Bette Midler as a music superstar battling inner demons and the pressures of the road in The Rose, which THR called “a strong character study” despite “a screenplay that is based on a overly worn cliché.”

20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection

In 1979, Bette Midler shot to movie stardom with 20th Century Fox’s The Rose.

Directed by Mark Rydell, the musical drama featured Midler as Mary Rose Foster (nicknamed “The Rose”), a brassy rock diva whose talent and fame are undercut by substance abuse. Loosely modeled on the life of Janis Joplin — and setting a music biopic standard narrative with its rise-and-fall storyline, as seen in Focus Features’ Amy Winehouse film Back to Black, in theaters May 17 — The Rose is notable for its live concert performances filmed across the country. THR attended one at the then-dilapidated Wiltern theater in Los Angeles. “Midler is definitely Movies Today (from her “Hello, mother f—–‘s” dialogue to the whole Bette look, audience hold and star persona) while the Wiltern house itself is a sobering relic from the Movies Past,” wrote Robert Osborne in June 1978 (inset). (THR critic Ron Pennington reiterated this in his October 1979 review: “Midler is especially superb in these concert sections, and she also makes the most of the coarse humor of the script.”)

Midler’s star had been on the rise since the release of her debut album in 1972; she won a Grammy, Tony and Emmy all before starring as a lead in a feature film (she’d made her movie debut in 1966’s Hawaii, set in her birthplace, in an uncredited role). While the actress downplayed the similarities between Rose and Joplin at a press conference announcing her casting in 1977, critics couldn’t resist noting the tragic connection between the fictional singer — who dies of an overdose onstage at the end of the movie — and Joplin, who met a similar fate in a Hollywood motel room. Reviews were mixed, but the film would go on to earn four Oscar noms, including best actress for Midler, who won a Golden Globe for her performance, plus her second Grammy for the title song written by Amanda McBroom — beating fellow singer-actresses Irene Cara, Olivia Newton-John, Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand for best female pop vocal performance.

This story first appeared in the May 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.