Bette Midler's dad "never liked" the idea of her becoming a star.

The 78-year-old actress has had an enormous career on stage and screen over the years and while she was determined to make it, she revealed that her father Fred - who worked at a Navy base in Hawaii as a painter and also painted houses - never really understood the world of showbusiness.

Speaking on 'The Today Show', she explained: "I never said 'I'm gonna try', I said 'I'm going to do this'. For me, there was nothing else. I couldn't do anything else.This was what I could do and I loved it with all my heart. And I was going to do it. My dad was a problem. My dad never liked any of it; he was a working-class guy. I loved him with all my heart and in the end, he wrote me a really nice note."

But the 'Hocus Pocus' actress explained that her father's death served as a "release" to her in the way she saw the world.

"Every kid dreams of a note at the end, and it answered everything. In a funny way, his passing released me from the cynicism that he put on me, and that was a good thing because one wants to be joyful in this life."

The 'Beaches' star then noted that her mother Ruth - who worked as a seamstress and named her daughter after Golden Age screen legend Bette Davis - was far more optimistic about her Bette's career prospects and was "thrilled" to have witnessed her achievements before her own death in 1979.

She added: "My mother was the joyous one. She saw enough of it that it thrilled her."