Bankhead, Tallulah (təl

`lə), 1903–68, American actress, b. Huntsville, Ala.; daughter of William Brockman Bankhead Bankhead, William Brockman, 1874–1940, U.S. Representative from Alabama (1917–40), b. Lamar co., Ala. Chairman of the House rules committee (1934–35), Democratic floor leader (1935–36), and Speaker of the House (1936–40), he was one of
..... Click the link for more information. . After her debut in 1918, Bankhead had great success on the London stage, where she appeared (1923–30) in 16 plays. She was particularly acclaimed for her performance on Broadway as Regina in The Little Foxes (1939) and, in film, as a shipwrecked journalist in Lifeboat (1944). In the latter, she brought to the role the wit, sophisticated aplomb, and uninhibited behavior that made her a legend.

Bibliography

See her autobiography (1952); memoir by E. Rawls (1979); biographies by B. Gill (1972), L. Israel (1972), K. Tunney (1973), and J. Lobenthal (2004).

Bankhead, Tallulah (Brockman)

(born Jan. 31, 1902, Huntsville, Ala., U.S.—died Dec. 12, 1968, New York, N.Y.) U.S. film and stage actress. Born to a prestigious family (her father became a prominent congressman), she made her Broadway debut in 1918 and achieved fame on the London stage in The Dancer (1923). Her vivid presence and throaty voice contributed to her singular performances in the hit plays The Little Foxes (1939), The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), and Private Lives (1946). She made films such as A Woman's Law (1928) and Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944) but remained primarily a stage performer. Her final stage appearance was in The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1964).

Bankhead, Tallulah (Brockman) (1903–68) stage and film actress; born in Huntsville, Ala. Known for her husky, drawling voice and her sultry man-eating roles, she was first noticed in The Little Foxes in 1939.