Bankhead, Tallulah
Name |
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Birthname | Tallulah Brockman Bankhead | ||||
born on | 31 January 1902 at 21:00 (= 9:00 PM ) | ||||
Place | Huntsville, Alabama, 34n44, 86w35 | ||||
Timezone | CST h6w (is standard time) | ||||
Data source |
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Astrology data | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Biography
American stage and screen actress who was celebrated from the 1920s for her electric and throaty performances, as well as a lusty life-style offstage. Starring in London from 1923, her performances on-stage and off made her the toast of the town for seven years. Her fame as an actress was ensured in 1924 when she played Amy in Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted. The show won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize.
Upon returning to the USA in 1931, she resumed her stage career and signed a film contract with Paramount. Her film and TV work were less memorable than her stage performances. However, Bankhead achieved an award-winning performance in at least one film—Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) —and made a brief but successful career on radio. She later made appearances on television as well. During her career, Bankhead amassed nearly 300 film, stage, television and radio roles.
Her 1932 movie Devil and the Deep is notable for the presence of three major co-stars, with Bankhead's receiving top billing over Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton, and Cary Grant; it is the only film with Cooper and Grant as the film's leading men. She later said "Dahling, the main reason I accepted [the part] was to fuck that divine Gary Cooper!"
In 1933, while performing on Broadway in Jezebel, Bankhead nearly died following a five-hour emergency hysterectomy due to gonorrhea, which she claimed she had contracted from George Raft. Weighing only 70 lb (32 kg) when she left the hospital, she vowed to continue her promiscuous and party lifestyle, stoically saying to her doctor "Don't think this has taught me a lesson!"
Her brilliant portrayal of the cold and ruthless, yet fiery Regina Giddens in Lillian Hellman's play The Little Foxes (1939) won her Variety magazine's award for Best Actress of the Year.
Bankhead's autobiography, Tallulah, was published in 1952. Though her career slowed in the mid-1950s, she never faded from the public eye. Her highly public and often scandalous personal life began to undermine her reputation as a terrific actress, leading to criticism she had become a caricature of herself.
Around this time, Bankhead began to attract a passionate and highly loyal following of gay men, some of whom she employed as help when her lifestyle (as a heavy smoker, heavy drinker, and consumer of sleeping pills) began to take a toll on her, affectionately calling them her "caddies".
Bankhead was the daughter of the Speaker of the House, William Bankhead, and her mother died three weeks after she was born. She had a strict convent education, but received her first taste of stardom in a local beauty contest at age 15. She was married at one time to actor John Emery. She died of double pneumonia complicated by emphysema at 7:45 AM on 12 December 1968 at St Luke's hospital in New York City, about six weeks shy of her 67th birthday.
Relationships
- associate relationship with Entertainment: Batman (TV series) (born 12 January 1966). Notes: Played "Black Widow," 2 episodes, 1967
- associate relationship with Kirkland, Alexander (born 15 September 1902). Notes: Co-stars in 1931 film "Tarnished Lady"
- friend relationship with Channing, Carol (born 31 January 1921)
- friend relationship with Cromwell, Richard (1910) (born 8 January 1910)
- friend relationship with Cukor, George (born 7 July 1899)
- friend relationship with Fitzgerald, Zelda (born 24 July 1900). Notes: Childhood
- lover relationship with Carstairs, Joe (born 1 February 1900)
- lover relationship with Cornell, Katharine (born 16 February 1893)
- lover relationship with Dietrich, Marlene (born 27 December 1901)
- lover relationship with Garbo, Greta (born 18 September 1905)
- lover relationship with Holiday, Billie (born 7 April 1915)
- lover relationship with Le Gallienne, Eva (born 11 January 1899). Notes: "Algonquin Round Table"
- lover relationship with Lillie, Beatrice (born 29 May 1894)
- lover relationship with Whitney, John Hay (born 17 August 1904)
- role played of/by Brewster, Paget (born 10 March 1969). Notes: 2020 Web TV series "Hollywood"
- role played of/by Harper, Valerie (born 22 August 1939). Notes: 2008-2010 play "Looped"
- role played of/by Pierce, Charles (born 14 July 1926)
Events
- Health : Medical procedure 1933 (Hysterectomy)
- Work : Published/ Exhibited/ Released 1952 (Autobiography, "Tallulah")
- Death by Disease 12 December 1968 at 07:45 AM in New York (Pneumonia, age 66)
chart Placidus Equal_H.
Source Notes
D.C. Doane, "She had no authentic birth data. Two weeks after her birth, her mom died. Her aunt went to record the birth and inadvertently gave her own wedding date; 1902 is the correct year." Bankhead herself said, "about 9:00 PM." Jensen gave 31 January 1903 in "World Astrology" (July 1951), quoting Bankhead. Biography by Lee Israel, "Tallulah Bankhead," gives, "about February 12th," for her birth date.
Sy Scholfield notes that Bankhead's friend Carol Channing writes in her autobiography, "Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts" (Simon and Schuster, 2002), p. 116: "[We] had the same birthday. Also, we were both born at 8:30 at night..." (Channing was born on 31 January 1921).
Scholfield notes that Bankhead's birth notice in the local newspaper gives 30 January 1902 (Huntsville Weekly Democrat, Alabama, 5 February 1902, page 3). Her parents married on 31 January 1900 (Huntsville Weekly Democrat, 7 February 1900, page 3). Wikipedia states "Tallulah was born on her parents' second wedding anniversary" however this could be family folklore and she may have actually been born on 30 January as stated in her birth notice.
Categories
- Traits : Body : Appearance gorgeous
- Traits : Body : Voice/Speech (Husky)
- Traits : Mind : Memory
- Traits : Personality : Gregarious/Extrovert
- Traits : Personality : Humorous, Witty
- Diagnoses : Body Part Problems : Surgery (Hysterectomy)
- Diagnoses : Psychological : Abuse Alcohol
- Diagnoses : Psychological : Abuse Drugs (Heavy smoker)
- Family : Childhood : Family traumatic event (Her mother died when she was 3 weeks old)
- Family : Parenting : Birthing - Abortions (Four)
- Lifestyle : Social Life : Animals, pets
- Lifestyle : Social Life : Party animal
- Lifestyle : Home : Expatriate
- Passions : Sexuality : Bi-Sexual (Self-described as "ambisextrous")
- Vocation : Entertainment : Actor/ Actress (Stage, film, TV, radio)
- Vocation : Entertainment : Live Stage
- Vocation : Politics : Party Affiliation (Democratic)
- Vocation : Writers : Autobiographer
- Notable : Awards : Hall of Fame (Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame)
- Notable : Awards : Vocational award
- Notable : Book Collection : American Book
- 1902 births
- Birthday 31 January
- Birthplace Huntsville, AL (US)
- Sun 11 Aquarius
- Moon 17 Scorpio
- Asc 29 Virgo
- 1968 deaths
- Traits : Body : Appearance gorgeous
- Traits : Body : Voice/Speech
- Traits : Mind : Memory
- Traits : Personality : Gregarious/Extrovert
- Traits : Personality : Humorous, Witty
- Diagnoses : Body Part Problems : Surgery
- Diagnoses : Psychological : Abuse Alcohol
- Diagnoses : Psychological : Abuse Drugs
- Family : Childhood : Family traumatic event
- Family : Parenting : Birthing - Abortions
- Lifestyle : Social Life : Animals, pets
- Lifestyle : Social Life : Party animal
- Lifestyle : Home : Expatriate
- Passions : Sexuality : Bi-Sexual
- Vocation : Entertainment : Actor/ Actress
- Vocation : Entertainment : Live Stage
- Vocation : Politics : Party Affiliation
- Vocation : Writers : Autobiographer
- Notable : Awards : Hall of Fame
- Notable : Awards : Vocational award
- Notable : Book Collection : American Book