Elliot Norton Interviews; Tallulah Bankhead

WGBH Educational Foundation · June 30, 1963

30 minute episode produced on videotape. Actress Tallulah Bankhead talks with Elliot Norton, Peabody Award-winning drama critic of the Boston Record-American and Sunday Advertiser. Currently (April,1963) touring the country in George Oppenheimer's farce "Here Today," Miss Bankhead discusses her portrayal of the divorced woman, Mary Hilliard, and points out the differences between the Broadway production and that of the present road company. Elliot Norton asks Tallulah how she feels about the various roles she has played over the years. She talks of many plays, but singles out "The Little Foxes" as the best. In answer to the inevitable question about her famous low voice, Tallulah says it was nothing more than her susceptibility to bronchitis and colds that gave her the well-known trademark. Tallulah Bankhead with Elliot Norton: a 1963 production of WGBH-TV, Boston. Producer: Virginia Kassel. Director: Frank Brady. Additional Program Description: This is an interview between Elliot Norton, drama critic of the Boston Record-American and Sunday Advertiser and actress Tallulah Bankhead. Miss Bankhead was born in Huntsville, Alabama and was featured In Little Foxes., Skin of Our Teeth and other plays. The setting is arranged in such a way that Norton and Bankhead appear to be sitting in the stalls of an empty theatre. Mr. Norton opens the show by discussing briefly the play "Here Today." Miss Bankhead was appearing in this play in Boston when the interview was videotaped. Miss Bankhead then tells how long the play has been touring and conditions encountered during the tour. She also describes the part she plays in the play and compares it to other roles she has performed. She also discusses the different theatres she has worked in, the play she has had the most fun with, the easiest part she has played, quick changes, the timing of lines, voice technique, and Miss Bankhead recounts many anecdotes. They also talk about smoking, laughing, coughing, the glint in Miss Bankhead's eye and the "darlings" in the theatre world whom she adores. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) Elliot Norton Interviews brings together nine interviews conducted by Boston drama critic Elliot Norton for the National Educational Television audience.