Tallulah Bankhead. A Scandalous Life by Bret, David:

-Robson Books (1996)-. First edition first impression 1996. xvi+278 pages. Illustrated. Cloth. Near fine in very good indeed dustjacket. Born in Alabama in 1903, she became a big star in London in the early 1920s. Branded an 'unsafe and unsavory person' by the Hays Commission in America in the early 1930s, her career went from tremendous stage success in such hits as The Little Foxes and Fallen Angels, to appearances in some of the worst plays ever written, which she turned into triumphs by improvising lewd and outrageous asides to satisfy the cravings of her largely gay audiences. Confessing to over 500 love affairs with both men and women, Tallulah married just once - to a man who divorced her citing mental cruelty. A headline writer's dream throughout her life, at the height of her fame she was said to drink two bottles of bourbon a day, smoke 100 cigarettes and take pills to help her sleep, pills to keep her awake, and pills to help her cope with the pills. But while there always seemed to be someone on hand to record Tallulah's indiscretions, the other side of her personality went largely unrecorded. She raised vast amounts of money for children's charities; delivered stringent speeches against communism and racial and sexual prejudice, and actively supported the presidential campaigns of two close friends: Truman and Kennedy.