Consequently, Tallulah and her sister Eugenia were mostly reared by their paternal grandmother, Tallulah James Brockman Bankhead, at the family estate called " Sunset" in Jasper, Alabama. Bankhead, devastated by his wife's death, descended into bouts of depression and alcoholism. Bankhead was baptized next to her mother's coffin. On her deathbed, Ada told her sister-in-law to "take care of Eugenia, Tallulah will always be able to take care of herself". Coincidentally, her maternal grandmother had died giving birth to her mother. Three weeks after Bankhead's birth, her mother died of blood poisoning ( sepsis) on February 23, 1902. A marker was erected to commemorate the site, and in 1980 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The following year, Tallulah was born on her parents' second wedding anniversary, on the second floor of what is now known as the Isaac Schiffman Building. Their first child, Evelyn Eugenia (Janu– May 11, 1979), was born two months prematurely and had some vision difficulties. The two fell in love at first sight and were married on January 31, 1900, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her mother, Adelaide "Ada" Eugenia, was a native of Como, Mississippi, and was engaged to another man when she met William Bankhead on a trip to Huntsville to buy her wedding dress. Bankhead II and granddaughter of Senator John H. Her father was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1936 to 1940. Her father hailed from the Bankhead-and-Brockman political family, active in the Democratic Party of the South in general and of Alabama in particular. "Tallu" was named after her paternal grandmother, who in turn was named after Tallulah Falls, Georgia. Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was born on January 31, 1902, in Huntsville, Alabama, to William Brockman Bankhead and Adelaide Eugenia "Ada" Bankhead (née Sledge) her great-great-grandfather, James Bankhead (1738–1799) was born in Ulster, Ireland, and settled in South Carolina. Bankhead welcomes his famous daughter to his office in 1937 She also openly had a series of relationships with both men and women. Bankhead struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction she reportedly smoked 120 cigarettes a day and talked openly about her vices. She also supported foster children and helped families escape the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Bankhead supported liberal causes, including the budding civil rights movement. senators, and her father was Speaker of the House of Representatives. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981.īankhead was a member of the Bankhead and Brockman family, a prominent Alabama political family. In all, Bankhead amassed nearly 300 film, stage, television and radio roles during her career. She also had a brief but successful career on radio and made appearances on television. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (Janu– December 12, 1968) was an American actress.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |