Tallulah Bankhead began her stage career in London during the 1920s. Known for her sultry voice and languorous sophistication, Bankhead had a magnetic quality that made her a popular success. In America she twice won the coveted New York Drama Critics Award in 1939 for her powerful performance as Regina in The Little Foxes, and in 1942 for her role as Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth.

While performing in London, Bankhead decided to "consent to immortality" and sit for the talented and flamboyant artist Augustus John. "At that time," she confided in her 1952 autobiography, "I was the toast of London and that was some toast, dahling." John, a recently elected member of the Royal Academy and known as much for his uninhibited lifestyle as for his artistic talent, was himself the talk of London. Bankhead made John promise to sell her the finished portrait for a thousand pounds. She kept it on display in her bedroom, where both business associates and friends gathered to visit the incessantly smoking, charismatic actress.

Augustus John (1878-1961)
Oil on canvas, 1930
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Gift of the Honorable and Mrs. John Hay Whitney
NPG.69.46

Enlarged image

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