The Black Widow - Tallulah Bankhead
And
How handsome you are... Batdoll
The Black Widow, an evil villain that turned men into mush with
a special brain short circuiter
that she kept in her
purse. She had an underground spider lair and did her best to catch Batman and
Robin in her web.
In the series, the Black Widow was played by Miss Tallulah Bankhead.
Born
in Huntsville, Alabama, on January 31, 1903, Tallulah Bankhead
was the daughter of William B. Bankhead, congressman and speaker of
the House in 1936-1940.
She was a wild person, here are a few quotes:
"It's the good girls who keep the diaries;
the bad girls never have the time." or
how about this one "I'll come up and make love to you at five o'clock.
If I'm late, start without me." or one more,
Nobody can be exactly like me. Sometimes
even
I have trouble doing it.
When she was 15 years old, Tallulah began a brilliant stage career in Alabama. She then moved
on to
New York due to winning a beauty contest. She then moved on to London where she
developed quite a reputation as a non- conformist. Her film career really
didn't take off so she decided to move on to Broadway where she was a huge success.
She won critical acclaim with her performance in the Alfred Hitchcock film, Lifeboat
in 1944. Lifeboat was based on a story by John Steinbeck and concerned
the occupants
of a lifeboat after a ship is torpedoed by a German submarine.
Still a person that thumbed their nose at " acceptable" , during filming,
several of the crew complained that Tallulah Bankhead was not wearing underwear.
This was apparent to them when she climbed in and out of the lifeboat. When told
of the situation, director Alfred Hitchcock replied ``I don't know if this is
a matter for the costume department or the hairdresser.''
Tallulah threw parties that sometimes literally lasted for days. Guests brought
their pajamas. She'd shout, "First one to fall asleep is a shit!" Her
trademark was to call everyone dahlinnng.
She was certainly a character to say the least,
Her swan song was appearing in the Batman series. This was the last time she would
appear on screen.
She passed away shortly after, December 12, 1968.
For a really good history of Tallulah go here...
The
Tallulah Bank Head
Gallery
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