James Spada - More Than a Woman: An Intimate Biography of Bette Davis

I am deeply indebted to a number of people for their cheerful and dedicated help during the three years it took to research and write this book. First among these is Christopher Nickens, my friend and assistant, who worked with me as closely as anyone possibly could. Himself the author of a book about Bette Davis, Chris has an encyclopedic knowledge of Hollywood in general and Bette in particular that enriched this book immeasurably. He conducted many of the interviews in these pages, did hours of library work, and generally kept things moving toward the inevitable deadline.

I much admire the incredible knack of Cathy Griffin to find elusive people and then persuade them to open up to her. A private investigator, she traveled to Geneva, New York, Westport, Connecticut, Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, and Charlottesville, Virginia, on my behalf and unearthed a great deal of important information about Bette, Gary Merrill, Margot Merrill, B.D., Jeremy, and Ashley Hyman, and Michael and Chou Chou Merrill.

Mike Szymanski spent long hours ferreting through the Halls of Records of Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties for vital statistics on Bette, her husbands, and her family. He made herculean efforts to locate witnesses to, and otherwise shed light on, Arthur Farnsworths fall on Hollywood Boulevard, poring through the Los Angeles fictitious name filings, county property records, birth, death, and marriage records, business license filings, and tax rolls, as well as the records of the L.A. District Attorney and Coroners offices. His perseverance was rewarded when the Coroners Office located the Farnsworth inquest transcript, which had long been thought missing.

I am always grateful to my agent, Kathy Robbins, for her belief in me and her careful stewardship of my career. My editor, Gene Young, inherited this book, but her enthusiasm was always so high one would have thought it had been her brainchild. I deeply appreciate her good cheer and excellent advice. Thanks to Steve Rubin, who enthusiastically signed up this project at Bantam, and the estimable Charles Michener, my original editor.

Laura van Wormer, who has gone from my editor to my dear friend and now publisher, deserves very special thanks for being the impetus to make my biographies available as eBooks.

Thanks as well to Elizabeth Mackey, Steve Ross, Isabel Thompson, and Lauren Marino of the Robbins Office for their many professional courtesies; Lauren Field of Bantam for her legal advice; my Dutch publisher, Jan van Willigen of DeKern, Matthew Snyder of CAA, and Edgar Scherick.