People named Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman American playwright Lillian Hellman, (born June 20, 1905, New Orleans, La., U.S.—died June 30, 1984, Vineyard Haven, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.), American playwright and motion-picture screenwriter whose dramas forcefully attacked injustice, exploitation, and selfishness. Hellman attended New York public schools and New York University and Columbia University. Her marriage (1925–32) to the playwright Arthur Kober ended in divorce. She had already begun an intimate friendship with the novelist Dashiell Hammett that would continue until his death in 1961. In the 1930s, after working as book reviewer, press agent, play reader, and Hollywood scenarist, she began writing plays. Her dramas exposed some of the various forms in which evil appears—a malicious child’s lies about two schoolteachers (The Children’s Hour, 1934); a ruthless family’s exploitation of fellow townspeople and of one another (The Little Foxes, 1939, and Another Part of the Forest, 1946); and the irresponsible selfishness of the Versailles-treaty generation (Watch on the Rhine, 1941, and The Searching Wind, 1944). Criticized at times for her doctrinaire views and characters, she nevertheless kept her characters from becoming merely social points of view by writing credible dialogue and creating a realistic intensity matched by few of her playwriting contemporaries. These plays exhibit the tight structure and occasional overcontrivance of what is known as the well-made play. In the 1950s she showed her skill in handling the more subtle structure of Chekhovian drama (The Autumn Garden, 1951) and in translating and adapting (Jean Anouilh’s The Lark, 1955, and Voltaire’s Candide, 1957, in a musical version). She returned to the well-made play with Toys in the Attic (1960), which was followed by another adaptation, My Mother, My Father, and Me (1963; from Burt Blechman’s novel How Much?). She also edited Anton Chekhov’s Selected Letters (1955) and a collection of stories and short novels, The Big Knockover (1966), by Hammett. Her reminiscences, begun in An Unfinished Woman (1969), were continued in Pentimento (1973) and Maybe (1980). After their publication, certain fabrications were brought to light, notably her reporting in Pentimento of a personal relationship with a courageous woman she called Julia. The woman on whose actions Hellman’s story was based denied acquaintance with the author. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today Hellman, a longtime supporter of leftist causes, detailed in Scoundrel Time (1976) her troubles and those of her friends with the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings during the 1950s. Hellman refused to give the committee the names of people who had associations with the Communist Party; she was subsequently blacklisted though not held in contempt of Congress. Her collected plays, many of which continued to be performed at the turn of the 20th century, were published in 1972.

Lillian Hellman of Panorama City, Los Angeles County, California was born on October 1, 1914, and died at age 68 years old in May 1983.

Lillian Hellman of Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas was born on October 22, 1893, and died at age 86 years old in January 1980.

Lillian J Hellman of Jackson, Jackson County, MI was born on September 11, 1923, and died at age 70 years old on August 22, 1994.

Lillian Hellman of Madison, New Haven County, Connecticut was born on March 23, 1918, and died at age 66 years old in December 1984.

Lillian Hellman of Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois was born on January 9, 1900, and died at age 71 years old in September 1971.

Lillian L Hellman of Van Nuys, Los Angeles County, CA was born on July 12, 1920, and died at age 86 years old on October 17, 2006.

Lillian Hellman was born on October 26, 1892, and died at age 84 years old in March 1977. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Lillian Hellman.

Lillian Hellman of Brooklyn, Kings County, NY was born on March 5, 1902, and died at age 71 years old in November 1973.

Lillian Hellman of Bronx, Bronx County, NY was born on May 1, 1906, and died at age 97 years old on October 18, 2003.

Lillian Hellman of New York, New York County, NY was born on January 20, 1897, and died at age 92 years old on July 20, 1989.

Lillian Hellman of Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, FL was born on January 14, 1914, and died at age 84 years old on November 13, 1998.

Lillian Hellman of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, FL was born on March 1, 1907, and died at age 84 years old on December 25, 1991.

Lillian Hellman of Stamford, Fairfield County, CT was born on December 15, 1908, and died at age 90 years old on January 28, 1999.