Jezebel

film by Wyler [1938]

Written by

Lee Pfeiffer

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Jezebel, American drama film, released in 1938, that features Bette Davis opposite Henry Fonda in an opulent antebellum romance.

Davis, in an Academy Award-winning performance, portrayed Julie Marsden, the strong-willed belle whose impertinent spoiled nature wreaks havoc on her relationship with fiancé Preston Dillard (Fonda). The scene in which Marsden decides to spurn the tradition of a maiden’s wearing a white gown to a dress ball, choosing instead to appear in “scandalous” red, seals her reputation as a headstrong flouter of societal mores. By the film’s end, however, she has found an opportunity to redeem herself—in the eyes of both Dillard and the audience.

According to Hollywood lore, the movie was designed specifically for Davis after she failed to land the role of Scarlett O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s Gone with the Wind. Despite a further eight nominations throughout her career, Davis’s Oscar win for Jezebel would prove to be her last. Fay Bainter also received an Oscar, for her supporting role as Marsden’s disapproving aunt.