LILLIAN HELLMAN
Lillian Hellman(1905-1984), American dramatist, whose plays are distinguished
for the forcefulness of their subject matter, usually a condemnation of personal
and social evil. They are also notable for character development and expert
construction.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Hellman was educated at New York and Columbia
universities. Her plays include The Children's Hour (1934), in which a malicious
child's accusations of lesbianism ruin the lives of two schoolteachers; The
Little Foxes (1939), in which the members of a Southern family struggle
unscrupulously with one another for the family wealth after the American Civil
War (1861-1865); and The Watch on the Rhine (1941), in which a leader of an anti-Nazi
movement visiting the United States is forced to kill a Nazi agent. This play
won her a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1941. Hellman's other plays
include The Searching Wind (1944); Another Part of the Forest (1946); and The
Lark (1955), a story of Joan of Arc, adapted from the play L'Alouette, by the
French dramatist Jean Anouilh. In 1960 Toys in the Attic (1960) won Hellman a
second New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. All of these plays have been made
into films.
Hellman was awarded the 1970 National Book Award in arts and letters for her
autobiography An Unfinished Woman (1969). This work was continued with
Pentimento (1973), a collection of prose portraits of herself and others whose
lives influenced hers; the 1977 movie Julia was based on one of these sketches.
The autobiography ended with Scoundrel Time (1976), an account of her
experiences during the McCarthy-era investigations of Communism in the United
States (see McCarthy, Joseph Raymond).
Lillian Hellman(1905-1984), American dramatist, whose plays are distinguished
for the forcefulness of their subject matter, usually a condemnation of personal
and social evil. They are also notable for character development and expert
construction.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Hellman was educated at New York and Columbia
universities. Her plays include The Children's Hour (1934), in which a malicious
child's accusations of lesbianism ruin the lives of two schoolteachers; The
Little Foxes (1939), in which the members of a Southern family struggle
unscrupulously with one another for the family wealth after the American Civil
War (1861-1865); and The Watch on the Rhine (1941), in which a leader of an anti-Nazi
movement visiting the United States is forced to kill a Nazi agent. This play
won her a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1941. Hellman's other plays
include The Searching Wind (1944); Another Part of the Forest (1946); and The
Lark (1955), a story of Joan of Arc, adapted from the play L'Alouette, by the
French dramatist Jean Anouilh. In 1960 Toys in the Attic (1960) won Hellman a
second New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. All of these plays have been made
into films.
Hellman was awarded the 1970 National Book Award in arts and letters for her
autobiography An Unfinished Woman (1969). This work was continued with
Pentimento (1973), a collection of prose portraits of herself and others whose
lives influenced hers; the 1977 movie Julia was based on one of these sketches.
The autobiography ended with Scoundrel Time (1976), an account of her
experiences during the McCarthy-era investigations of Communism in the United
States (see McCarthy, Joseph Raymond).