Bette began her eclectic career as a model in New York. Her image was soon seen on billboards and in magazines as the face and form of the "Jantzen Bathing Suit Girl", "The Camay Bride", "The Parliament (cigarette) Girl" and scores of others. Soon she became a regular on the "Jackie Gleason Show" and "The Jimmy Durante Show".
Bette became enamored with the art form of bullfighting on a fateful trip to Bogotá, Colombia. Soon thereafter, she moved to Mexico to begin her training. Tenaciously she worked at the art, and within three years she was known as one of the top ten bullfighters in Central America. Her bullfighting took her all over all over Mexico, Panama and the Philippines where she was awarded a citation for bravery. By her third year the press ranked her one of the top ten bullfighting "figuras" in the world. Bullrings were built and named for her, and she was known as Bette "Guts" Ford- with over two hundred kills to her career, retiring from bullfighting as a top ranked Matadora. In 2007 Bette was inducted into the McKeesport Hall of Fame as one of the 70-plus greatest American Sports Heroes, and both the McKeesport Heritage Museum and the Harrisburg State Capitol Museum included Bette in an archival commemoration of her bullfighting as one of the great American sports figures from Pennsylvania.
Bette's acting career began in New York during the time of her modeling. After retiring from bullfighting she resumed her acting and has since forged a theatrical resume as impressive as her bullfighting. Bette has created roles on Broadway and acted with a range of movie stars from Clint Eastwood to Sarah Jessica Parker to Steven Segal. She has an extensive television career often personifying the sensual older woman who can turn heads. She was recommended for an Emmy nomination for her two-part appearance on Cheers titled "Coach in Love" and was granted the title of "Mother of the year" for her series of sexy "mother" roles including her star turning performances as "Lusty Rusty" on the hit series L.A. Law where she was again recommended for an Emmy. Her unique voice can be heard in the Animatrix (The Final Flight of the Osiris), the companion animated DVD of the film trilogy The Matrix and many commercials.
