Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankheadwas an American actress of the stage and screen, and a reputed libertine. Bankhead was known for her husky voice, outrageous personality, and devastating wit. Originating some of the 20th-century theater's preeminent roles in comedy and melodrama, she gained acclaim as an actress on both sides of the Atlantic. Bankhead became an icon of the tempestuous, flamboyant actress, and her unique voice and mannerisms are often subject to imitation and parody...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActress
Date of Birth31 January 1903
CountryUnited States of America
They aren't making mirrors like they use to.
Too many of our countrymen rejoice in stupidity, look upon ignorance as a badge of honor. They condemn everything they don't understand.
Say anything about me, darling, as long as it isn't boring.
No man worth his salt, no man of spirit and spine, no man for whom I could have any respect, could rejoice in the identification of Tallulah's husband. It's tough enough to be bogged down in a legend. It would be even tougher to marry one.
Television could perform a great service in mass education, but there's no indication its sponsors have anything like this on their minds.
It's one of the tragic ironies of the theatre that only one man in it can count on steady work - the night watchman.
My father warned me about men and booze but he never said anything about women and cocaine.
For acting, darlings, is the world's most perilous trade. Compared with actors, steeple jacks and deep-sea divers lead snug and placid lives.
They say it's the good girls who keep diaries. The bad girls never have the time. Me, I just wanna live a life I'm gonna remember even if I don't write it down.
[On being asked in her later years if she were Tallulah:] I'm what's left of her, dahling.
I have enemies I've never met - that's fame.
Acting is a form of confession.
Drink reacts on its practitioners in conflicting ways. One brave can knock off a quart of Scotch and look and act as sober as Herbert Hoover. Another, after three Martinis, makes two-cushion carroms off the chaise lounge as he attempts to negotiate the bathroom.
Don't be taken in by the guff that critics are killing the theater. Commonly they sin on the side of enthusiasm. Too often they give their blessing to trash.