The Scottish Co-op girl and 50-year friendship with a Hollywood icon

TO the world, she was the most celebrated Hollywood actress of her day, but to a bus company cashier from Grangemouth she was just Bette.

• Film legend Bette Davis, dubbed the 'First Lady of American Screen', was adored by millions of fans

The story of an extraordinary friendship between Bette Davis and a Scottish movie fan that spanned 50 years of letters has been revealed.

The actress known as "the First Lady of the American Screen" was famous for her celebrated temper, but she warmed to the words written by Olive Geddes, a former Co-op worker and cashier, with whom she entered into a long and friendly correspondence. She even arranged for Ms Geddes to join her at a luxury hotel in London.

What began with a simple fan letter written in 1939 blossomed into a friendship, with meetings on the island of Mull, in Edinburgh and London.

Ms Geddes, 85, saw her first Bette Davis film, The Sisters, in 1939 and began to follow her career with enthusiasm, travelling to Glasgow and Edinburgh to catch her latest film as well as buying Picturegoer Magazine for two pence for articles on the star and her Hollywood lifestyle.

"I started to write to her care of Warner Brothers Studios and got a signed photograph back. I don't know what made her start to write back to me personally, but perhaps it was because I used to give her a critique of every new film. And, if there was something I didn't like, then I would tell her," said Ms Geddes.

Ms Geddes first saw the star in person in 1963 when the star flew to London, but eight years later the pair finally met when Davis filmed Madame Sin on the island of Mull, and contacted her to arrange a meeting at the local hotel.

"We were just standing there waiting and I realised that, after writing to each other for more than 30 years, we were finally going to meet. I could hardly believe it when she walked up to the reception desk.

"She then turned round, saw us and came across to speak. We all went downstairs to the bar to chat.

"I was scared that I would get tongue-tied when I met her, so had three questions that I wanted to ask - I can't remember what they were now.

"I thought that we would chat for about ten minutes but three hours later we went back to the reception and all these film people were standing about, wondering who was keeping Miss Davis from her dinner. And, despite it being a howling gale, she came outside to wave us off."

Her next meeting with the star was to be when Davis brought her one-woman show to Edinburgh and she was summoned by telegram to meet her at the capital's Caledonian Hotel.She had even arranged for a room to be made available for her Scottish friend and was bemused when Ms Geddes said she could not accept the kind offer because she had to get home to see to her cat.

However, in 1975 the pair were to have a longer meeting - and one the Scotswoman would never forget. Davis was appearing at the London Palladium and asked if Ms Geddes could get there. She said: "I told her I had relatives in London and would stay with them, but she replied that I was to have accommodation on her floor in the hotel."

The news of Davis's death in 1989 was broken to Ms Geddes by a neighbour who had heard it on the radio.

When asked if the star had ever gave her a gift, she said: "She gave me the gift of friendship."