Tallulah Bankhead

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Tallulah Bankhead was born on January 31, 1902, in Huntsville, Alabama, to William Brockman Bankhead and Adelaide Eugenia 'Ada' Bankhead. Her father was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1936 to his death in 1940; her uncle and grandfather were U.S. senators. Three weeks after Bankhead's birth, her mother died of blood poisoning (sepsis) on February 23, 1902. On her deathbed, Ada told her sister-in-law to 'take care of Eugenia, Tallulah will always be able to take care of herself.' Bankhead was baptized next to her mother's coffin. She and her sister Evelyn were mostly reared by their paternal grandmother at the family estate called Sunset in Jasper, Alabama. As a child, Bankhead was described as 'extremely homely' and overweight, and she sought attention by cartwheeling about the house, singing, and reciting literature. Her husky voice (which she described as 'mezzo-basso') was the result of chronic bronchitis due to childhood illness. At 15, Bankhead submitted her photo to Picture Play magazine and won a contest awarding a trip to New York and a movie part. Arriving in New York, she was paid $75 for three weeks' work on Who Loved Him Best. She moved into the Algonquin Hotel and charmed her way into the Algonquin Round Table, becoming one of the 'Four Riders of the Algonquin' alongside Estelle Winwood, Eva Le Gallienne, and Blyth Daly. Bankhead made her stage debut in 1919 in The Squab Farm at the Bijou Theatre. After five years in New York without a significant hit, she moved to London in 1922. There she achieved fame over eight years, most famously in The Dancers and as Jerry Lamar in The Gold Diggers, and in Sidney Howard's They Knew What They Wanted, which won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize. Bankhead returned to the United States in 1931 and later earned an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). Bankhead was an alcohol and drug user; she reportedly smoked 120 cigarettes a day and talked candidly about her vices. She had a series of sexual relationships with both men and women. She supported liberal causes, including the budding civil rights movement, and helped foster children and families escape the Spanish Civil War and World War II. She was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981.

Reader's Guide

Tallulah Bankhead's significance comes from her prolific career across stage, film, radio, and television, amassing nearly 300 roles. Her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) brought her an award-winning performance, but her primary legacy is as a stage actress, particularly during her eight-year tenure in London, where she became famous for making the most out of inferior material. For example, during the opening night of a play called Conchita, a monkey snatched her wig and scampered to the footlights; Bankhead turned a cartwheel, and the audience roared—she received an ovation. Bankhead's personal life—marked by open discussion of her vices, bisexuality, and support for liberal causes—made her a distinctive public figure. Her induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981 underscores her lasting impact on American theater.

Did You Know?

• Bankhead was named after her paternal grandmother, who was named after Tallulah Falls, Georgia.
• Her mother died of blood poisoning (sepsis) three weeks after Bankhead's birth, and Bankhead was baptized next to her mother's coffin.
• Bankhead reportedly smoked 120 cigarettes a day and talked candidly about her vices.
• She was one of the 'Four Riders of the Algonquin' at the Algonquin Hotel, alongside Estelle Winwood, Eva Le Gallienne, and Blyth Daly.
• Bankhead's father warned her to avoid alcohol and men in New York; she later quipped, 'He didn't say anything about women and cocaine.'