During the filming of the television series ‘Hotel’ in 1983, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Within two weeks of her surgery Davis had four strokes which caused paralysis in the right side of her body. After a lengthy period of physical therapy, Davis gained partial recovery fro the paralysis.
It was around this time Davis’ relationship with her daughter started to go down hill. Hyman, Davis’ daughter, became a born again Christian and tried to convince Davis to follow suit but Davis didn’t. Davis’s health became stable so she traveled to England to film ‘Murder With Mirrors’. Upon her return Davis found out Hyman wrote a book called ‘My Mother’s Keeper’. Hyman chronicled in the book of a difficult mother and daughter relationship and scenes of Davis’ overbearing and drunken behavior. The book didn’t help the situation between mother and daughter.
Several friends of Davis’ said Hyman’s book wasn’t accurate. The book even caused a conflict between Hyman and her brother, Michael. Michael ended contact with Hyman and refused to see her again. Davis ended up disinheriting her daughter.
Davis went on to write her second memoir “This ‘N That’, filming two television movies, and her last performance in ‘Wicked Stepmother’ in which she abandoned due to disagreements with Cohen.
It was also during her last performance her health was failing more.
In 1989, during the American Cinema Awards, Davis collapsed. She recovered enough to travel to Spain where she was honored at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival. During this visit her health rapidly deteriorated. Davis was too weak to make the long journey back to the United States. She traveled to France where she died at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine on October 6, 1989.
Davis was buried at the Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California alongside her mother and sister. The epitaph on her tombstone was “She did it the hard way.”
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