Line #8 Creator/TallulahBankhead


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tallulah_bankhead.JPG]]
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3	->''"Acting is the laziest of the professions. A ballet dancer must limber up two or three hours a day, working or idle. The great musicians practice three or four hours a day, willy-nilly. Opera singers must go easy on cigarettes, learn half a dozen languages. The demands on an actress consist in learning the role, interpreting to the best of her ability the intent of the author as outlined by the director. When not on stage? She sits around chewing her nails, waiting for the telephone to ring."''
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5	Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress.
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7	While she made many appearances in films and on television during her career, Bankhead is mostly credited as a stage actress, one of the greatest of the 20th century. Her characters tended to be MsFanservice {{deadpan snarker}}s, and her persona has been imitated and parodied as much as Creator/MaeWest's. Most notably, Bankhead's family were prominent in American politics and Tallulah herself was often vocal about politics as well,[[note]]Bankhead's father, William, was a longtime Congressman from Alabama who was Speaker of the House from 1936 until his death in 1940[[/note]] being supportive of the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement. Although she acted a lot during UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra and UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, her most successful screen role was in ''Film/{{Lifeboat}}''. She also memorably appeared {{as herself}} in an episode of the ''Series/LucyDesiComedyHour''.
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9	Bankhead married once and had no children, but debates regarding her sexuality have existed since her death. She was said to have had a reputation of being TheCasanova with men, but there have been many arguments that she also went with women as well. These rumors were helped along by Bankhead herelf, who reportedly once described herself as "ambi-sextrous". Much of her [[TheCasanova [=maneating=]]] reputation made her a public enemy with the [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode Hays Office]], which apparently kept a list of actors that needed to either be censored or banned from acting, and Bankhead was at the top of it.
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11	Her final public appearance was as a guest on ''Series/TheTonightShowStarringJohnnyCarson'', where she and guest host Joe Garagiola made awkward conversation with [[Music/TheBeatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney]].
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13	Known for her smoking, Bankhead died in hospital from respiratory issues, as well as malnutrition, the flu, and "double pneumonia". Her final words (from what could be made out by staff) was said to be a request for codeine, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking followed]] [[AndADietCoke by]] [[INeedAFreakingDrink a bourbon whiskey]].
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15	[[Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire Blanche DuBois]] was said to have been inspired by her, as were [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella DeVille]] and [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ursula the sea witch]]. It is also commonly assumed that Margo Channing of ''Film/AllAboutEve'' [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed was essentially her]], and although the character was actually based on Elisabeth Bergner, inspiration was definitely taken from Bankhead's wardrobe. She's portrayed in ''Series/ZTheBeginningOfEverything'' (about Zelda Fitzgerald) by Christina Bennett Lind.
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18	!!Works with TV Tropes pages:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
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21	[[folder:Film and television roles]]
22	* ''Film/MakeMeAStar'' (1932) {{as Herself}} ({{uncredited\|role}})
23	* ''Film/{{Lifeboat}}'' (1944) as Connie Porter
24	* ''Series/LucyDesiComedyHour'' (1 episode, 1957) as Herself
25	* ''Series/TheRedSkeltonShow'' (1 episode, 1965) as Mme. Fragrant
26	* ''Film/TheDaydreamer'' (1966) as the Sea Witch (voice)
27	* ''Series/{{Batman\|1966}}'' (2 episodes, 1967) as Black Widow
28	[[/folder]]
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30	[[folder:Theatre roles]]
31	* ''Film/DarkVictory'' (1934) as Judith Traheme
32	* ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'' (1937) as Cleopatra
33	* ''Theatre/TheLittleFoxes'' (1939–40) as Regina Giddens
34	* ''Theatre/TheSkinOfOurTeeth'' (1942–43) as Sabina
35	* ''Theatre/PrivateLives'' (1948–49) as Amanda Prynne
36	* ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' (1956) as Blanche Du Bois
37	[[/folder]]
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39	----
40	!!Tropes:
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42	* ActorInspiredElement:[[invoked]] Her character Mrs Trefoile in ''Die! Die! My Darling'' was heavily influenced by her real persona; when she was cast, they wrote in a backstory that the character used to be an actress, and pictures of Tallulah from ''The Little Foxes'' were used. Mrs Trefoile also calls Patricia "darling" a lot, which Tallulah was known for calling everyone, usually because she had forgotten their names.
43	* AwesomeDearBoy:[[invoked]] She joked in an interview that she accepted her second Creator/{{Paramount}} role, in ''Devil and the Deep'', because she had the hots for costar Creator/GaryCooper.
44	* FriendshipOnTheSet:[[invoked]] Although the press tried to promote a 'feuding stars' narrative surrounding ''Die! Die! My Darling!'', she and actress Creator/StefaniePowers got on well and remained friends after filming.
45	* IAmNotLeonardNimoy:[[invoked]] Tallulah Bankhead was known as an acid-tongued HardDrinkingPartyGirl, glamorous and quite sexually forward for the time. Because her screen career was secondary to her theatre performances, which weren't recorded for posterity, her persona has endured more than her work. Her best known film role, ''{{Film/Lifeboat}}'', fully emphasises this.
46	* LoopingLines:[[invoked]] In her final film, ''Die! Die! My Darling'', she had to ADR the TitleDrop and infamously turned up drunk and four hours late to the recording session, where it took her the rest of the day to dub the line.
47	* MoneyDearBoy:[[invoked]] When she first went to Hollywood, she wasn't too keen on making films, as she preferred the stage. However, the opportunity to earn $50,000 per film was quite enticing.
48	* PoorMansSubstitute:[[invoked]] Creator/BetteDavis told a story of how Tallulah approached her once in a bar and declared "Miss Davis, you played all the parts that I have played. Only I played them so much better." For what it's worth, Bette responded "I couldn't agree more" and continued to talk about Tallulah with great respect for the rest of her life.
49	* StarDerailingRole:[[invoked]]
50	** The six films she made under Paramount, where she was wildly miscast in roles that were later admitted to have been given to her because no one else wanted them, deflated the hype that had surrounded her arrival in Hollywood. Her outspokenness about sexuality and general preference for the stage led to her departing before her contract had ended.
51	** While it looked like CareerResurrection was on the cards after the success of ''Lifeboat'', which was widely praised for utilising her abilities and persona at long last, the follow-up was ''A Royal Scandal'', which received lacklustre reviews, even if her performance was praised. She went back to the stage, only making one more film and only appearing AsHerself on television.
52	* StuntCasting:[[invoked]] Alfred Hitchcock said of casting her as Constance in ''Lifeboat'':
53	--> "It was the most oblique, incongruous bit of casting I could think of. Isn't a lifeboat in the middle of the Atlantic the last place one would expect Tallulah?"
54	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:[[invoked]]
55	** She was supposed to play the lead in the original stage run of ''Jezebel'', but she was hospitalized for severe gonorrhea and had to have a hysterectomy. While the production had hoped to wait for her to recover, they ultimately had to cast Creator/MiriamHopkins to replace her.
56	** Although she had left Hollywood by the mid 1930s, she was keen to play Scarlett O'Hara in ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''. She took three months to prepare for her screen test (as she was now 36, and playing Scarlett in the first half would be tricky). While her screen test was strong, she was deemed too old to convincingly play the teenage Scarlett too. They offered her the role of Belle Watling, but she turned it down.
57	** Hollywood also tried to lure her back with the offer to play Mildred in ''Literature/OfHumanBondage''. She was unconfident about her cockney accent, and worried about upsetting her English friends, so she turned the part down. It became the true breakout role for Creator/BetteDavis.

Context Creator / TallulahBankhead