Actor
b. January 31, 1902, Huntsville, Alabama
d. December 12, 1968, New York, New York
“Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes even I have trouble doing it.”
A Hollywood celebrity, Tallulah Bankhead exemplified what it meant to be a liberated woman at a time when women were Victorian and marginalized.
Bankhead’s father was a conservative Southern Democrat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1917 until 1940. Tallulah was raised in Washington, D.C., where she received a strict religious education.
A proponent of racial integration and civil rights, Bankhead’s political values starkly contrasted with those of her family. At age 15, she moved to New York City, where she made a name for herself as an actor and bon vivant both on Broadway and in London.
In Motion Pictures magazine, Bankhead’s former assistant disclosed that the two had been sexually involved. A self-described ambisexual, Bankhead’s sexual liaisons included the British theater actress Eva Le Gallienne and jazz legend Billie Holiday. Despite Bankhead’s notoriety, she was widely admired, including by President Harry Truman.
Bankhead’s colorful personality immortalized her in ways that few female actors have achieved. Despite her many scandals, turbulent relations and provocative nature, she is remembered as a beacon of civil rights and sexual liberation.
Bibliography
Bret, David. Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life. New York: Robson Books/Parkwest, 1996.
Faderman, Lillian, and Stuart Timmons. Gay L. A.: A History of Social Vagrants, Hollywood Rejects, And Lipstick Lesbians. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
Bankhead, Tallulah, Tallulah: My Autobiography. New York, New York: Harper, 1952.
Web Pages
Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame: Tallulah Bankhead
Turner Classic Movies: Tallulah Bankhead
