Tallulah Bankhead

The inimitable Tallulah Bankhead captured in a 1932 glamour sitting. She was born on January 31, 1902 in Huntsville, Alabama. At age 16, she won a beauty contest and, bolstered by this achievement, moved to New York City to live with her aunt and to try her hand at Broadway. Unfortunately, she did not make any headway on the stages of New York, so in 1923 she moved to London, to try her luck there. For the next several years, she was the most popular actress of London's famed West End, the British equivalent of Broadway. After starring in several well-received plays, she gained the attention of Paramount Pictures executives and returned to the US to try her hand at the film world. Her first two films, “Woman's Law” (1927) and “His House in Order” (1928), did not exactly set the world on fire, so she returned to do more stage work. She tried film work again with “Tarnished Lady” (1931) and “My Sin” (1931) and later that year, she made “The Cheat” (1931). The next year, she shot “Thunder Below” (1932), “Faithless” (1932), “Make Me a Star” (1932) and “Devil and the Deep” (1932). She was back to Broadway after this and did not make another film for 11 years. She toured nationally, performing in all but three states. She was also a big hit at social affairs, where she often shocked the staid members of that society with her "untraditional" behaviour. She chain-smoked and made it a "habit" to take her clothes off and chat in the nude. She returned to films in 1943 with a cameo in “Stage Door Canteen” (1943), but it was “Lifeboat” (1944) for director Alfred Hitchcock that put her back into the limelight. After shooting “A Royal Scandal” (1945) she did not appear on film again until she landed a role in “Die! Die! My Darling!” (1965). Her film and small-screen work consisted of a few TV spots and the voice of the Sea Witch in the animated film “The Daydreamer” (1966), so she went back to the stage, which had always been first and foremost in her heart. On December 12, 1968, Tallulah passed away at age 66 of pneumonia in her beloved New York City.

(www.hollywoodpinups.com)