Bette Midler

Bette Midler has been married to artist Martin von Haselberg since 1984. They have a daughter, actress Sophie von Haselberg, who was born in 1986.

Midler's eldest sibling, Judith, died in 1968 after being struck by a car while walking in New York City.

Midler studied drama at the University of Hawaii before leaving school to pursue performance. Her first professional screen work was a small role in Hawaii, filmed in 1965. She moved to New York City in 1966 and joined the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, first appearing in the chorus and later playing Tzeitel.

In 1970, Midler began performing at the Continental Baths, a New York City bathhouse catering to gay men. Her shows combined singing with bawdy comedy and elaborate costumes, and she developed the stage persona The Divine Miss M. Barry Manilow accompanied her on piano during this period, before producing her debut album.

Midler released The Divine Miss M in 1972. The album went platinum, featured the hit songs "Friends," "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and "Do You Want to Dance?," and earned her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. She followed it with the albums Bette Midler in 1973 and Songs for the New Depression in 1976.

Her first starring film role came in The Rose in 1979, when she played a self-destructive rock star loosely based on Janis Joplin. The performance brought her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination, while the title song earned her a Grammy Award. After a difficult period following the poorly received Jinxed! in 1982, she returned to major film success with Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Ruthless People, Outrageous Fortune, Big Business, and Beaches.

Midler sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" in Beaches, and the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. She also recorded "From a Distance," another major hit, for her 1990 album Some People's Lives.

Midler's film work in the 1990s included For the Boys, Hocus Pocus, The First Wives Club, and Get Shorty. Her performance opposite James Caan in For the Boys earned a second Academy Award nomination. In Hocus Pocus, she played Winifred Sanderson, a role she reprised in Hocus Pocus 2 in 2022. She also starred in the television sitcom Bette, which ran from 2000 to 2001.

She continued acting in films including The Stepford Wives, Then She Found Me, Parental Guidance, The Addams Family, The Glorias, and Sitting in Bars with Cake. She voiced Grandmama in The Addams Family and its sequel, and played Hadassah Gold in The Politician.

Midler returned to Broadway in I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers in 2013. In 2017, she played Dolly Gallagher Levi in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She also held the Las Vegas residency Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace from 2008 to 2010.

Midler has published A View from a Broad, The Saga of Baby Divine, and the children's book The Tale of the Mandarin Duck: A Modern Fable. Her musical honors include Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "The Rose," and Record of the Year for "Wind Beneath My Wings." She has also received three Primetime Emmy Awards and multiple Golden Globe Awards.

In 2012, Midler received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2021.

Midler founded the New York Restoration Project in 1995 to revitalize neglected parks, community gardens, and other green spaces in New York City neighborhoods. The organization later opened Swindler Cove Park and provided environmental education programs for students.