Tallulah Bankhead

Born Huntsville, Alabama

Renowned for her sultry voice and languorous sophistication, Tallulah Bankhead exuded magnetism—“a remarkable personality with a remarkable name,” declared one enchanted critic. She performed not only in the United States but in London, where she was painted by Augustus John. She recounted: “At the time, I was the toast of London and that was some toast, dahling.” She twice won the New York Drama Critics Award, and in the late 1940s, Time magazine called her “the theater’s first personality.”

Her career spanned other media as well. In Hollywood, she starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944), and on the radio—billed as “the glamorous, unpredictable Tallulah Bankhead”—she emceed NBC’s Sunday-night The Big Show (1950–51). On television, she was a popular guest on I Love Lucy and The Jack Benny Show.

Nacida en Huntsville, Alabama

Con su voz sensual y sofisticada languidez, Tallulah Bankhead exudaba magnetismo: “una personalidad excepcional con un nombre excepcional”, según un fascinado crítico. Bankhead actuó en teatros de Estados Unidos y en Londres, donde la pintó Augustus John: “En esa época era yo la chica mimada de Londres, y Londres sabe mimar, querido”. Ganó dos Premios de los Críticos de Teatro de Nueva York y a fines de la década de 1940 la revista Time la declaró “primera figura del teatro”.

También hizo carrera en otros medios. En Hollywood protagonizó Lifeboat (1944), de Alfred Hitchcock, y en la radio (promocionada como “la glamorosa e impredecible Tallulah Bankhead”) condujo el programa nocturno dominical The Big Show (1950–51) por NBC. En televisión fue una popular invitada en los programas de comedia de Lucille Ball y Jack Benny.

The sitter until her death; (Coe Kerr Gallery, New York); John Hay Whitney and Mrs. Whitney; gift 1969 to NPG.