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Tallulah!: The Life and Times of a Leading Lady
Outrageous, outspoken, and uninhibited, Tallulah Bankhead was an actress known as much for her vices -- cocaine, alcohol, hysterical tirades, and scandalous affairs with both men and women -- as she was for her winning performances on stage. In 1917, a fifteen-year-old Bankhead boldly left her established Alabama political family and fled to New York City to sate her relentless need for attention and become a star. Five years later, she crossed the Atlantic, immediately taking her place as a fixture in British society and the most popular actress in London's West End. By the time she returned to America in the 1930s, she was infamous for throwing marathon parties, bedding her favorite costars, and neglecting to keep her escapades a secret from the press. At times, her notoriety distracted her audience from her formidable talent and achievements on stage and dampened the critical re-sponse to her work. As Bankhead herself put it, "they like me to 'Tallulah,' you know -- dance and sing and romp and fluff my hair and play reckless parts." Still, her reputation as a wild, witty, over-the-top leading lady persisted until the end of her life at the age of sixty-six.
From her friendships with such entertainment luminaries as Tennessee Williams, Estelle Winwood, Billie Holiday, Noël Coward, and Marlene Dietrich, to the intimate details of her family relationships and her string of doomed romances, Joel Lobenthal has captured the private essence of the most public star during theater's golden age. Larger-than-life as she was, friends saw through Bankhead's veneer of humor and high times to the heart of a woman who often felt second-best in her father's eyes, who longed for the children she was unableto bear, and who forced herself into the spotlight to hide her deep-seated insecurities.
Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews, as well as previously untapped information from Scotland Yard and the FBI, this is the essential biography of Tallulah Bankhead. Having spent twenty-five years researching Bankhead's life, Joel Lobenthal tells her unadulterated story, as told to him by her closest friends, enemies, lovers, and employees. Several have broken decadelong silences; many have given Lobenthal their final interviews. The result is the story of a woman more complex, more shocking, and yet more nuanced than her notorious legend suggests.
From her friendships with such entertainment luminaries as Tennessee Williams, Estelle Winwood, Billie Holiday, Noël Coward, and Marlene Dietrich, to the intimate details of her family relationships and her string of doomed romances, Joel Lobenthal has captured the private essence of the most public star during theater's golden age. Larger-than-life as she was, friends saw through Bankhead's veneer of humor and high times to the heart of a woman who often felt second-best in her father's eyes, who longed for the children she was unableto bear, and who forced herself into the spotlight to hide her deep-seated insecurities.
Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews, as well as previously untapped information from Scotland Yard and the FBI, this is the essential biography of Tallulah Bankhead. Having spent twenty-five years researching Bankhead's life, Joel Lobenthal tells her unadulterated story, as told to him by her closest friends, enemies, lovers, and employees. Several have broken decadelong silences; many have given Lobenthal their final interviews. The result is the story of a woman more complex, more shocking, and yet more nuanced than her notorious legend suggests.
594 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 26, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
September 3, 2013
"Tallulah Bankhead was one of the most lively, outsized personalities of the 20th century. Although one sees a bit of the real Tallulah in Joel Lobenthal’s impeccably researched bio, the book was a huge slog to get through. If there was ever a book that can’t see the forest for the trees, this is it. Every single project in Bankhead’s voluminous stage career gets a comprehensive going-through here. A good idea in concept, maybe, but one must read through long and detailed descriptions of forgotten drawing room comedies and melodramas before getting into any insights on what made the woman tick. I was looking forward to a well-rounded portrait within these pages, something that counters her campy image — but this project feels like a magnificent opportunity squandered. One also gets the sense that, although he has an admirable passion for the stage, Lobenthal is mortified by Bankhead’s promiscuity and ribald outspokenness. Interesting, but not successful." - Scrubbles.net review, May 25, 2009.
January 1, 2023
** 3 stars **
March 21, 2021
Perhaps I didn’t read the book description as closely as I usually do. This was a solid book, although it wasn’t consistent with what I had expected.
What I wanted: an intriguing, open, and honest biography of Talullah Bankhead. Heavy on facts, I’d hoped this book would touch on the major professional events with contextual reviews and additional insight. I expected to read about Talullah’s professional work, her personal life, her relationships, and about people close to her.
The reality of this book was every performance Talullah had given extensively analyzed, explained and critiqued. If you are interested in theater and plays from ~1920’s-1960’s, this is the book for you. The amount of detail shared about these performances is staggering. Initially, I enjoyed reading the full coverage of Talullah’s roles and performances, but it quickly became a cumbersome exercise.
As mentioned above, there was so much information conveyed in this book and that allowed for an interesting read. Looking back, I feel like I have a strong sense of Talullah as an actress. I would have enjoyed also understanding Talullah as a person.
Recommend for anyone who enjoys biographies of ‘20’s and ‘40’s stars, fans of the stage, anyone who loves plays and playwrights and, of course, Talullah’s devotees. 3 stars
What I wanted: an intriguing, open, and honest biography of Talullah Bankhead. Heavy on facts, I’d hoped this book would touch on the major professional events with contextual reviews and additional insight. I expected to read about Talullah’s professional work, her personal life, her relationships, and about people close to her.
The reality of this book was every performance Talullah had given extensively analyzed, explained and critiqued. If you are interested in theater and plays from ~1920’s-1960’s, this is the book for you. The amount of detail shared about these performances is staggering. Initially, I enjoyed reading the full coverage of Talullah’s roles and performances, but it quickly became a cumbersome exercise.
As mentioned above, there was so much information conveyed in this book and that allowed for an interesting read. Looking back, I feel like I have a strong sense of Talullah as an actress. I would have enjoyed also understanding Talullah as a person.
Recommend for anyone who enjoys biographies of ‘20’s and ‘40’s stars, fans of the stage, anyone who loves plays and playwrights and, of course, Talullah’s devotees. 3 stars
March 26, 2010
After seeing a play called "Looped" in NYC which is about Tallulah Bankhead, I became interested in this book. It is heavy and goes into detail about every play she was in, but Tallulah was a fascinating character and I found her life sad and interesting. This book shows tat appearances can be different from the real person. Tallulah & her sister were very sad people, yet under the surface Tallulah was kind to people and a good friend to everyone but to herself.
October 12, 2011
Hated it. It was way too long of a story about one woman. I mean Tallulah is a total hot mess sex maniac. And that is why I wanted to read about her. Way too much info about other stuff. I skipped that stuff.
July 1, 2025
Quite the daunting level of research from Lobenthal here -- since Tallulah Bankhead became a star less on screen than on stage and therefore a lot of what comprised her career and reputation is lost to time, he provides a sharply critical and detailed synopsis of every play in which she ever appeared, and offers considerable historical context for how every performance contributed to her rise and gradual fall down to earth. He doesn't overstate the importance of any of this but gently suggests that some of the faltering reputation she has suffered (I think everyone would agree that she's now best known by far for Lifeboat and maybe Batman, even though she defined many roles that became cinematically iconic for others such as Bette Davis in The Little Foxes) comes from unfair derision she suffered in the entertainment press. And her unapologetic sexual openness makes her kind of a folk hero now, ahead of her time. It was completely a coincidence that I read both this and a book on Billie Holiday back to back, unaware until I picked up the latter that they were lovers for some time. Anyway I learned a whole lot about Broadway, summer stock, the London stage, drawing room comedies, etc. from this, probably more than I ever realized I needed to know, but Lobenthal does a superb job using Bankhead's surviving performances to explore some instructive aspects of the relationship between screen and stage acting.
April 11, 2021
What a delicious diva! Tallulah was truly one of a kind! Whatever she wanted, she went after with a vengeance! Sometime she got what she wanted; sometime she didn’t. Either people were entranced by her behavior, or they thought she was a barbarian.
The author was very thorough in his biography of Tallulah Bankhead. He covered not only Tallulah, but also her father, Will, and her sister, Eugenia.
Although it was somewhat journalistic in style, I appreciated that the biography didn’t assume the style of a Photoplay magazine. Because, as I quickly learned, Tallulah Bankhead was a hot mess—-both in her personal and professional life.
The author was very thorough in his biography of Tallulah Bankhead. He covered not only Tallulah, but also her father, Will, and her sister, Eugenia.
Although it was somewhat journalistic in style, I appreciated that the biography didn’t assume the style of a Photoplay magazine. Because, as I quickly learned, Tallulah Bankhead was a hot mess—-both in her personal and professional life.
October 14, 2021
Interesting but a bit of a slog
I read this book mainly because I named my daughter Tallulah, and wanted to know more about her famous namesake. Is a comprehensive look at her life, but way too long in my opinion - it took me months to finish. Nevertheless it's an interesting summary of a somewhat radical individual.
I read this book mainly because I named my daughter Tallulah, and wanted to know more about her famous namesake. Is a comprehensive look at her life, but way too long in my opinion - it took me months to finish. Nevertheless it's an interesting summary of a somewhat radical individual.
November 6, 2022
This book made me want to find a different biography of Tallulah Bankhead. For such a fascinating character with a rich social/political/personal life, the author chose to explain the entire plot and acting history of every play/actor that Tallulah encountered during her career. It feels impersonal and more of a timeline of Old Hollywood than anything.
June 20, 2021
Tallulah Bankhead was a fascinating woman. She was uninhibited, talented, reckless and ambitious.This is a well written , well researched book about her life. It does seem a bit restrained at times, but overall it is a good biography.
February 24, 2019
I didn't feel like it captured the person behind the actress.
Read
December 6, 2019792.028 B2178L 2008
December 16, 2019
Massive but excellent biography of a very talented Alabama lady. Covers in detail her film, radio, television and especially theatrical appearances and personal life.
February 5, 2020
Long but enjoyable biography of a fascinating actress
March 20, 2021
Very detailed review of an amazing and not that well-known life -today's readers
May not know of her as most of her performances were on stage
Rather than screen. Worth reading.
May not know of her as most of her performances were on stage
Rather than screen. Worth reading.
June 7, 2025
The best Tallulah book on the market, a facts-first study of her career choices that contextualizes her role within the theatre community of the early-to-mid 20th century.
July 10, 2013
Few biographies can rival the sheer comprehensiveness of Tallulah!. Unlike the too many celebrity tell-alls that skimp on career to get to the juicy affairs and gossip, Lobenthal has extensively researched and documented every production with which the giant of the stage was involved, from her first obscure appearances as an ingenue to her late-career camp roles. There's abundant information on the rehearsal process for just about every play in which Bankhead appeared. Lobenthal does a terrific job of accounting for how Bankhead's larger-than-life personality—and the lifelong audience cult it inspired—made her career in its formative years by drawing media attention to an unknown, and yet ruined it later in her life when audiences refused to accept her dramatic roles as anything other than Bankhead drollery.
Bankhead was an actor whose persona was largely founded on not seeming to give a damn what anyone thought of her, either as a public figure or as a dramatic artist. It's a pity, therefore, that her biographer is abnormally protective of her throughout his research. Lobenthal seems determined to promote Bankhead as an Overlooked Legend to such an extent that he promotes any positive reviews of Bankhead's productions as gospel; he himself waxes rhapsodically about her film and radio and television performances in a manner that would have one believe that Bankhead's late-life appearance as a camp villain on the Adam West Batman series was a turn on par with any of Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performances.
Woe to any actor or reviewer who has dared to disagree with the notion that Bankhead was the ultimate performer of her generation, however. Lobenthal has a distinct tendency to undermine any negative reviews by questioning the credentials of the reviewers, and by using academic pejoratives (negative reviewers are always 'alleging' or 'carping') to undermine their authority. He goes out of his way to discredit the motives (and even the acting skills) of co-stars who stooped to suggest that working with Tallulah was perhaps something of a pain in the butt. He even glosses over the star's family's repeated complaints about Tallulah's many fictions about her upbringing, and manages to make the extended Bankhead family sound like a bunch of entitled ingrates envious of her wild success.
Although Tallulah! probably can't be beat for its thoroughness, it's a shame that Lobenthal didn't follow Bankhead's example and let the facts of her life fall where they might, consequences be damned. His overindulgence of the star long after her death has an unfortunate echo of the uncritical fans who showed up in droves to whoop for and laugh at their acid-tongued Tallulah, no matter what role she happened to be playing.
Bankhead was an actor whose persona was largely founded on not seeming to give a damn what anyone thought of her, either as a public figure or as a dramatic artist. It's a pity, therefore, that her biographer is abnormally protective of her throughout his research. Lobenthal seems determined to promote Bankhead as an Overlooked Legend to such an extent that he promotes any positive reviews of Bankhead's productions as gospel; he himself waxes rhapsodically about her film and radio and television performances in a manner that would have one believe that Bankhead's late-life appearance as a camp villain on the Adam West Batman series was a turn on par with any of Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning performances.
Woe to any actor or reviewer who has dared to disagree with the notion that Bankhead was the ultimate performer of her generation, however. Lobenthal has a distinct tendency to undermine any negative reviews by questioning the credentials of the reviewers, and by using academic pejoratives (negative reviewers are always 'alleging' or 'carping') to undermine their authority. He goes out of his way to discredit the motives (and even the acting skills) of co-stars who stooped to suggest that working with Tallulah was perhaps something of a pain in the butt. He even glosses over the star's family's repeated complaints about Tallulah's many fictions about her upbringing, and manages to make the extended Bankhead family sound like a bunch of entitled ingrates envious of her wild success.
Although Tallulah! probably can't be beat for its thoroughness, it's a shame that Lobenthal didn't follow Bankhead's example and let the facts of her life fall where they might, consequences be damned. His overindulgence of the star long after her death has an unfortunate echo of the uncritical fans who showed up in droves to whoop for and laugh at their acid-tongued Tallulah, no matter what role she happened to be playing.
May 16, 2015
It would be more a 3.5 than a 4 but happy to exaggerate my good will.
It is detailed and sometime journalistic. I doubt pretty much of his narrative skills. It was one of the driest biogs (and possibly books) I have ever read. It's true, it does not convene the full potential of such a devouring personality...but who could with a subject like Talulah! Difficult to describe and pin down on stage and screen, absolutely impossible on paper. One big mistake - her wit does not come out successfully.You can't commit this crime!
I really enjoyed the mention of all her appearances in plays and movies, but it seems too many details can create confusion when what you actually need is a bit of order in such a divinely messy life.
I found the first 100 pages very confused and confusing, specially when recounting her childhood. Boring really...It gets better when the author start listing her first series of successes in London...and that's where I managed to dive into the book. From that point on it does read fluently albeit some unemotional passages.
I have to give it to the author. It must have been a very long and frustrating research. The mammoth of details he ended up (re)discovering and dig out is simply astonishing. If he had put together this fascinating and gargantuan puzzle in a more precise and allegoric way the book would have probably been the one and definitive Talulah's biog to read. But what we have it's a marvellous but irritating shopping list. You could have all the excerpts from interviews, others' memoirs, critics' reviews, articles etc you want (and believe me they're all there) but without style the subject does not emerge.
Probably it should be read as a bibliography rather than a biography.
It is detailed and sometime journalistic. I doubt pretty much of his narrative skills. It was one of the driest biogs (and possibly books) I have ever read. It's true, it does not convene the full potential of such a devouring personality...but who could with a subject like Talulah! Difficult to describe and pin down on stage and screen, absolutely impossible on paper. One big mistake - her wit does not come out successfully.You can't commit this crime!
I really enjoyed the mention of all her appearances in plays and movies, but it seems too many details can create confusion when what you actually need is a bit of order in such a divinely messy life.
I found the first 100 pages very confused and confusing, specially when recounting her childhood. Boring really...It gets better when the author start listing her first series of successes in London...and that's where I managed to dive into the book. From that point on it does read fluently albeit some unemotional passages.
I have to give it to the author. It must have been a very long and frustrating research. The mammoth of details he ended up (re)discovering and dig out is simply astonishing. If he had put together this fascinating and gargantuan puzzle in a more precise and allegoric way the book would have probably been the one and definitive Talulah's biog to read. But what we have it's a marvellous but irritating shopping list. You could have all the excerpts from interviews, others' memoirs, critics' reviews, articles etc you want (and believe me they're all there) but without style the subject does not emerge.
Probably it should be read as a bibliography rather than a biography.
April 20, 2009
Engagingly written and even-handed treatment of a scandal-ridden and misunderstood figure. If anything, a little *too* even-handed in its attempt to avoid a salacious slant... only one passing mention of Patsy Kelly? But it's a great study of the woman's demons and motivations, well-grounded in the cultural, theatrical & cinematic environments in which she rampaged, flourished, entertained and ultimately did herself in.
June 22, 2011
This was an interesting book about a fascinating woman. However, it is almost a day by day account of Tallulah from birth to death. It was a slow read with an over-abundance of detail, and a disappointing biography for such an fabulously interesting person with a outrageous life.
September 2, 2014
Well-researched and deliciously thorough! The attention to detail is admirable. It's a must-read if you love Tallu, and highly recommended as a companion piece to Miss Bankhead's own white-washed memoir! (I actually read the hardcover but for some reason it's not listed here.)
September 21, 2014
Probably one of the best Tallulah Bankhead biography out there. the author took time to do his research and included Tallulah personal letters and point of view instead of just re-telling us her scandals or juicy gossip. A must read book for Tallulah/Old hollywood fans
April 13, 2010
Dishy in some parts but goes into too much detail about all the plays she starred in. This makes it a hard read for me to get through.
April 27, 2012
Was a little slow but did learn a few new things.
March 23, 2013
Interesting, well written.. a little scholarly in the sense that it goes into much detail about her plays, etc.
March 27, 2014
Glorious read!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews