Gloriously flamboyant American entertainer Bette Midler was born in Hawaii to the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. After dropping out of a drama course at the University of Hawaii, she took a tiny role in the 1966 film Hawaii, playing a seasick boat passenger (though it's hard to see her when viewing the film today). Training for a dancing career in New York, Midler made the casting rounds for several months, finally attaining a chorus role, and then the featured part of Tzeitel, in the long-running Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. It helps to do something well that no one else does, and Midler found her forte by singing at the Continental Baths, a gay hangout in New York. Most bath house performers were tacky and terrible, but Midler established herself by combining genuine talent with the tackiness expected of her. As "The Divine Miss M," Midler did an act consisting of campy (and dirty) specialty numbers, dead-on imitations of such earlier performers as the Andrews Sisters and Libby Holman, and the most outrageously revealing costumes this side of Bob Mackie. Soon she outgrew the bath houses and went on to nightclub and recording-artist fame, earning a Grammy Award in 1973. After several years of sellout tours, Midler re-entered films as the star of The Rose, an "a clef" film based on Janis Joplin. The movie itself was rather too obviously aimed at getting a shelf-full of Academy Award nominations (Midler was even given a "telephone scene," just like the one that earned Luise Rainer her Oscar back in 1936), but The Rose made up for its contrivances with a concert finale that was beautifully shot by a battalion of Hollywood's top cinematographers. The Rose was a success, but it failed to establish Midler as a dramatic actress; audiences, particularly the gay fans, still preferred the Divine Miss M. Jinxed (1982), Midler's next film, lived up to its name with well-publicized production squabbles between Midler, the director, the producers, and a few of the co-stars. Following the failure of Jinxed, Midler wasn't seen on screen until she signed a contract with Disney Studios in 1986. Establishing a new screen identity as a character comedienne, Midler sparkled in Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), and was even better as a loudmouthed kidnap victim in Ruthless People (1987). Using her restored film stature, Midler set up her own production company and produced Beaches (1988), a "pals through the years" saga that suffered from a saggy ending but also served to introduce Mayim Byalik (later star of TV's Blossom), who convincingly played Midler as a child. Once again attempting to establish herself as a tragedian, Midler starred in Stella (1990), an unnecessary (and anachronistic) remake of Stella Dallas. For the Boys (1992), which seemingly went on forever, offered Midler in tons of old-age makeup as a Martha Raye-style USO star (Raye responded to this "tribute" by suing the studio). Nor were Scenes from a Mall (1991), mismatching Midler with Woody Allen, and Hokus Pokus, a silly "witchcraft" fantasy, truly worthy of her talents. Though her film career has waned a bit, Midler still performs live in concert to turnaway crowds. And in late 1993, Midler scored an enormous success in a superb TV adaptation of the Broadway musical Gypsy. In private life, Midler is the antithesis of her public persona: a woman of recognized taste both in decorating her home and in choosing her wardrobe, and also a most devoted wife (to commodities broker Martin von Haselberg) and mother.