Winning a Bette

Some of Hollywood’s top actresses really wanted that lead role opposite Bette Midler in “Beaches.”

So much that such actresses as Oscar nominee Anne Archer, Barbara Hershey and Jamie Lee Curtis agreed to do screen tests--with Bette--for the part, according to sources.

Hershey emerged the victor. She’ll play a dying woman who asks her childhood girlfriend (they played together on the Atlantic City boardwalk)--who’s become a huge star--to take her children when she’s gone.

An insider tells us that Garry Marshall, who’ll direct the film for Touchstone, also helmed the tests. “It’s not completely unheard of for name actresses to screen test,” said the source, “especially given the fact that there are so few really good roles for women.”