Portrait
Tallulah Bankhead
Born
31 January 1902Huntsville, Alabama, USA
Died
12 December 1968New York City, USA · aged 66
ActorUnited States

Tallulah Bankhead

A stage star famous for her husky voice, her wit and her “dahling” – who made no secret of loving both men and women.

Tallulah Bankhead came from a prominent political family in Alabama: her father was Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Her mother died shortly after her birth. At 15 she won a film magazine beauty contest and went to New York to act.

In the 1920s she became a star in London, where young women queued for hours to see her. Back in America she became one of the leading actresses of Broadway, celebrated for her roles in Lillian Hellman’s “The Little Foxes” (1939) and Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1942). In Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Lifeboat” (1944) she won the New York Film Critics Award.

Bankhead was famous for her deep voice, her drinking, her quick wit and her outrageous frankness. She spoke openly about her many love affairs; biographers document relationships with both men and women. She was briefly married to the actor John Emery.

Politically she supported liberal causes and the civil rights movement. In later years she appeared mainly on radio and television. She died in New York in 1968, aged 66.

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