Comedienne, singer, and actress. Born on December 1, 1945, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bold and funny, Bette Midler is the quintessential entertainer — a singer, a dancer, a comedienne, and a dramatic actress. After studying drama at the University of Hawaii, she was hired as an extra on the film adaptation of James Michener’s novel Hawaii (1965). Saving up her earnings, Midler moved to New York City where she made her stage debut in Fiddler on the Roof in 1966. She stayed with the show for three years and then developed a popular nightclub act as a chanteuse and purveyor of outrageously bawdy comic routines. At one time, she was accompanied on the piano by the then-unknown Barry Manilow.
Her album The Divine Miss M (1974) won Midler a Grammy Award as Best New Artist, and the same year she received a Tony Award for her record-breaking Broadway show. Her dramatic performance in the film The Rose (1979) earned her an Oscar nomination, and she has since enjoyed considerable commercial success in a string of films including Outrageous Fortune (1987), Big Business (1988), Scenes from a Mall (1991), The First Wives Club (1996), and Get Bruce (1999).
More recently, Midler starred in a remake of the 1975 comedic thriller The Stepford Wives (2004) with Nicole Kidman and Glenn Close. She also appeared in the film Then She Found Me with Helen Hunt and Colin Firth.
Midler's latest recording was an album of holiday songs, Cool Yule, released in 2006. The album was nominated for a Grammy in 2007. The next year, she announced that she reached a deal with the entertainment promotion company AEG Live to become the resident artist at the famed Las Vegas hotel and casino Caesar's Palace. Her show, "Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On" started its run in February 2008.
Midler founded the New York Restoration Project in 1995. The non-profit organization helps revitalize green spaces in low income neighborhoods of New York City.
Bette Midler has been married to Martin von Haselberg since 1984. The couple has a daughter named Sophie who graduated from Yale in 2008.
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