Type keyword s to search. Actress Tallulah Bankhead, photographed in John Kobal Foundation Getty Images. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below. But much like the art you would find in a museum, even the silliest of cartoons come from hard work and, sometimes, from real-life inspiration.
This is how actress Tallulah Bankhead, the inspiration behind Cruella de Vil, the Dalmatians supervillain, came to life. Naturally, the Hollywood entrepreneur and his studio team found themselves looking to develop a character genuinely rooted in evil. She was a stage actress from Alabama, born into a politically connected family in the early s.
Her dramatic childhood turned into a life of chaos. When looking for inspiration for the soon-to-be-created cartoon supervillain, Disney, Davis, and their team set out to find someone who, in theory, was so evil that she might even consider killing puppies if it meant getting what she wanted. They were well-connected Hollywood men who heard stories about the other prominent people in entertainment. Tallulah was the primary point of reference. Tallulah Bankhead came from a theater background, and her personality seemed to be just as dramatic off stage as it was with the spotlight on her.
She had no qualms; she was going to live life on her own terms, and she had every intention of being as loud about it as possible. Marc Davis used her behaviors and satirized her every move. She was so thin she was practically skin and bones, her voice was as raspy as they get, and she whipped her Bentley through the streets of New York, London, and Los Angeles recklessly, as if there were no other people on the road. And this is only the beginning of her similarities to the iconic character.
Bankhead was born on January 31st, , in Huntsville, Alabama. She was the youngest of two daughters. Unfortunately, her sister Evelyn Eugenia was born two months prematurely, and in turn, spent the entirety of her life suffering from visual impairments.
Despite this, she would eventually outlive Tallulah. She was on a trip to Huntsville, Alabama, to look for her wedding dress, and she met William along the way. It was love at first sight. So, she called off the other engagement, and the two were married on January 31st, Just three weeks after Tallulah was born, her mother died of sepsis blood poisoning.
While on her deathbed, she reportedly told her sister-in-law that she knew Tallulah could hold her own in the future. Tallulah and her sister Eugenia were raised primarily by their paternal grandmother, also named Tallulah. Their father was not out of their lives but rather too consumed with his devastation to be a full-time father.
Even if he were not their primary caretaker, Tallulah would constantly do things to seek his approval. As a baby, she had a bad temper and she developed into a rather challenging child. Also, as a child, she dealt with a series of diseases that would give her a lifelong raspy voice. Her trademark raspy voice, also shown through the characterization of Cruella de Vil in every film, came from a series of throat and chest infections as a child. She suffered through whooping cough, measles, pneumonia, the mumps — anything you could think of.
Little did she know, her voice would become a trademark in the world of entertainment. Her older sister was slim and beautiful, while Tallulah was described as a tubby child. According to biographer David Bret, she channeled her resentment and tough-sounding voice into a persona, with which she used to bully her sister and the rest of her class.
She was uncontrollable and sent to convents to curb her behavior. Unfortunately, that was far from the reality. She ended up getting expelled from two different convents. Can you guess what she did to get kicked out? First, she tried to throw ink at the Mother Superior, and then, she made romantic advances toward a nun.
She was only 12 years old at the time, but this would allude to controversy and gossip that would follow her into her adult life and career. Tallulah unfortunately never saw the character that she inspired. The actresses who voiced Cruella de Vil in the original cartoon version of Dalmatians, and those who played her in every subsequent live-action version, all channeled her attitude and used the star as their inspiration. The late Betty Lou Gerson was the original voice for Cruella, starring as the supervillain in the animated film.
The role would later be reprised in live-action remakes of the film, played by legendary actress Glenn Close, and most recently, by Emma Stone in the Disney film, Cruella. As Tallulah Bankhead grew into the woman we knew her as, she became more difficult. She received an ego boost as she landed her first acting role after submitting her photo to Picture Play magazine.
After that, she took a trip to New York and met some other soon-to-be-famous actors and actresses. Maybe this is where she grew into herself.
After finishing his studies at the University of Alabama and Georgetown University Law Center, he was immediately admitted to the Alabama state bar.
He joined other family members before him in practicing law. His great-grandfather was a former senator for South Carolina, and his father served in the Alabama state legislature and served as a representative for Alabama in the U. House of Representatives. Bankhead II, served in the senate like their father. William Bankhead was elected to a position that was nearly as coveted as the presidency itself.
He was elected to the U. House of Representatives, serving between multiple congressional districts of Alabama. Those with the ability to vote in the state of Alabama at the time must have loved him — he was re-elected three times! Tallulah spotted Toto at a party and introduced herself with a blatant: 'Hello, I'm a lesbian. They soon became lovers, though not exclusively, due to Tallulah's like for boys too.
But while she never identified as 'bisexual', Tallulah described herself as 'ambisextrous'. Toto thought Tallulah 'totally mad, that's what attracted me to her. She loved to shock but I was proud to be seen with her, though it was exhausting trying to keep up. Not surprising given that Tallulah was said to have once had a queue of girls lining up outside her hotel suite in Paris and worked her way through 15 in one night.
The fiery Toto-Tallulah fling was short-lived, burning itself out in just four months. Many believe Tallulah's carefree attitude may have inspired the Disney creators when they conjured up their portrayal of Cruella, who was determined to success in her dognapping scheme, no matter what the cost. The actress, who married and divorced once, had no children, and died aged 66 on 12 December The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
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