Tallulah Bankhead Biography Quotes 25 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was born in 1902 in Huntsville, Alabama, into a prominent Southern political family whose public stature shaped her sense of confidence and command. Her father, William B. Bankhead, rose to national prominence and eventually served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, while her grandfather, John H. Bankhead, had been a U.S. Senator. Her mother died not long after Tallulah was born, a loss that shadowed her early years and left Tallulah and her sister, Eugenia, in a household governed by duty, expectation, and the rhythms of national politics. From childhood she displayed the traits that would define her career: a startling poise, a resonant contralto voice, and a quick intelligence that found humor in almost everything.

Emergence on Stage
As a teenager she moved to New York City, drawn to the theater at a time when Broadway was a magnet for ambitious performers. She found work quickly, first in small parts and then in increasingly substantial roles that exploited her fearless stage presence. Her ease with sophisticated dialogue and her gift for an arch aside made her a natural in high comedy. Early on, critics noticed the combination that would become her signature: volcanic charisma, a smoky voice, and the uncanny ability to make even a pause feel theatrical.

London Stardom and Persona
In the early 1920s Bankhead sailed to London and became a sensation in the West End. She scored in a string of stylish plays, including works by Noel Coward, and earned a reputation for stagecraft that was both dazzling and unpredictable. London society embraced her, and she, in turn, cultivated the worldly, wry persona that followed her everywhere. The habit of calling almost everyone "dahling" began as a practical shortcut for a performer who met too many people to remember their names, and it crystallized into a trademark. Her friendships from this period included playwrights, journalists, and actors who were drawn to her appetite for life and her refusal to be embarrassed by candor.

Hollywood and Screen Work
Bankhead returned to the United States at the start of the sound era and signed with Paramount, part of a wave of stage talents making the transition to film. She appeared in a number of early 1930s pictures, among them Tarnished Lady and the submarine melodrama Devil and the Deep opposite Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, and a young Cary Grant. Although she never matched her stage triumphs in the studio system, she made an indelible mark in Alfred Hitchcock's wartime drama Lifeboat (1944). As a coolly incisive journalist stranded at sea, she turned a chamber piece into a star vehicle and earned the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Actress, a recognition that affirmed what theatergoers already knew.

Broadway Triumphs
The stage remained her truest home. Returning to Broadway, she created one of her definitive roles as Regina Giddens in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1939), a portrayal of ambition and ice that theater historians still cite for its authority and bite. She then originated Sabina in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), a role that harnessed her flair for breaking the fourth wall and her instinct for humor edged with danger. These performances cemented her standing as a leading lady who could anchor both repertory and new American writing, and they kept her at the center of New York theatrical life even as Hollywood courted her sporadically.

Radio and Television
In the postwar era Bankhead reinvented herself again as a major radio personality. From 1950 to 1952 she presided over NBC's The Big Show, a lavish 90-minute variety program designed to rival television. As mistress of ceremonies she sparred playfully with guests such as Ethel Merman, Fred Allen, Groucho Marx, and Jimmy Durante, turning her voice into a weekly event and showcasing a generosity that helped other stars shine. Television soon beckoned; she guested memorably on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and, near the end of her career, on Batman, where she relished playing a flamboyant villain tailored to her gifts. She also returned to the big screen in the British thriller Die! Die! My Darling! (1965), a late-career turn that fused menace and theatrical flair.

Personal Life and Relationships
Bankhead married actor John Emery in 1937; the union brought together two working performers with strong personalities and demanding schedules, and they divorced in 1941. She had no children. She was frank, for her time, about relationships and desire, and biographers have noted her attachments to both men and women. Her circle included dramatists, novelists, and comedians who appreciated her wit, her loyalty, and her ability to cut through pretense. The friends who knew her best understood the contradictions: a star who could dominate a room yet was also capable of private kindness, a bon vivant who worked ferociously to master difficult roles.

Political Voice and Public Image
The daughter and granddaughter of powerful Alabama Democrats, Bankhead carried politics in her bones. She supported the Democratic Party and took part in public efforts during World War II, from appearances that boosted war bonds to work that lifted the morale of audiences longing for connection. Offstage, she embraced civil liberties, artistic freedom, and a view of the theater as a public good. Onstage and on air, she cultivated an image that mixed hauteur and humor, allowing audiences to enjoy both the spectacle of glamour and the relief of self-mockery.

Craft, Discipline, and Myth
Behind the legend was a serious actor. Colleagues noted her rigorous rehearsal habits, her impeccable timing, and her ear for the cadences of sophisticated dialogue. She championed playwrights, protected younger actors, and used her celebrity to draw attention to challenging work. At the same time, her life fed a mythology: the cigarettes, the cocktails, the epigrams that made headlines. She understood that persona and performance were intertwined, but she also knew when to strip the glamour away and let the craft show, particularly in roles like Regina and Sabina that demanded steel beneath sparkle.

Decline, Final Years, and Legacy
Years of smoking and hard living took a toll on her health. Even as her energy waned, she continued to work, moving between stage, film, radio, and television with an instinct for choosing parts that made the most of her voice and presence. She died in New York City in 1968, mourned by colleagues and audiences who had followed her through five decades of change in American entertainment.

Tallulah Bankhead remains a touchstone for actors and audiences attuned to the electricity of live performance and the precision of a well-turned line. She helped define a style of modern stage acting that could be both artificial and deeply human, a paradox she made her own. Her influence is visible in later generations of performers who borrow her cadence, her fearlessness, and her subversive glamour. The family name she inherited from William B. Bankhead and John H. Bankhead came to signify not only political power but theatrical audacity; and the unforgettable voice that first turned heads on Broadway still echoes in the cultural memory, equal parts laughter, bravado, and truth.

Our collection contains 25 quotes who is written by Tallulah, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Learning - Art - Letting Go - Romantic.

Other people realated to Tallulah: Cheryl Crawford (Actress)