About this item
For ten years Kathryn Sermak was at Bette Davis's side--first as an employee, and then as her closest friend--and in Miss D and Me she tells the story of the great star's harrowing but inspiring final years, a story fans have been waiting decades to hear. Miss D and Me is a story of two powerful women, one at the end of her life and the other at the beginning. As Bette Davis aged she was looking for an assistant, but she found something more than that in Kathryn: a loyal and loving buddy, a co-conspirator in her jokes and schemes, and a competent assistant whom she trained never to miss a detail. But Miss D had strict rules for Kathryn about everything from how to eat a salad to how to wear her hair...even the spelling of Kathryn's name was changed (adding the -y-) per Miss D's request.
About the Author
AUTHOR BIOIn 1979, at the age of twenty-three, Kathryn Sermak was hired by Bette Davis as the legend's girl Friday. Since Miss Davis's death, Kathryn has continued to preserve the memory of her friend and mentor. In 1997 she co-founded the Bette Davis Foundation with Miss Davis's son, Michael Merrill and is a member of the Board of Trustees. The Foundation offers bursaries to gifted young actors, and in 1998 presented the first Bette Davis Lifetime Achievement Award to Meryl Streep. Along with Mr. Merrill, Kathryn is also co-executor of the Bette Davis Estate.Kathryn has been personal assistant to HH Princess Shams Pahlavi, (sister to the Shah of Iran) ; French actress, Isabelle Adjani; the statesman and journalist, Pierre Salinger; astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Motown Founder, Berry Gordy Jr.; famed American designer, Patrick Kelly and the co-creator of "Where's Waldo," Michael Gornall. Kathryn was also among the first to receive the Personal Assistant Career Award in 2003. She has worked as an associate producer in TV production and development, in addition to having collaborated with Miss Davis on her New York Times bestseller THIS N THAT (Putnam, 1987) and the reissue of Miss Davis's autobiography THE LONELY LIFE. (Berkley, 1990.) Kathryn Sermak earned her BA and BS degree from the University of Southern California, after completing her senior year at the University of Madrid, and attended the prestigious Institute Catolique De Paris.
