her long-time companion has only now seen fit to divulge.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 27, 2013
What a ride. This guy really knew Bette! He dishes on what it was like to live with the glare of fame, one of my favorite topics, as well as giving insight into her working life and reputation. He doesn't come out and say it but I definitely get the impression that her assistant in later life, Ms. Sermak, was a manipulative Iago-like pain to deal with. Moseley strongly implies that this was one of the reasons for their fallout, well, that and the fact that if you got on Bette's shit list, that was it! She would simply cut you out like a cancerous tumor, with only a trail of cigarette smoke left in her wake.
May 10, 2020
This is a review I wrote in 2010 on Amazon with the intent to destroy Roy Moseley.
I have added some notes in bold.
***
Roy Moseley was always fascinated by celebrities and stardom and after school decided to work in show business, looking for any kind of job that would allow him to approach movie stars. He began as simple dresser, eventually evolving into star-agent. He had been a Davis fan all his life and his biggest dream was to meet her, but unlike other actresses Bette was not so easy to reach since she always refused the glamorous Hollywood life and retired to her beloved East Cost as soon as a movie was completed. He didn't give up and many years later, through various acquaintances, he finally managed to meet her and became a friend of hers for 15 years.
If the first chapters are kind of sweet and the reader might identify with Moseley and his adoration for this legendary woman, it doesn't take much before he reveals his real nature. The more you go on reading the more stalkerish he gets. "All About Roy" would have been a more appropriate title since it's basically all about HIM. He adores name-dropping, claming everybody was a friend of his and often taking credits for things he didn't do (such as arranging meeting and events). He's a real showbiz parasite. This book was originally released in 1989; Bette wasn't pleased by it and thought about sueing him but eventually didn't. In 2003 a new edition came out. "In this revised edition I have added to the story some details I did not feel comfortable telling while the great actress was still living." Well done Moseley, you're such a great friend. I haven't read the first edition but I can only guess the things he added. Through the whole book he never misses a chance to whine about how Bette broke their relationship; you can clearly feel the resentment. This would explain the awful things he wrote here and there, such as: "The great mystery to me was where she actually found the depth of character that she put into her great performances. In the whole fifteen years that I spent with her, I was never able to detect an intellect or depth of human understanding that would have been capable of producing such great interpretations of such a wide range of characters." I find this, as well as many other remarks, totally disrespectful. How can he claim to be a friend if he had such low regard for her? He clearly liked to be around famous people, no matter what. Also, he always made sure not to contradict her because he wanted to stay in her life as much as possible, he never showed his "true colors", which I found rather annoying. Their friendship ended when Moseley was asked by Charles Higman to co-write a book about Davis. She hated the idea, Higman wrote some very controversial biographies in the past, so she asked Moseley to give up the project. (Higman's biography is actually good) He didn't, of course, and that's how it all ended. Higman and Moseley co-wrote various books together until they eventually had some kind of quarrel. As it is reported on Wikipedia: "In the first edition of Moseley's memoir of Bette Davis, Higham is called "my great friend", but in the second revised edition he is a "doubtful author" and his name is omitted from the acknowledgements". I think this tells ALL about the reliability of this book.
Speaking of reliability... I have read many books about Bette so I couldn't help noticing some major mistakes, which make me wonder even more about its content. Funny because Moseley criticizes Whitney Stine's "Mother Goddamm" (which is like THE BIBLE about Bette's career) stating "it turned out to be a dreadful book" (jealous much, Moseley?), as well as Bette's autobiographies, saying they're not reliable since she tended to dramatize things. Well, he should be very careful about dissing other people's books since HIS book is full of mistakes.
First of all, the infamous story about Bette coming back to the studio after being bandaged by her real doctor to have a more realistic effect... He says the movie was "20.000 years in Sing-Sing". WRONG! Everybody knows it was "Marked Woman". Then Bette's fantasy about making love on a bed full of gardenias... It came true with composer Johnny Mercer, but Moseley says it happened with Howard Hughes. (to be fair he's not the only biographer who made this mistake) He takes credit for photographer George Hurrell's reborn career, stating he "talked the great celebrity photographer out of obscurity to photograph Bette. After that, his career was revived." The year was 1977, Bette was asked by the AFI to provide some new pictures for publicity. But the truth is Hurrell had been contacted by Stine two years before for the backcover picture of "Mother Goddamm". Moseley tries to picture Davis as a monster, saying nobody in Hollywood could stand her. Talking about Frank Capra's AFI he reports "she received only a muted welcome from the audience". Clips reveal quite the contrary, as she was welcomed with a full standing ovation. He badmouths Bette and Olivia DeHavilland's long friendship writing down a totally different speech by Olivia at the AFI. "As a little girl in San Francisco I remember looking at the screen and seeing this wonderful actress, Bette Davis." No such words ever came out of her mouth. He went on "this offended Bette, as DeHavilland was all of seven years younger than she." He remembers about Bette calling him the next day shouting: "Olivia saying she remembered watching me as a kid. I told you she hated me!".
These are just a few examples. In general Moseley seems to put bad words into Bette's mouth all the time, as if she hated everyone she ever worked with. I have the impression he often took her too seriously, not understanding her at all. The fact she had fights with someone didn't necessarily mean she hated or didn't respect said person. As a matter of fact she had the biggest fights with William Wyler, who she considered the love of her life and for whom she always had the greatest admiration. Most of the times he writes about things he heard by someone else (not a very accurate way to write a book) and he disses anyone who came in between him and Bette, such as her assistant Kathryn Sermack or her manager Harold Shiff. He sounds quite jealous and full of himself, having the nerve to write things as: "I believe that if Bette had not ended our friendship so abruptly and cruelly, I could have helped her to retain her links with B.D." -- Who the hell does he think he his?!
If you'd like a more personal glimpse into Bette's life I suggest Whitney Stine's "I'd Love To Kiss You: Conversations with Bette Davis" (aka "No Guts, No Glory: conversations with Bette Davis") where Stine writes about working with Bette for the book "Mother Goddamm" and how they became longtime friends. Davis was very temperamental and not easy to handle, and he never denied it; but nevertheless he always talked about her with great respect. The respect that Moseley clearly doesn't have.
I have added some notes in bold.
***
Roy Moseley was always fascinated by celebrities and stardom and after school decided to work in show business, looking for any kind of job that would allow him to approach movie stars. He began as simple dresser, eventually evolving into star-agent. He had been a Davis fan all his life and his biggest dream was to meet her, but unlike other actresses Bette was not so easy to reach since she always refused the glamorous Hollywood life and retired to her beloved East Cost as soon as a movie was completed. He didn't give up and many years later, through various acquaintances, he finally managed to meet her and became a friend of hers for 15 years.
If the first chapters are kind of sweet and the reader might identify with Moseley and his adoration for this legendary woman, it doesn't take much before he reveals his real nature. The more you go on reading the more stalkerish he gets. "All About Roy" would have been a more appropriate title since it's basically all about HIM. He adores name-dropping, claming everybody was a friend of his and often taking credits for things he didn't do (such as arranging meeting and events). He's a real showbiz parasite. This book was originally released in 1989; Bette wasn't pleased by it and thought about sueing him but eventually didn't. In 2003 a new edition came out. "In this revised edition I have added to the story some details I did not feel comfortable telling while the great actress was still living." Well done Moseley, you're such a great friend. I haven't read the first edition but I can only guess the things he added. Through the whole book he never misses a chance to whine about how Bette broke their relationship; you can clearly feel the resentment. This would explain the awful things he wrote here and there, such as: "The great mystery to me was where she actually found the depth of character that she put into her great performances. In the whole fifteen years that I spent with her, I was never able to detect an intellect or depth of human understanding that would have been capable of producing such great interpretations of such a wide range of characters." I find this, as well as many other remarks, totally disrespectful. How can he claim to be a friend if he had such low regard for her? He clearly liked to be around famous people, no matter what. Also, he always made sure not to contradict her because he wanted to stay in her life as much as possible, he never showed his "true colors", which I found rather annoying. Their friendship ended when Moseley was asked by Charles Higman to co-write a book about Davis. She hated the idea, Higman wrote some very controversial biographies in the past, so she asked Moseley to give up the project. (Higman's biography is actually good) He didn't, of course, and that's how it all ended. Higman and Moseley co-wrote various books together until they eventually had some kind of quarrel. As it is reported on Wikipedia: "In the first edition of Moseley's memoir of Bette Davis, Higham is called "my great friend", but in the second revised edition he is a "doubtful author" and his name is omitted from the acknowledgements". I think this tells ALL about the reliability of this book.
Speaking of reliability... I have read many books about Bette so I couldn't help noticing some major mistakes, which make me wonder even more about its content. Funny because Moseley criticizes Whitney Stine's "Mother Goddamm" (which is like THE BIBLE about Bette's career) stating "it turned out to be a dreadful book" (jealous much, Moseley?), as well as Bette's autobiographies, saying they're not reliable since she tended to dramatize things. Well, he should be very careful about dissing other people's books since HIS book is full of mistakes.
First of all, the infamous story about Bette coming back to the studio after being bandaged by her real doctor to have a more realistic effect... He says the movie was "20.000 years in Sing-Sing". WRONG! Everybody knows it was "Marked Woman". Then Bette's fantasy about making love on a bed full of gardenias... It came true with composer Johnny Mercer, but Moseley says it happened with Howard Hughes. (to be fair he's not the only biographer who made this mistake) He takes credit for photographer George Hurrell's reborn career, stating he "talked the great celebrity photographer out of obscurity to photograph Bette. After that, his career was revived." The year was 1977, Bette was asked by the AFI to provide some new pictures for publicity. But the truth is Hurrell had been contacted by Stine two years before for the backcover picture of "Mother Goddamm". Moseley tries to picture Davis as a monster, saying nobody in Hollywood could stand her. Talking about Frank Capra's AFI he reports "she received only a muted welcome from the audience". Clips reveal quite the contrary, as she was welcomed with a full standing ovation. He badmouths Bette and Olivia DeHavilland's long friendship writing down a totally different speech by Olivia at the AFI. "As a little girl in San Francisco I remember looking at the screen and seeing this wonderful actress, Bette Davis." No such words ever came out of her mouth. He went on "this offended Bette, as DeHavilland was all of seven years younger than she." He remembers about Bette calling him the next day shouting: "Olivia saying she remembered watching me as a kid. I told you she hated me!".
These are just a few examples. In general Moseley seems to put bad words into Bette's mouth all the time, as if she hated everyone she ever worked with. I have the impression he often took her too seriously, not understanding her at all. The fact she had fights with someone didn't necessarily mean she hated or didn't respect said person. As a matter of fact she had the biggest fights with William Wyler, who she considered the love of her life and for whom she always had the greatest admiration. Most of the times he writes about things he heard by someone else (not a very accurate way to write a book) and he disses anyone who came in between him and Bette, such as her assistant Kathryn Sermack or her manager Harold Shiff. He sounds quite jealous and full of himself, having the nerve to write things as: "I believe that if Bette had not ended our friendship so abruptly and cruelly, I could have helped her to retain her links with B.D." -- Who the hell does he think he his?!
If you'd like a more personal glimpse into Bette's life I suggest Whitney Stine's "I'd Love To Kiss You: Conversations with Bette Davis" (aka "No Guts, No Glory: conversations with Bette Davis") where Stine writes about working with Bette for the book "Mother Goddamm" and how they became longtime friends. Davis was very temperamental and not easy to handle, and he never denied it; but nevertheless he always talked about her with great respect. The respect that Moseley clearly doesn't have.
February 10, 2026
Unlike her daughter’s deeply unpleasant book, 'My Mother’s Keeper,' this one, written by Bette Davis's so-called friend, does have its positives. In fact, if Roy Moseley hadn’t been so unpleasant in his memoir on too many occasions, I would have happily rated it three stars instead of two.
At the beginning, Moseley writes rather sweetly about his admiration for Davis as a young man and the lengths he went to meet her. Not only did he succeed in that, but he also became friends with her. Alas, their friendship eventually faded, and Moseley went on to write this book.
He provides some good insights into Bette and shares wonderful memories that her fans will appreciate. The candid photographs included in the book are also quite priceless, so I can’t dismiss it entirely; he does say some very kind things about her. However, Moseley also appears to have a very high opinion of himself. He takes credit for many things, even suggesting that he inspired the writers to pen the hit song 'Bette Davis Eyes.' He suggests that if Bette had kept him in her life, he could have prevented her breakup with her daughter and might have even prolonged her life!
Some things are better left unsaid, but Moseley chose to write about what he claims to have witnessed between Bette and her adopted daughter, Margo, who was later found to be suffering from brain damage. We are also presented with a long and rather tedious list of the actors he claims Bette did or didn’t like, but there are no startling revelations. Towards the end, he makes unkind comments about Davis's appearance, calling her an "ugly woman." Bitter is the word I would use to describe this man: he knew Bette was devastated by his daughter’s betrayal and had fought for her life in the hospital. Did she really need her ex-friend to do the same to her?
Bette's real friend and personal assistant, Kathryn Sermak, later recounted her only meeting with Moseley in her book, 'Miss D and Me,' which is a far superior read. The author does not shy away from discussing Bette's less-attractive qualities, but she does so with dignity. In contrast, Roy Moseley ultimately did the opposite.
At the beginning, Moseley writes rather sweetly about his admiration for Davis as a young man and the lengths he went to meet her. Not only did he succeed in that, but he also became friends with her. Alas, their friendship eventually faded, and Moseley went on to write this book.
He provides some good insights into Bette and shares wonderful memories that her fans will appreciate. The candid photographs included in the book are also quite priceless, so I can’t dismiss it entirely; he does say some very kind things about her. However, Moseley also appears to have a very high opinion of himself. He takes credit for many things, even suggesting that he inspired the writers to pen the hit song 'Bette Davis Eyes.' He suggests that if Bette had kept him in her life, he could have prevented her breakup with her daughter and might have even prolonged her life!
Some things are better left unsaid, but Moseley chose to write about what he claims to have witnessed between Bette and her adopted daughter, Margo, who was later found to be suffering from brain damage. We are also presented with a long and rather tedious list of the actors he claims Bette did or didn’t like, but there are no startling revelations. Towards the end, he makes unkind comments about Davis's appearance, calling her an "ugly woman." Bitter is the word I would use to describe this man: he knew Bette was devastated by his daughter’s betrayal and had fought for her life in the hospital. Did she really need her ex-friend to do the same to her?
Bette's real friend and personal assistant, Kathryn Sermak, later recounted her only meeting with Moseley in her book, 'Miss D and Me,' which is a far superior read. The author does not shy away from discussing Bette's less-attractive qualities, but she does so with dignity. In contrast, Roy Moseley ultimately did the opposite.
September 10, 2021
I have not read this book and have no need for such utterances of bilious nonsense , My opine follows. Up to Amazon editors whether to publish or not .?
Roy Moseley is/was a parasite, no question , albeit proven by his conversation with Miss Sermak !
I will not quote , just enough to say that reading Miss D & Me . Miss D declined meeting him for lunch and very cleverly used Miss Sermak as the perfect foil to unbalance and finally expose the
parasite without mercy . Miss Sermak was a brilliant assistant and having an academic background in psychology knew how to sidestep and squash Moseley permanently . There conversation was wisely
in his creepy hands and she, having previously been taught, absolutely correctly by Miss D , in the car
total discretion, including no talk that their driver could use , she deftly circumvented his intrusive
questions with silence apart from “ I don't know how to answer you “ ! Miss D had decades of experience of idle , often brutal gossip and so she was a past master teacher for her intelligent assistant. In all modesty, as i was reading his verbatim words, it was blatantly obvious precisely
where all these shallow words were leading ! Miss Sermak openly, if rather embarrassed by that
conversation, told all to her boss, at which point she immediately phoned and verbally tore him apart. That was the final culmination of any further connection or communication from Miss D
to him ! I believe , at some time or other, she had considered legal proceedings, which she ultimately
decided she had more important paths in her life to follow than this !
Roy Moseley is/was a parasite, no question , albeit proven by his conversation with Miss Sermak !
I will not quote , just enough to say that reading Miss D & Me . Miss D declined meeting him for lunch and very cleverly used Miss Sermak as the perfect foil to unbalance and finally expose the
parasite without mercy . Miss Sermak was a brilliant assistant and having an academic background in psychology knew how to sidestep and squash Moseley permanently . There conversation was wisely
in his creepy hands and she, having previously been taught, absolutely correctly by Miss D , in the car
total discretion, including no talk that their driver could use , she deftly circumvented his intrusive
questions with silence apart from “ I don't know how to answer you “ ! Miss D had decades of experience of idle , often brutal gossip and so she was a past master teacher for her intelligent assistant. In all modesty, as i was reading his verbatim words, it was blatantly obvious precisely
where all these shallow words were leading ! Miss Sermak openly, if rather embarrassed by that
conversation, told all to her boss, at which point she immediately phoned and verbally tore him apart. That was the final culmination of any further connection or communication from Miss D
to him ! I believe , at some time or other, she had considered legal proceedings, which she ultimately
decided she had more important paths in her life to follow than this !
June 8, 2012
great bookon Bette's life
December 10, 2014
Moseley seems to think pretty highly of himself. Bitchy, unpleasant book. Read Sikov's Dark Victory instead.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews