Marian Seldes on Tallulah Bankhead: The End of the World

Interview with Marian Seldes

Conducted by James Grissom 

NYC

1994
All images by Dorothy Wilding, from 1939, for The Little Foxes

No one seemed less innocent or pure than Tallulah, and yet she was very sentimental about the innocence of others. She really wanted the world to be romantic and sweet, and as I've written, she was horrified that Kat [Seldes' daughter] did not believe in Santa Claus, and she was devastated that I did not believe in God. She was amazed that I could function without being girded by acts of faith. I told her my faith was in people, and she sneered, because, I think, she felt that people were only good, and only on occasion, because of Santa Claus or God or the tooth fairy or the wishes made on eyelashes.

Tallulah was very generous with me, and she asked me to care for her during our time together. I needed to watch after her terrible, burned hand; her alcohol consumption; her little dog; her friends who might stay too long backstage and keep her from sleeping. I was her assistant--Blackie--on the stage [in Tennessee Williams' "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore"] and I was her assistant off stage some of the time. I didn't mind. I loved and idolized her, and I knew, as all of us did, that it would not be a long working relationship.

President Kennedy was assassinated during our time with the play, and Tallulah was devastated. She really felt that the end of the world was imminent. Everything she loved was dying or sick, and she included herself. How long, she wondered, could she go on being Tallulah Bankhead? It was exhausting for her; marvelous for us.

I remember that lovely apartment of hers. Getting her home and ready for the night. Sweet-smelling, perfectly costumed, tired. Sleep rarely came easily for her, and she would call me. I had a life and a daughter, but I took her calls. I listened. I let her become exhausted leaning on me and my ear late into the night.

I saw her absolutely brilliant on the stage--in The Little Foxes and The Skin of our Teeth--and very good in so many others. She may have disappointed playwrights and material, but she never, ever disappointed an audience. She was the first person to ever say of me that I was a good broad. A broad! I liked that. I knew it was a great compliment coming from her.

© 2020  James Grissom