this year's fashions." note
Lillian Florence "Lilly" Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and memoirist. She achieved her greatest success in writing dramatic plays for Broadway in the 1930s and '40s.
Hellman was known for her strong left-wing views and activism. She was briefly a member of the American Communist Party, and during the '50s Red Scare era was targeted by The Hollywood Blacklist for refusing to name names.
By the 1970s, Hellman was widely regarded as a hero for having taken a stand against the blacklist. During this period, she published her memoirs. One chapter of her 1973 memoir Pentimento formed the basis for the 1977 film Julia, which starred Jane Fonda as a young Lillian Hellman.
During an interview on The Dick Cavett Show in 1979, novelist Mary McCarthy (no relation to the red-baiting Senator) accused Hellman of being a Consummate Liar. After Hellman sued her for libel, McCarthy's lawyers responded by unearthing evidence of Hellman's dishonesty, including the likelihood that the "Julia" chapter in Pentimento was Based on a Great Big Lie. Hellman died before the issue could be settled in court.
Although Hellman's writing is still respected, the controversy over her dishonesty went a long way to overshadowing and tarnishing her prior reputation as an anti-McCarthyite heroine, leaving her with a mixed legacy.
Works by Lillian Hellman with their own trope pages include:
- The Children's Hour
- The Little Foxes
- Watch on the Rhine (from her play)
- The North Star (screenplay)
- Julia (from a chapter of Pentimento)
Other works by Lillian Hellman contain examples of:
- Prequel: Another Part of the Forest is a prequel to The Little Foxes set 20 years earlier.
