 In 1999, Davis placed second behind Katharine Hepburn on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of the Classic Hollywood cinema era.Ruth Elizabeth Davis, known from early childhood as "Betty", was born on April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the daughter of Harlow Morrell Davis (1885–1938), a law student from Augusta, Maine, and subsequently a patent attorney, and Ruth Augusta (née Favór; 1885–1961), from Tyngsboro, Massachusetts.Davis' younger sister was Barbara Harriet.