Last night, I wanted to watch Deception because I’m a huge Bette Davis and Claude Rains fan and I wanted to explore the similarities between Deception and Tess of the D’Urbervilles, but I had accidentally borrowed Mr. Skeffington from Netflix instead. (I suck with remembering titles and often find myself typing obscure partial movie descriptions in Google to figure out what something is called.)

Anyway, the Mr. Skeffington DVD had some special features including a piece with several different industry experts and biographers talking about the movie and mentioning how Bette Davis’ limited sexual appeal was a problem since she was supposed to be very attractive in the movie.

Several of them used the same term, and I found it interesting.

Limited sex appeal.

Is there anyone who doesn’t have limited sex appeal? I mean, is there a universally sexy person somewhere that I should know about? There are people whose scope of sex appeal may be wider than others, but damn—we’re all limited.

And is this a specifically physical issue? Does the spark in Bette Davis’ eyes count toward her sex appeal? What about her quick wit and courage? No? Not turn-ons? Wait, some of you are saying they are turn-ons. Yeah, ’cause sex appeal is subjective, right? And what is sex appeal? Is it the same as being attractive? I mean, there are some people who make me feel downright carnal when I look at them and others who I think are attractive but don’t desire—and the carnal ones aren’t necessarily traditionally good looking.

Bette Davis was a non-traditional beauty. She was beautiful in the same way that many non-actresses and non-models are. She had a seemingly attainable appeal of both looks and personality that belie how rare it is to be truly remarkable. I mean, think about it. How many people do you see and talk to every day—at the park, at the grocery store, at work, wherever. And how many leave a lasting impression on you?

You know what Bette Davis had? Eyes, man, and balls and personality and spark. Traits that would stay with you, and over 20 years after her death and more than 80 years after her first movie, they have stayed with us and show no signs of being relegated to the forgotten. And if that’s what limited sex appeal buys a person, I’ll take it.