Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie

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Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie is the iconic lead performance in the 1940 film noir drama "The Letter," in which Davis plays a seemingly refined colonial wife whose involvement in a murder exposes deep moral ambiguity.

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Statements (40)

Predicate Object
instanceOf fictional character portrayal
film role
academyAwardsContext The Letter (1940) received multiple Academy Award nominations NERFINISHED
antagonistInStory Mrs. Hammond NERFINISHED
antagonistPortrayedBy Gale Sondergaard NERFINISHED
appearsInFilm The Letter (1940 film) NERFINISHED
associatedWithGenreCycle classic Hollywood film noir
basedOn The Letter (play) NERFINISHED
basedOnAuthor W. Somerset Maugham NERFINISHED
blackAndWhiteFilm true
characterName Leslie Crosbie NERFINISHED
characterOccupationOrStatus colonial wife
characterTrait emotionally complex
morally ambiguous
outwardly refined
countryOfFilmProduction United States NERFINISHED
filmCinematographyBy Tony Gaudio NERFINISHED
filmDirector William Wyler NERFINISHED
filmDistributor Warner Bros. Pictures NERFINISHED
filmGenre drama film
film noir
filmMusicBy Max Steiner NERFINISHED
filmReleaseYear 1940
filmScreenwriter Howard E. Koch NERFINISHED
filmStudio Warner Bros. NERFINISHED
involvedIn murder of Geoff Hammond NERFINISHED
keyProp incriminating letter
languageOfFilm English
lawyerInStory Howard Joyce NERFINISHED
lawyerPortrayedBy James Stephenson NERFINISHED
narrativeRole protagonist
narrativeTheme colonialism
crime and guilt
moral ambiguity
performanceReputation iconic Bette Davis performance
one of Bette Davis’s notable 1940s roles
portrayedBy Bette Davis NERFINISHED
settingRegion British Malaya NERFINISHED
spouseInStory Robert Crosbie NERFINISHED
spousePortrayedBy Herbert Marshall NERFINISHED

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Letter portraysCharacter Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie
subject surface form: The Letter (1940 film)