Book reviewed: Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead by Denis Brian
Tallulah Bankhead was a ravishing beauty and an incredible stage and screen actress. She brutalized her body, broke her bones, deprived her sleep, smoked marijuana, sniffed cocaine, took upper and downers, boozed bourbon, gave the coat off her back to the needy, cherished her friends, infuriated her rivals, pained puritans, and was a joy to fellow nonconformists and social revolutionaries. If she had cared for her trade deeply she would have been the greatest actress of her times. She played in many memorable roles in movies and Broadway. Many roles for which she was screen-tested did not materialize which made her awfully sad. She indulged in almost everything that is frowned upon by the righteous and condemned by the cautious. One of her greatest fears was that she would disgrace her father, a man most dear to her soul. She once described her father as a fusion of “Santa Claus, Galahad and Demosthenes.” He was a source of love, pride and encouragement in spite many nightmares she gave him by her uninhibited antics.
Tallulah Bankhead soaked up pain and pleasures much of her life; “codeine-bourbon” was her last coherent words before she died in the winter of 1968. She took off her clothes in public so often that many of her friends learnt to ignore it. Part of her secret of her fame was that she and the press were made for each other; almost everything she did was reported on both sides of the Atlantic. This is the life and times of Tallulah Bankhead that describes her personal and professional life in great detail in this book. Most of the books and blogs that write about her are to do with her taboo-breaking bacchanal behavior; but it is refreshing to read this book which also discusses her professional career in detail; both success and the failures.
Meredith Burgess recalls, when he was at a party at St Regis hotel, she appeared wild at the party, stark naked. Even though she had great figure no body paid any attention because they were so much used to those antics. When Vincent Price was a junior at Yale, he had serious crush on her. In one incident in 1938, he recalls; one evening he was in his dressing room for the set of “Tobacco Road,” she entered his room and walked to the restroom and sat on the deck, took a leak as if that there was nothing unusual about it. Her stripping naked was to shock and attract attention, her friends say. Treating her toilet seat as another spot to carry on a conversation was startling to many but amusing and endearing to those who knew her well. Tennessee Williams found this behavior refreshing. He found her honesty and shamelessness intriguing and a little puzzling. When she met Joan Crawford and her husband, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. she told her; “Darling, you are divine and I have had an affair with your husband and you will be next.” She once invited a taxi driver to spend the weekend with her and on Monday morning when he was leaving she told him that he as good as “King of England.” To one young man at a party, who could not wait to have tryst with her, told him to go home and wait for 30 min, and if she is not in by then he can start by himself. Alfred Hitchcock was a great admirer of Tallulah and liked her tremendous sense of humor. On one set a lady complained about Tallulah without panties. Hitchcock directed the unit manager to Darryl Zanuck and eventually her companion Paula Strasberg informed her about it. Not many liked to mess with Tallulah about issues that she regarded as her own business. Once President Truman called her on the phone when she was in the middle of watching a soap opera; she promptly asked him to call later. She smoked non-stop, she drank when she was not talking and she took cocaine and lovers constantly. Her drug and alcohol abuse made her dangerously ill many times.
She played in many memorable roles on screen and Broadway. Her performance on “Little Foxes,” which opened on Jan 30, 1939 was simply outstanding. She enthralled her fans, every stage/movie critic and her co-performers. Otto Preminger described her as tremendous; Lillian Hellman said that was the best part she ever had; and Norman Mailer and Joan Crawford both said that she was sensational and astonishing. Some roles for which she was screen-tested did not materialize which made her awfully sad. Tallulah did her first movie, the “Tarnished Lady” with George Cukor directing, and that was a hit. She became a life long friend of him and he called her very warm and a loving woman. Tallulah was Cukor’s favorite for Scarlett O’Hara’s role for “Gone with the wind;” about 90 actresses were tried for the role and eventually given to Vivien Leigh because Tallulah was considered “too old” for the role. She was heart-broken when she got the news. Tallulah turned down the offer to play in Tennessee Williams “A streetcar named Desiree,” and Ted Hooks, her secretary revealed that she did not like to utter the N word in the movie. She was cared by mammies when she was young, and she didn’t forget how loving they were to her. She cared about what was right and just in her own frame of consciousness. She was the first white woman to appear on the cover of Ebony magazine and was also on the original board of directors of NAACP. She strongly supported civil rights, and her maid Rose Riley was the first black maid allowed into the White House as a guest.
There are some rare pictures of Tallulah in this book, and one of my favorites is when she was sitting at the JFK’s presidential campaign along with Otto Preminger, Eva Marie Saint and Henry Fonda. She entertained the crowd for five hours when Kennedy was late for the meeting.
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