Lillian Hellman (1905–1984)
Author of Pentimento
About the Author
Playwright Lillian Hellman was born in New Orleans on June 20, in 1905. After studying at New York and Columbia Universities, Hellman worked in publishing and as a book reviewer and play-reader. In 1934, Hellman had her first success as a playwright with The Children's Hour. In the play, Hellman show more mixed social, political, and moral issues along with more personal ones. Among some of Hellman's other successful plays are The Little Foxes, Watch on the Rhine, The Searching Wind, and Toys in the Attic. Hellman was also a screenwriter who wrote many film scripts and adapted the works of other authors for film and the stage. Hellman's memoirs include An Unfinished Woman and Pentimento. For more than 30 years Hellman had a relationship with "hard-boiled" detective writer Dashiell Hammett. She lived with him until his death in 1961, and shared his commitment to radical political causes. Hellman's appearance before Senator Joseph McCarthy's House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952 resulted in her being blacklisted in Hollywood. Her book, Scoundrel Time, explores her experiences during the McCarthy era. Nearly blind and confined to a wheelchair, Lillian Hellman died of cardiac arrest in 1984. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Lillian Hellman uncredited foto by Nutrias
Series
Works by Lillian Hellman
Pentimento e il tempo dei furfanti 11 copies
Three American Plays 3 copies
Plays 2 copies
Four Modern American Plays 2 copies
Lillian Hellman Plays 1 copy
Hellman, Lillian Archive 1 copy
Skakavci 1 copy
Associated Works
Writing Women's Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth-Century American Women Writers (1994) — Contributor — 119 copies
In Her Own Words: Women's Memoirs from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States (1999) — Contributor — 26 copies
About Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Fiction, Poetry, and Essays (1973) — Contributor — 26 copies
Double Feature: Directed by William Wyler [1986 American Masters TV episode] / The Love Trap [1929 film] [DVD] (1929) — Actor — 3 copies
Critics' Choice: New York Drama Critics' Circle Prize Plays, 1935-1955 (1945) — Contributor — 3 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Hellman, Lillian
- Legal name
- Hellman, Lillian Florence
- Birthdate
- 1905-06-20
- Date of death
- 1984-06-30
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Place of death
- Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA
- Cause of death
- cardiac arrest
- Places of residence
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
New York, New York, USA
Hollywood, California, USA
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA - Education
- New York University
Columbia University - Occupations
- playwright
screenwriter
memoirist - Relationships
- Hammett, Dashiell (partner)
- Organizations
- League of American Writers
Screen Writers Guild - Awards and honors
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (1962)
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960)
National Institute of Arts and Letters (1946) - Short biography
- Lillian Hellman was a popular playwright whose most successful works were created between the 1930s and the 1960s. She also published several bestselling volumes of memoirs. Several of her plays were made into films. Ms. Hellman was equally famous for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, and for her long romantic relationship with Dashiell Hammett.
She also conducted a lengthy feud with writer Mary McCarthy.
Members
Reviews
An unfinished woman : a memoir by Lillian Hellman
paperback
The past haunts the couples and former couples of this small Southern town. Like real life, everyone is unlikable, but unlike real life everyone confronts their self delusions.
Not least of my complaints about the plays, broadly speaking, is the tedious ubiquity of the shrew-figure. 'Toys in the Attic' is, perhaps, the most compelling piece in the collection, as it draws relatively complex psychological portraits; includes richly universal images, such as a sympathetic male lead reminiscent of Lorraine Hansberry's Walter Younger; and moves with a cadence not found elsewhere. I find Hellman, at her worst, to be pedantic, pretentious, and arcane.
Lists
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 47
- Also by
- 24
- Members
- 3,844
- Popularity
- #6,592
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 57
- ISBNs
- 151
- Languages
- 9
- Favorited
- 13
- Touchstones
- 97
