Midler, Bette

She was born in Hawaii on December 1, 1945, the third daughter of Fred and Ruth (Schindel) Midler , who had moved to the islands from New Jersey not long before. Like her older sisters (Judy and Susan), Bette was named by the starstruck Mrs. Midler for a movie celebrity, in her case Bette Davis. (Because it was assumed that Davis pronounced her first name as “Bet,” that was how the child was always called.) When Bette was a youngster,...