Long before she became one of Hollywood’s most celebrated actresses, Bette Davis spent her summers along the coast of Southern Maine as a teenager.
Best known for unforgettable performances in films like All About Eve, Jezebel, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Davis became one of the most recognizable stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. But her connection to Maine began years before the fame, Academy Awards, and red carpets.
From summers in Perkins Cove and an early interest in theater to family life along the Maine coast and one of her final films, Davis maintained a fascinating connection to Vacationland.
And thanks to a book about Perkins Cove and a personal letter Davis wrote to its authors, we also know that one of the most frequently repeated stories about her time in Ogunquit isn’t quite true.
🌊 A Young Bette Davis Discovers Ogunquit
In the summer of 1924, a teenage Bette Davis came to Ogunquit with her mother, Ruth, and her friend Ginny Conroy.
The three stayed in a modest fishing shack in Perkins Cove, which was still very much a working fishing harbor. Although Ogunquit was already attracting artists and summer visitors, the cove was a quieter place than the popular destination we know today.
For Davis, the summer offered time to enjoy the beach, the ocean, and the small coastal community.
During this visit, she took an American Red Cross lifesaving course on Ogunquit Beach.
Over the years, photographs of the young Davis with local lifeguards helped create a popular story: that she had been Ogunquit Beach’s first female lifeguard.
But according to Bette Davis herself, that story is incorrect.
📖 The Cove: A Book, a Letter and a Piece of Hollywood History
One of the most interesting sources documenting Davis’s connection to Ogunquit is the book The Cove, written by Carrie Boyd, Kathryn Ryan, Betty Wills, and William Wills.
The book preserves stories and history from Perkins Cove, including its transformation from a working fishing community into one of Ogunquit’s most recognizable destinations.
After the book was published, the authors sent a copy to Bette Davis.
And she wrote back.
In her response, Davis addressed a misconception that had followed her for years: the claim that she was the first female lifeguard at Ogunquit Beach.
Davis explained that while she had taken the lifesaving course, she had never actually served as a lifeguard.
That distinction matters, and it’s a great example of how firsthand accounts can clarify local history.
The story is particularly interesting because photographs of Davis alongside Ogunquit’s lifeguards have circulated for decades, making it easy to understand how the misconception developed.
But completing a lifesaving course and serving as an employed or appointed beach lifeguard are two different things.
Thanks to the authors of The Cove and Davis’s personal response, we have a clearer picture of what actually happened that summer.
The correction doesn’t make her Ogunquit connection any less interesting. In fact, it adds another layer to the story: a Hollywood legend taking the time to respond to local historians and set the record straight about her teenage years in Maine.
🎭 Ogunquit’s Early Theater Scene and a Future Star
Davis’s connection to Ogunquit extended beyond the beach.
By the early 20th century, Ogunquit was becoming known as a summer arts community, attracting painters, writers, and performers.
Between 1917 and 1931, Merrydelle Hoyt sponsored theatrical productions staged at the Village Studio on Hoyts Lane.
According to historical accounts published by the Friends of the Ogunquit Heritage Museum, Davis approached director W. Bennett Kilpack about participating in a production.
He reportedly turned her down because she was young and inexperienced.
It’s an amusing bit of local theater history considering what happened next.
The aspiring actress would eventually become one of American cinema’s most acclaimed performers, earning 10 Academy Award acting nominations and winning twice.
Davis later recalled her early theatrical experiences in her 1962 autobiography, The Lonely Life.
Ogunquit wasn’t the only place that shaped her ambitions, but it was part of her early exposure to the performing arts.
🎬 From Southern Maine to Hollywood
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1908, Ruth Elizabeth Davis pursued acting in New York before heading to Hollywood.
Her career took off during the 1930s, when she became known for portraying strong-willed, complicated characters.
She won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for Dangerous (1935) and her second for Jezebel (1938).
Over the following decades, she starred in films that remain classics, including Now, Voyager (1942), All About Eve (1950) and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
Davis was admired for her willingness to take on challenging roles, including characters who weren’t necessarily likable or glamorous.
By the mid-20th century, the young woman who once spent her summers in Perkins Cove had become an international star.
Yet her connection to Maine continued.
🎭 Bette Davis and the Ogunquit Playhouse
One of the most fitting chapters in Davis’s Southern Maine story is her connection to the Ogunquit Playhouse.
Walter and Maude Hartwig founded the Playhouse in 1933; it began in a converted garage before moving to its permanent Main Street location in 1937.
Over the decades, it became one of America’s most celebrated summer theaters, attracting established stars from Broadway and Hollywood.
Bette Davis is among the notable performers associated with the Playhouse’s history.
This connection is especially satisfying, given her early experience seeking a role in Ogunquit’s summer theater scene.
Today, the Ogunquit Playhouse remains a major part of the town’s cultural identity, bringing professional theatrical productions to audiences from across New England and beyond.
🏡 Bette Davis Makes a Home in Maine
Davis’s relationship with Maine eventually extended beyond summer visits to Ogunquit.
In 1950, she married actor Gary Merrill, her co-star in All About Eve.
The couple established a family home in Cape Elizabeth, just south of Portland, on a coastal property overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Davis nicknamed the estate Witch Way.
The home offered a different kind of life from Hollywood, with room for family activities and opportunities to enjoy the Maine coast.
During much of the 1950s, Davis and Merrill raised their family there.
Although the couple divorced in 1960, Maine remained an important part of Davis’s personal history.
🎥 A Return to Maine for The Whales of August
Decades after her teenage summers in Ogunquit, Davis returned to Maine for one of her final film roles.
In 1986, she appeared alongside fellow Hollywood legend Lillian Gish in The Whales of August, released in 1987.
The film follows two elderly sisters spending time at their family’s summer cottage along the Maine coast.
The film was shot on Cliff Island in Casco Bay, bringing Davis back to a landscape she had known for much of her life.
It was one of her final films before her death in 1989.
It feels fitting that a performer whose early memories include summers on the Southern Maine coast returned decades later to make a film set along Maine’s shoreline.
📍 Discover Bette Davis’s Southern Maine Connections
If you’re interested in following in Davis’s footsteps, several places in Ogunquit connect to her early life.
Perkins Cove: Explore the picturesque harbor where Davis stayed during her teenage summers. Today, the area is known for its fishing boats, footbridge, restaurants, galleries, and shops.
Ogunquit Beach: Walk the same stretch of sand where Davis completed her Red Cross lifesaving training nearly a century ago. It’s also where she took the famous photographs with local lifeguards.
Ogunquit Playhouse: Visit the historic theater that has welcomed generations of performers, including Davis.
Ogunquit Heritage Museum: Learn about Ogunquit’s early fishing community, art colony, and theatrical history. The Friends of the Ogunquit Heritage Museum published a detailed account of Davis’s early years in its Spring 2024 newsletter.
🌊 A Hollywood Legend and a Small Maine Town
Bette Davis’s connection to Southern Maine is more than an interesting celebrity footnote.
It’s the story of a young woman who spent summers in a fishing village, developed an interest in acting, and enjoyed the same beautiful coastline that still attracts visitors today.
It’s also a reminder of why preserving local history matters.
For decades, Davis has been celebrated as Ogunquit’s first female lifeguard. But her correspondence with the authors of The Cove offers an important correction: she completed lifesaving training but said she never served as a lifeguard.
That personal letter is a valuable piece of the story, especially because the lifeguard claim keeps appearing in published accounts.
The next time you’re walking through Perkins Cove or spending an afternoon at Ogunquit Beach, remember that one of Hollywood’s greatest actresses once enjoyed those same places, long before the world knew her name.
Thanks to local historians, authors, and preserved personal memories, we’re still discovering new details about her time in Vacationland.
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