Tallulah Bankhead

Profiled in the book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman (1999).

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. To Tallulah, there was nothing like a live audience to perform for, because they, always, showed a lot of gratitude.

She was said to be the inspiration for the character of Cruella De Vil in Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Was referenced in the 1958 song "Give Him the Ooh-La-La" by Blossom Dearie.

Was considered for the role of Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950) after Claudette Colbert dropped out due to a back injury before filming began. However, Bette Davis, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

In 1949, Procter and Gamble launched a radio advertising campaign for its Prell shampoo, using a jingle and the character "Tallulah the Tube". Miss Bankhead was so closely identified by her first name that she sued, eventually settling out of court.

She is credited with helping Truman win the 1948 election by publicly castigating rival candidate Dewey. President Harry S. Truman claimed that her 1952 autobiography was the best book he had read since coming to the White House.

After shooting A Royal Scandal (1945) she did not appear on film again until she landed a role in Die! Die! My Darling! (1965).

She was infamous for not wearing underwear. According to Hume Cronyn, during the filming of Lifeboat (1944) the crew complained about her flashing them when she had to climb a ladder to go into the mock-up of a lifeboat. When their objections to Bankhead's exhibitionism reached director Alfred Hitchcock, he reportedly quipped that he did not know if it was a matter for wardrobe or hairdressing.

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. However, the limelight did not shine for long.

She narrowly missed out getting the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), which went to Vivien Leigh.

Her father was a mover and shaker in the Democratic Party who served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from June 4, 1936, to September 16, 1940. Tallulah had been interested in acting and, at age 15, started her stage career in the local theater troupes of Huntsville and the surrounding areas. 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. She was offered a role in Dr. Jekyll and Mr.

The next year, she shot Thunder Below (1932), Faithless (1932), Make Me a Star (1932) (she had a cameo role along with several other Paramount stars) and Devil and the Deep (1932). The latter film was a star-studded affair that made money at the box-office due to the cast (Gary Cooper, Charles Laughton and newcomer Cary Grant). The films she was making just did not do her talent any justice, so it was back to Broadway--she 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" behavior. She chain-smoked and enjoyed more than her share of Kentucky bourbon, and made it a "habit" to take her clothes off and chat in the nude. A friend and fellow actress remarked on one occasion, "Tallulah dear, why are you always taking your clothes off? You have such lovely frocks. " She was also famous--or infamous--for throwing wild parties that would last for days.

She tried film work again with Tarnished Lady (1931), where she played Nancy Courtney, a woman who marries for money but ultimately gets bored with her husband and leaves him, only to come back to him when he is broke. The critics gave it a mixed reception. Tallulah's personality did not shine on film as Paramount executives had hoped.

She tried again with My Sin (1931) as a woman with a secret past about to marry into money.

Later that year, she made The Cheat (1931), playing Elsa Carlyle, a woman who sold herself to a wealthy Oriental merchant who brands her like she was his own property and is subsequently murdered.

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.

Unfortunately, for the young Miss Bankhead, she did not make any headway on the stages of New York, so she pulled up stakes and moved to London, in 1923, 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 United States to try her hand at the film world.

Hyde (1920), but did not take it after she refused John Barrymore's invitation for a visit to the casting couch.

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was born on January 31, 1902 in Huntsville, Alabama.