 John Springer, who had arranged her speaking tours of the early 1970s, wrote that despite the accomplishments of many of her contemporaries, Davis was "the star of the thirties and into the forties", achieving notability for the variety of her characterizations and her ability to assert herself, even when her material was mediocre.Individual performances continued to receive praise; in 1987, Bill Collins analyzed "The Letter" (1940), and described her performance as "a brilliant, subtle achievement", and wrote