Tallulah Bankhead
(1903 - 1968) U.S.A.
Actress
Born at Huntsville, Alabama, Tallulah was the daughter of US Congressman and Speaker of The House William Brockman Bankhead. According to Tallulah, "Daddy warned me about men and alcohol. But he never said a thing about women and cocaine."
She was a flamboyant, and husky-voiced, bisexual actress, and a wit best known for Broadway's The Little Foxes, 1939. Tallulah Bankhead had numerous heterosexual affairs, but considered herself "ambisextrous":
"I don't know what I am, darling. I've tried several varieties of sex. The conventional position makes me claustrophobic. And the others give me either stiff neck or lockjaw."
From 1923 to 1930 in London she performed The green hat of M. Arden and Dame aux camélias by A. Dumas Jr. Back to the U.S.A. she did some movies then went back to theatre with The little Foxes by Lillian Hellman, The second Mrs. Tanqueray by A. Pinero, Clash by Night by Clifford Odets, The skin of our teeth by Th. Wilder et al.
In 1952 she published her memories in the book Talullah, my autobiography.
 Among her female liaisons we can count:
- Louisa Carpenter (US, heiress)
- Thelma Carpenter (African-American jazz singer)
- Libby Holman (US - actress 1904-1971, who herself slept around quite a bit)
- Patsy Kelly (US - actress 1910-1981)
- Hattie McDaniels (African American actress "Mammy" in Gone With the Wind) 1895-1952 McDaniels denied lesbianism right & left, but had a long-term relationship with journalist Ruby Goodwin)
- Hope Williams (US - actress 1897-1990)
- Barbara "Jo" Carstairs (US-UK heiress, eccentric & racer who bought an island, 1900-1993)
- Gwen Farrar (no further info)
- Ethel Barrymore (US - actress 1879-1959 - yes, that Barrymore family, and by the way, her great-neice Drew Barrymore is out as bisexual)
- Beatrice Lillie (Canadian actress 1898-1989)
- Sarah Vaughn (African-American jazz singer 1924-1990)
|
