Her acting style
Some would call it overacting or bad acting
shareDepends upon the role.
shareI would never accuse Davis of overacting during her heyday, unlike so many stars of her era. Of course, like most, she succumbed to this late in life with some hammy old age performances, but while many of her characters were over the top or larger than life, her performances were usually wonderful. One of the boldest and most magnetic actors in Hollywood history, and she had great range, too.
shareWas wonderful. Few actors could make mawkish melodrama as insanely watchable as Ms Davis.
Her style probably wouldn’t fly today, but it doesn’t need to. She was the perfect actor for her era of film.
Was thinking about this after watching All About Eve for the first time the other night. No way an actress would get praised today for the same performance. It's very much of its time. Same with the actress from Sunset Boulevard.
shareNote the username of the OP.
Bette was an outstanding actress.