Tallulah Bankhead (Outlines

by Bryony Lavery

Tallulah Bankhead ended her biography with, "I've lived to the hilt. I've soared in the clouds and touched bottom. Much as I like to idle, I know I have to carry on or perish. I have a tiger by the tail." Bryony Lavery's funny and affectionate Outline takes you for a ride through Bankhead's extraordinary party-going, dirty-talking, hard-loving life as a glamorous, promiscuous actress from New York, through London in the twenties, the early years of Hollywood and the great years of American radio. This is the woman who said of sex: "My family warned me about men; but they never thought to mention women , " of drugs: "Cocaine isn't habit-forming: I should know, I've been taking it for years " and of publicity: "It doesn't matter what they say darling, as long as they talk "

Genres: Biography

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Bryony Lavery is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play Frozen. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio.

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really was the most trashy "celebrity" biography I've ever read. It was pretty awful, the author liked to list things, often things that had nothing to do with Tallulah Bankhead at all. It seemed quite puzzling why the author had selected Tallulah as the subject of her biography as she seemed to have no interest in or respect for her at all. She would go ON AND ON about how appaling her acting was, how terribly her behaviour was, what a tremendous alcholic and coke addict she was.
Though surely if she'd been drinking as heavily for as many decades as the author suggested her liver wouldn't have been healthy at the time of her death? Beatrix said how Tallulah would order drink after drink but barely sip them. But reading this it felt like the author hadn't bothered to actually talk to anyone who knew her, it seemed to be entirely based on shenanigans in the gossip columns. She also made a point of how Tallulah's biography and later shows were scripted by men to purputate her personna, but at no point did the author attempt to see or state anything, besides that personna. It was all, terrible acting, got naked, got drunk, took drugs (and the constant and incessant mocking of Tallulah's fans in the form of the "gallery girls". And not one bit of sympathy, understanding or glimpses beyond the surface. She was very open about Tallulah's biseuxality but even in that she was constantly mocking Tallulah's relationships (whether with men or women). It was like she couldn't see an actual person just the headlines.
Despite all that I did learn a few things that will be useful to my research. But I'm very glad there's at least 4 other biographies of Tallulah out there. I will definitely be reading those to get a more balance picture than from this one. I'm very glad I bought a cheap 2nd hand copy.

[Bookend McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It reads like a poorly researched book, done quickly, without a lot of forethought, but I enjoyed it because I love Tallulah Bankhead.

[Merja Pohjola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay another bio... the further back in time we go the more difficult it will be to establish all the rumours. A fascinating woman, to say the least - and I have to read more to see if there is a trustworthy pattern to her life. I still think there are exaggerations - and maybe a diva like her started some of the rumours herself to appear more exotic. Who knows, I sure don't :-)
I liked the style of this biographer - very different than most. He is talking to his reader, and sometimes to Tallulah. Kinda funny style. Was also a surprise to see she wanted to raise money for Finland during the war - something I didn't expect to see when I picked up this book from my shelf ;)