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Lillian Hellman

リリアン・フローレンス・ヘルマン

Ririan Heruman

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1905-06-20 （New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.）
Died
1984-06-30 （Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, U.S.） age 79
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Jewish (background)
Residence History
New Orleans (birthplace) → New York City → Hollywood / Los Angeles → Bonn (studies) → Martha's Vineyard (later life)

Career

Occupations
playwright, writer, screenwriter, memoirist
Active Years
1925-1984
Affiliations
League of American Writers, Screen Writers Guild, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow), American Academy of Arts and Letters (Member)
Memberships
League of American Writers, Screen Writers Guild, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Letters

Education

New York University
Period: 1920年代（在籍数年）
Country: United States
Attended for two years; later took courses at Columbia University
Columbia University
Period: 1920年代（聴講）
Country: United States
No formal degree recorded; took several courses
Bonn (studies)
Period: 1929（短期滞在）
Country: Germany
Short period of study/experience while traveling in Europe

Awards

New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
1941
Work: Watch on the Rhine (play)
Organization: New York Drama Critics' Circle
Result: winner
National Book Award (Arts and Letters)
1970
Work: An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir
Category: Arts and Letters
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: winner
Edward MacDowell Medal
1976
Organization: MacDowell
Result: winner
Paul Robeson Award
1976
Organization: Actors' Equity Association
Result: winner
Academy Award nomination (screenplay)
1942
Work: The Little Foxes (film screenplay)
Organization: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Result: nominee
Academy Award nomination (screenplay)
1944
Work: The North Star (film screenplay)
Organization: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Result: nominee
Brandeis Creative Arts Medal
1961
Organization: Brandeis University
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Children's Hour

1934 play

A drama set in a school where a girl's false accusation triggers a tragic sequence of events.

honorlies and coercionsocial prejudice
Adaptations
  • [film] These Three (1936)
  • [film] The Children's Hour (1961 film) (1961)

The Little Foxes

1939 play

A drama set among a Southern family that explores power, greed, and moral corruption.

power strugglesfamily and desiremoral decline
Adaptations
  • [film] The Little Foxes (1941 film) / William Wyler (1941)

Watch on the Rhine

1941 play

A play advocating anti-fascism that explores political tensions and personal conflicts on the eve of World War II.

anti-fascismpolitics and the individualmoral choice
Adaptations
  • [film] Watch on the Rhine (film) (1943)

The Autumn Garden

1951 play

A play that examines human frailty through personal failures and recollections.

memorydisappointmentrelationships

Toys in the Attic

1960 play

A family drama set in New Orleans that deals with money, infidelity, and revenge.

familyeconomics and desirerevenge
Adaptations
  • [film] Toys in the Attic (1963 film) (1963)

Pentimento: A Book of Portraits

1973 memoir

A collection of memoirs recounting Hellman's acquaintances and experiences; the 'Julia' chapter inspired the film adaptation.

memoryfriends and literary circlepolitics and personal history
Adaptations
  • [film (based on chapter)] Julia (1977 film) (1977)

Bibliography

  • The Children's Hour (1934)
  • Days to Come (1936)
  • The Little Foxes (1939)
  • Watch on the Rhine (1941)
  • The Searching Wind (1944)
  • Another Part of the Forest (1946)
  • The Autumn Garden (1951)
  • The Lark (1955)
  • Toys in the Attic (1960)
  • An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir (1969)
  • Pentimento: A Book of Portraits (1973)
  • Scoundrel Time (1976)
  • Maybe: A Story (1980)
  • Eating Together: Recipes and Recollections (1984)

Adaptations

  • The Little Foxes (1941 film)
  • These Three (1936 film)
  • Watch on the Rhine (1943 film)
  • The Searching Wind (1946 film)
  • The Chase (1966 film)
  • Toys in the Attic (1963 film)
  • Julia (1977 film)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
realist, dialogue-driven dramapolitical and moral interrogation in tone
Recurring Motifs
power and corruptionmoral conflictmemory and truth

Health

  • heart attack (cause of death)
    1984
    Died of a heart attack in 1984

Legacy

Hellman is celebrated for her successful plays and screenplays of the 1930s–1950s, but her political activism and the factual disputes over her memoirs generated lasting controversy. Many works were adapted and her name endures in the Hellman/Hammett grants supporting writers.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters

Archives

  • Lillian Hellman Papers at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin

In Popular Culture

  • Peter Feibleman's play 'Cakewalk'
  • TV film 'Dash and Lilly' (1999)
  • Nora Ephron's play 'Imaginary Friends' (inspired by Hellman–McCarthy feud)

Quotes

  • I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions.
    Source: Letter to HUAC and testimony (1952) (1952)

Trivia

  • Had a long romantic relationship with writer Dashiell Hammett.
  • Was blacklisted by parts of the film industry during the anti-communist campaigns of the 1940s–1950s.
  • Sued Mary McCarthy and Dick Cavett for defamation after a 1979 TV remark; the suit was unresolved at her death and later withdrawn by her executors.