The first full-length biography of stage actress Eva Le Gallienne
traces her life from her birth into the troubled but fascinating
household of Richard Le Gallienne, British writer and intimate
member of the Oscar Wilde circle, to her recent death. This
comprehensive biography of the actress Rex Reed called ""a national
treasure"" draws upon Robert A. Schanke's interviews and
correspondence not only with Le Gallienne but also with more than
one hundred of her colleagues and friends, including Glenda
Jackson, Burgess Meredith, Eli Wallach, Peter Falk, Ellen Burstyn,
Anne Jackson, Farley Granger, Jane Alexander, Uta Hagen, and
Rosemary Harris. Forty-two illustrations offer highlights of Le
Gallienne's many notable performances in such plays as Hedda
Gabler, Liliom, The Cherry Orchard, Peter Pan, Camille, Mary
Stuart, The Royal Family, and The Dream Watcher. Behind her public
role as famous actress and as the founding and maintaining force of
the first civic repertory theatre in the United States, Eva Le
Gallienne led a private life troubled by her personal struggle with
lesbianism. For more than fifty years she lived in shadows. Like
many lesbians of her generation, she viewed herself as a man
trapped in a female body. Because she was unwilling to compromise
and hide her true self in a convenient marriage or to camouflage
her relationships in order to boost her career, her sexuality
became a nemesis that defined her great need for privacy. Le
Gallienne complained that her lesbianism ruined her career. And as
Robert Schanke points out, it also influenced her selection of
scripts, management practices, and style of acting, ultimately
affecting her work's critical reception. By presenting for the
first time this complete account of the life of one of the
theatre's great talents, Schanke provides his audience with a
fascinating story that also serves as a barometer of the changing
values, tastes, and attitudes of American society.
General
Imprint: |
Southern Illinois University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
December 1992 |
First published: |
December 1992 |
Authors: |
Robert A. Schanke
|
Dimensions: |
248 x 165 x 26mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
344 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8093-1820-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Arts & Architecture >
Performing arts >
Theatre, drama >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8093-1820-2 |
Barcode: |
9780809318209 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!