Lillian Hellman Biography

Born asLillian Florence Hellman
Occup.Dramatist
FromUSA
BornJune 20, 1905
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
DiedJune 30, 1984
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA
Causeheart failure
Aged79 years
Lillian Hellman was an American dramatist and also film writer birthed in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 20, 1905. She grew up in New York City, where her mother functioned as a saleswoman and also her papa was a footwear sales person. She went to New york city College as well as Columbia College, yet left before completing her degree.

Hellman started her writing profession in the 1930s, penning plays that tackled social and political concerns. Her initial play, "The Kid's Hr", was a dramatization about 2 females who run a school for ladies as well as are charged of being lesbian. The play was an important and also industrial success and also was later adjusted into a film starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine.

In 1939, Hellman worked together with author Kurt Weill on the music "Knickerbocker Holiday", which was also effective. She took place to compose several other plays, including "The Little Foxes", "Enjoy on the Rhine", and "Toys in the Attic". Her works frequently managed motifs of greed, corruption, and social oppression.

Hellman also wrote numerous movie scripts, consisting of adaptations of her own plays and also the Oscar-winning "The North Celebrity". Nonetheless, her job was not without dispute. She was famously called prior to your house Un-American Activities Committee in 1952 and implicated of being a communist sympathizer. She refused to call names as well as was blacklisted from Hollywood for numerous years.

Regardless of these problems, Hellman continued to write and talk on politics and also social issues. She was married two times, first to dramatist Arthur Kober and later to author as well as poet Dashiell Hammett, with whom she had a long-lasting partnership.

Hellman died on June 30, 1984, in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. She left behind a heritage as a pioneering women dramatist and also champion of social justice.

Our collection contains 26 quotes who is written / told by Lillian.

Related authors: Kurt Weill (Composer), Dashiell Hammett (Author), Shirley MacLaine (Actress), Audrey Hepburn (Actress)

Source / external links:

26 Famous quotes by Lillian Hellman

Small: Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?
"Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?"
Small: People change and forget to tell each other
"People change and forget to tell each other"
Small: Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped
"Nothing you write, if you hope to be good, will ever come out as you first hoped"
Small: Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judges chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view
"Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judge's chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view"
Small: My father was often angry when I was most like him
"My father was often angry when I was most like him"
Small: Lonely people, in talking to each other, can make each other lonelier
"Lonely people, in talking to each other, can make each other lonelier"
Small: It is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minut
"It is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minute"
Small: It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it
"It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it"
Small: It is a mark of many famous people that they cannot part with their brightest hour
"It is a mark of many famous people that they cannot part with their brightest hour"
Small: If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The en
"If you believe, as the Greeks did, that man is at the mercy of the gods, then you write tragedy. The end is inevitable from the beginning. But if you believe that man can solve his own problems and is at nobody's mercy, then you will probably write melodrama"
Small: If I had to give young writers advice, I would say dont listen to writers talking about writing or them
"If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves"
Small: I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak
"I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak"
Small: I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this years fashion
"I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashion"
Small: God forgives those who invent what they need
"God forgives those who invent what they need"
Small: Failure in the theater is more dramatic and uglier than any other form of writing. It costs so much, yo
"Failure in the theater is more dramatic and uglier than any other form of writing. It costs so much, you feel so guilty"
Small: Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth
"Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth"
Small: Belief is a moral act for which the believer is to be held responsible
"Belief is a moral act for which the believer is to be held responsible"
Small: You lose your manners when you are poor
"You lose your manners when you are poor"
Small: What a word is truth. Slippery, tricky, unreliable. I tried in these books to tell the truth
"What a word is truth. Slippery, tricky, unreliable. I tried in these books to tell the truth"
Small: We are a people who do not want to keep much of the past in our heads. It is considered unhealthy in Am
"We are a people who do not want to keep much of the past in our heads. It is considered unhealthy in America to remember mistakes, neurotic to think about them, psychotic to dwell on them"
Small: Unjust. How many times Ive used that word, scolded myself with it. All I mean by it now is that I dont
"Unjust. How many times I've used that word, scolded myself with it. All I mean by it now is that I don't have the final courage to say that I refuse to preside over violations against myself, and to hell with justice"
Small: Truth made you a traitor as it often does in a time of scoundrels
"Truth made you a traitor as it often does in a time of scoundrels"
Small: Things start out as hopes and end up as habits
"Things start out as hopes and end up as habits"
Small: Theyre fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say dont
"They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talking about writing or themselves"
Small: There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And
"There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people who stand around and watch them eat"
Small: Success isnt everything but it makes a man stand straight
"Success isn't everything but it makes a man stand straight"