Actress Tallulah Bankhead Got So Out Of Control That Hollywood Tried To Get Rid Of Her

Even when she was young, Tallulah was too hot to handle. Her temper would get so out of control that her grandmother did the only thing she knew would help — she'd douse Tallulah with a bucket of ice water! Despite her family's efforts, nothing ever cooled Bankhead off for good. This ended up being a blessing in disguise; only those with true passion could make it to Hollywood, after all. And when the industry was in its early years, women like Bankhead needed all the help they could get.

It goes without saying that Tallulah was already proving to be a troublemaker at a young age, but in a family of politicians, there wasn't a lot she could get away with. Her father, who was the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in the late 1930s, warned his daughter about the dangers of drinking, flirting, and overall debauchery. But even he knew that Bankhead had some inner demons that occasionally led her astray. You see, the beginning of Bankhead's life was marred by tragedy.

All her life, Tallulah grieved the loss of her mother. She'd tragically passed away while giving birth to Tallulah, and although her father assured her that it wasn't her fault, the girl blamed herself. Before she died, her mother seemed to sense Bankhead's innate inner strength. "Tallulah will always be able to take care of herself," she said on her deathbed. Sure enough, Bankhead's mischievous personality helped her cope with her grief and guilt... and so did performing.

After doing a handful of silent films, she quickly realized that the stage was her calling, not the screen. And once she'd landed in New York, she befriended high-profile personalities like Estelle Winwood and Ethel Barrymore. But nothing worked out the way she'd hoped, even after she'd made it to Broadway. She had a few Broadway shows under her belt, but her star power failed to rise. Most would call it quits, but Tallulah was one heck of a fighter. If she couldn't break through at home, she realized, then she'd have to move someone else entirely.

In 1923 Tallulah moved to London to act in the West End. It was here, at the age of 21, that she made her real debut. She made a splash in plays like The Dancers and The Gold Diggers, but it was her role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning They Knew What They Wanted that made her a rising star. For the next few years, the young star was a huge hit in London. She had little to no scandals at the time, and in 1927, she gained the attention of a huge American studio.

Paramount Pictures heard about Tallulah's success in London and asked her to star in a couple of their films. Although this was a huge opportunity for Bankhead, it meant leaving London behind and taking another chance in Hollywood. The last thing she wanted to do was sacrifice her success in the U.K. for a middling career in the U.S. But when she saw how much she'd get paid per film, saying no just wasn't an option. She knew she was taking a risk and that there was no guarantee it would pay off.

Sure enough, her instincts initially came true: in spite of the huge break, the films Woman's Law (1927) and His House In Order (1928) didn't exactly put her on the Hollywood map. There was also the stir of controversy on the rise with the actress' love life. Tallulah was always known for her brazen ways of speaking, but she tried not to tarnish her father's political career with her "wild" reputation. But some things are just unavoidable, and rumors started to swirl about Tallulah and her many love affairs.

With her stalled film career and wild reputation, Bankhead's risky move to Hollywood seemed like a flop. But since movies still paid more than plays, she had no choice but to stick it out. She itched to return to the stage, and since London was physically out of reach, she bounced back and forth between the U.S. stage and the silver screen to keep herself afloat. As the 1920s turned into the 1930s, she became a fixture on the Broadway stage — and in gossip circles. Her love life received a lot of attention, mainly because she was open about her relationships with both men and women.

In the wake of her fiery love life, she shared these words: "My father warned me about men and booze… but he never mentioned a word about women." Tallulah was openly bisexual and hinted at relationships with both men and women. At the time, the only thing more shocking than her bisexuality was her brazen attitude about it. Still, her love affairs merely became a part of her personality and overall fame. They weren't what threatened her career.

Tallulah was known as the life of the party at any soiree she attended or hosted. People loved to spend time with her, even when she took her bad habits to the extreme. When she wasn't acting or firing up the romantic rumor mill, she was smoking and drinking to excess. She'd go through at least 100 cigarettes a day, as well as two bottles of bourbon. She had no problem getting naked at parties if it meant livening up the atmosphere. Eventually, her wild behavior leaked into her professional life, too.

In 1933 Bankhead was rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. At the time, she was performing in the play Jezebel, which was a minor success on stage. It was untreated gonorrhea that forced Bankhead to receive an emergency hysterectomy, but even as she was being discharged from the hospital, Bankhead allegedly told her doctor, "Don't think this has taught me a lesson!" She remained true to her word, and despite her health issues, her partying lifestyle continued. There was one upside: her fame as a personality may have helped her nab some of the best roles of her career.

In 1940, Variety wrote that Bankhead gave "one of the most electrifying performances in American theater history" when she played Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes. The play was a smash hit, and Bankhead finally became a star in the U.S. Her acclaimed performance in the play The Skin Of Our Teeth a few years later further cemented Bankhead's star status. Of course, success for Bankhead didn't come without its tribulations. It was no secret that she clashed with Lillian Hellman, the playwright behind The Little Foxes, and with Elia Kazan, who directed The Skin Of Our Teeth.

Tallulah had no filter, even in a professional setting — a habit that often got her into trouble, though the people she worked with usually adjusted to her bold personality. People's patience didn't always last for long, however. Her success in love came and went with her marriage to John Emery, which ended after four years in 1941. "You can definitely quote me as saying there will be no plans for a remarriage," she told a reporter the same day her divorce was finalized. Soon after, she endured another devastating loss.

When Tallulah learned that her father was ill, she decided to finish one last show before going to see him. But by the time she arrived to see him, he'd already passed away. Not being there for his death made Tallulah feel more guilty than ever, but she made a difficult pact with herself. Tallulah usually drank her worries away, but when World War II began, she swore she wouldn't drink, not until, in her words, "the British are back in Dunkirk.”

Even with her life falling apart, she seemingly kept to her word. As World War II raged on, she felt called to help those who were most affected by the war; it has been said that she helped families escape the brutality of the war. Even with her fiery personality constantly on display to the press, she clearly had a compassionate side. It was her multidimensional personality that caught the eye of one director in particular: Alfred Hitchcock.

As the war was coming close to its end, Tallulah was called by director Alfred Hitchcock, who gave her an offer she couldn't refuse. She and several other renowned actors were asked to star in what would become one of Hitchcock's most famous and critically acclaimed films, Lifeboat. It was one intense story, and Tallulah was perfect for the role. Hitchcock wanted big personalities in the film, and he was given more than he bargained for with Tallulah.

As you probably expected, Bankhead's co-stars didn't take much of a liking to her. Her vivacious personality wasn't always welcomed on set; it's rumored that she would constantly reveal her lack of underwear to them whenever she could. She also brought the war with Germany to the set in the worst way. You see, the film follows a group of shipwreck survivors who rescue a man who turns out to be a German military officer who was involved in the sinking of their ship.

Tallulah was outspoken about her hatred for Germany, but she took it too far when she met Austrian actor Walter Slezak, who played the German military officer. In spite of his repeated renouncing of the Third Reich, Tallulah verbally abused Slezak every moment they worked together. "I hope they spill every drop of German blood there is. I hate them all! And I HATE YOU!" she once shouted at him. Despite her rumored bad behavior on set, her performance in Lifeboat is thought to be one of the best of her career.

When the war ended, Tallulah stuck to her word and broke her abstinence from alcohol. The starlet was back to two bottles a day, which was not happy news for Hollywood producers, especially after the trouble she was in with authorities. You see, Tallulah wasn't just back to drinking; she was throwing her wild parties yet again. One time, Tallulah's aggravated neighbors called the police to break up one of her blowouts.

They probably never expected a heavily drunk Tallulah to answer the door naked, and they were even more shocked when she decked an officer after being asked to end the party. After hearing what Tallulah had done, Hollywood producers backed out of deals with her, even when she swore that she wouldn't drink anymore. At that point, her promises to quick drinking rang hollow to those who had given her multiple chances in the past.

Still, her talent was undeniable. In the late '40s, she proved that her acting chops were the real deal in the play Private Lives, which was such a success that she performed the play for almost 2 years and made millions in the process. But she was in very few films from that point on, and in the '50s and '60s, she mainly stuck to the theater. Hollywood was officially done with her...

Although her career as a film star was brief, Tallulah Bankhead became a legendary actor, not to mention an icon for the LGBTQ+ movement. She lived her life without fear, but doing so resulted in repercussions down the line. Hollywood never welcomed her back again, but that didn't mean she wasn't famous. Like many celebrities today, Tallulah's colorful personal life eventually outshone her talent.

Hollywood movie executives wouldn't cast her in anything, but TV, radio, and Broadway producers were more than happy to give her jobs. She was naturally charming, and people wanted to watch her perform despite her vices. In fact, it was these vices that made her so captivating to behold on stage and screen, especially when she wasn't acting at all, but just being herself. After a while, though, Tallulah's addictions caught up to her.

Even so, she was never alone. In the last years of her life, she'd garnered the support of the gay community, who stuck by her side until the end (sometimes literally, as she was known to hire her gay fans as assistants). When she died in 1968, people thought back to her Hollywood heyday and were stunned by what they saw.

Back in the 1920s and '30s, no one could heat up the big screen better than Tallulah. She represented independence and freedom of expression for countless young women at a time when those qualities weren't always valued. Naturally, Tallulah always had an adoring audience surrounding her, and one future actress in particular was drawn to her star power. Even so, Tallulah's young fan had ambitions that had nothing to do with Hollywood.

Although a young Jane Russell was often seen lacing up dance shoes and practicing piano scales, she was secretly harboring a different ambition: fashion design. In the rapidly changing world of the '20s and '30s, what young women wouldn't want to command the fashion world with cutting-edge designs? However, her mother dreamed of seeing Jane’s name up in lights, so she forced her to take drama classes. This may not seem like a chore, but for a young Jane Russell, her mother's dreams stood in the way of her own dreams.

That all changed for the worst when Jane’s father died in 1937. Suddenly, the family had to work whatever jobs they could find just to stay afloat. Though only 16 years old, Jane left her piano bench for a receptionist’s desk instead, intent on solving her family’s new financial problems. This may have upset her mother, but the reality of their situation couldn't be denied: they needed a constant stream of income, and it was up to them to provide it.

So after she graduated from high school, Jane gladly took a job working as a receptionist in a local doctor’s office. Her family had moved to a star-studded part of Southern California when she was a kid, and every once in a while, a famous face would walk through the office doors. Most of the time, she saw these celebrities as patients. So when a particularly famous face showed up at the doctor's office one day, she had no idea that her life was about to change forever.

Jane was shocked one day to find herself staring into the face of famed actor, director, and businessman Howard Hughes, who was immediately taken with the receptionist. He told her he would make her a star on the spot, and offered her a seven-year contract with his production company. If only we could all be so lucky! Jane, however, didn't have an automatic answer to the offer. As amazing as it was, Jane couldn't help but recall her favorite childhood dream.

Jane remembered her dreams of being a fashion designer, and the possibility of having to abandon those dreams was devastating. But she also thought about her family and their financial problems, and she knew that she couldn't let a childhood dream get in the way of their well-being. With that, she accepted the tycoon's offer. She was quickly cast in Hughes’ film The Outlaw, but the road to success wasn’t exactly smooth. 

The film ended up becoming one of the most talked-about films of the early 1940s, and not for a good reason. Its racy scenes featuring a scantily-clad Jane left executives reeling and the Hollywood Production Code Administration up in arms. In other words, the film was deemed too sexy to be shown in movie theaters. Unsurprisingly, Jane had mixed feelings about her first-ever acting job.

Jane later said that all the drama surrounding The Outlaw made it feel like she did nothing but promote the film in the early ‘40s and wait for her career to either begin or end. Despite the long haul, however, the film was eventually released to audiences after Hughes generated enough buzz about the film’s vulgarity. The film's racy scenes were used to its advantage, and it ended up benefiting Jane in the long run — depending on how you look at it, that is.

Hughes once said of Jane, “There are two good reasons why men go to see [Russell], and those are enough.” At first, it seemed like those two “good reasons” were all Jane had going for her in Hollywood after The Outlaw. As Jane’s “boss,” Hughes certainly played up her body in order to get people into movie theaters. Some actresses would resent being pigeonholed, but Jane decided to use the attention to her advantage.

And as WWII ramped up in the U.S., Jane became one of the most popular pin-up girls of the era. Suddenly, scandalous professional photos of her could be found in army camps around the world, and she was even credited with helping to boost the morale of the American servicemen. As great as this was, however, Jane understandably grew tired of her role as Hollywood's favorite sex symbol.

With her career heating up, Jane hoped to tackle more serious roles that focused on things other than her bust and waistline. But that was a tall order with Hughes at the helm, who only seemed to see Jane as a beautiful body and not a legitimate talent. So, she focused on her personal life instead: in 1943, Jane married her high school sweetheart, Bob Waterfield.

Their marriage wasn’t exactly blissful, however. Although it was normal for newlyweds to rush into starting a family, no one knew the secret Jane had been keeping since she was 18 years old, one that made having children nearly impossible for her. At the time, her secret was a taboo subject — it still is, in some ways. When she was just 18, Jane discovered she was pregnant.

Jane was one of the main breadwinners for her family at that point, so a surprise pregnancy wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms. Deciding whether or not to terminate a pregnancy would be difficult for anyone, but one factor made it even harder for Jane: her faith. Though it may come as a shock to those who knew Jane as the sexy screen siren, she was actually a devout Christian for her entire life. 

For most of her career, Jane hosted a weekly bible study at her home called “Hollywood Christian Group” and never hesitated to voice her dedication to her faith. For many, her dual life probably came as a surprise: During the day she played sultry femme fatales in the movies, but at night, she tried to turn her fellow Hollywood personalities toward God. Audiences probably had no idea that their favorite femme fatale was actually a dedicated Christian and that she'd once grappled with an impossible decision.

Clearly, it was a hugely difficult time for Jane when she decided to terminate her pregnancy — it was a huge risk on a physical and emotional level. Still, she couldn't have known how her heartbreak was only beginning. Things only got more difficult when she quickly realized that the pain from the procedure wasn’t wearing off. In fact, it got so bad that when she finally went to the doctor, he was shocked by the state of her body.

“What butcher did this to you?” Jane later recalled him saying. His prognosis was bleak: Jane would probably never be able to have children. Needless to say, it was a miracle that Jane even survived the experience. The event scarred her in more ways than one, with her inability to have children weighing heavily on her heart. The pressure surrounding her new marriage to Waterfield and her burgeoning film career didn’t help, either.

And things never got easier when Howard Hughes was involved, as he always seemed to be when it came to Jane’s career. He delayed the release of Jane’s next two films for unnecessary re-cuts, and the tension only got worse when the second film, Macao, bombed at the box office. Hughes clearly had power over Jane's career, and she undoubtedly started to resent his control as the years passed.

Ten years into the business with only moderate success to show for it, Jane wasn’t sure she’d ever see her name in lights... until she nabbed the role of her career with the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. For the first time, Jane received top billing — even over Marilyn Monroe. Finally, her decade spent working tirelessly as an actress started to pay off. And when you're acting opposite Monroe, one of Hollywood's most legendary stars, there's no way you won't also become a legend!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was a massive success and made Jane Russell a household name. The movie definitely put her “two good reasons” on display, but it also highlighted her complexity and intelligence as an actress. Things were looking up for the one-time receptionist — until her contract with RKO ended. And when her contract with the studio ended, it seemed like the roles would dry up, too, no matter how successful Gentleman Prefer Blondes was.

However, her contract ending turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Finally, she was able to detach herself from Hughes and make her own career decisions. Instead of re-signing with Hughes at RKO, she went with her own company, Russ-Field Productions, which she formed in 1953. The studio wasn’t the only welcome addition to the family, either.

After accepting the fact that they would never be able to have biological children, Jane and Bob adopted a baby girl named Tracy in 1952. About a year later, the couple adopted another baby, a little boy named Thomas. This time, however, the happy occasion was shrouded in controversy when the story of how Jane adopted her son came to light. As it turned out, the process wasn’t exactly done legally.

Jane had been adamant about adopting an Irish baby to honor her husband’s heritage, and she didn't keep her ambitions a secret. So when the press heard this, it wasn’t long before expectant mothers in Ireland started to offer their babies to Jane. It sounds unbelievable, but Jane felt that she couldn't ignore these offers. One of these mothers was a woman named Hannah McDermott.

Despite numerous legal avenues Jane could've gone down, she decided to contact Hannah McDermott instead. The two came to an agreement, and Jane brought little Thomas back to the States — just in time for the unusual adoption story to be leaked to the press. People protested outside of Jane’s home and Hannah was even charged with breaking adoption laws.

Controversy aside, Jane stood by her decision to go through with the unusual (and perhaps illegal?) adoption. Jane’s experience with informal adoption inspired her to form the World Adoption International Fund to help American families adopt children from overseas. With the adoption of their third child, Robert, Jane and Bob’s family finally felt complete, even if the same couldn’t be said for Jane’s career. 

Though she was excited about the first film produced for Russ-Field Productions, The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown, the film wasn’t at all well-received by critics. Because it was the very first film produced by Russ-Field, the failure was catastrophic to the company, and it forced the couple to close their production company’s doors. Left without a production company or a studio contract, Jane’s acting career started to spiral.

“Why did I quit movies? Because I was getting too old!” Jane once said, and this isn’t far from the truth. It’s hard for an actress over 30 to keep up the momentum of their career, even someone as beautiful as Jane. Though she dabbled in TV and music, her career never again hit the highs brought on by Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Jane's career wasn't the only thing that suffered at this time in her life. On top of Jane’s waning film career was her divorce from Bob Waterfield after 25 years of marriage. It took years before Jane was ready to settle down again, but when she did, it was for life. She and John Calvin Peoples were married in 1974 until his death in 1999.

As Jane aged into her 70s, her star power never really dimmed, not even when she announced at 79 years old that she’d entered rehab for a decades-long drinking problem. This came as a surprise to the public, who at that point had come to know Jane as the voluptuous screen siren with a heart of gold. How could the famous actress have hidden her addiction for so long?

Jane had always known how to persevere, which could explain how her alcoholism was hidden for so long. She was admired for her honesty about her addiction and her career. She lived until she was 89 years old, and when she passed away in 2011, Hollywood mourned its fallen star. Jane Russell’s rise from receptionist to pin-up girl to movie star was an inspiration to anyone who felt called to the bright lights of Hollywood.