Dark Victory

A young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and must decide whether she'll meet her final days with dignity. Bette Davis' bravura, moving but never morbid performance as Judith Traherne, a dying heiress determined to find happiness in her few remaining months, turns the film into a three-hankie classic. But that success would never have happened if Davis hadn't pestered studio brass to buy Dark Victory's story rights. Jack Warner finally did so skeptically. "Who wants to see a dame go blind?" he asked. Almost everyone was the answer: Dark Victory was Davis' biggest box-office hit yet and garnered three Academy Award nominations for 1939's Best Picture, Best Actress (Davis) and Best Music, Original Score (Max Steiner).