Hellman, Lillian

Hellman, Lillian, 1905–84, American dramatist, b. New Orleans. Her plays, although often melodramatic, are marked by intelligence and craftsmanship. The Children's Hour (1934), her first drama, concerns the devastating effects of a child's malicious charge of lesbianism against two of her teachers. The Little Foxes (1939) and Another Part of the Forest (1946) constitute a chilling study of a wealthy and rapacious Southern family. Several of Hellman's dramas—notably Watch on the Rhine (1941) and The Searching Wind (1944)—treat international political themes such as isolationism and the rise of fascism. In 1952 she was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee because she had attended Communist party meetings in the late 1930s. She made several English adaptations of French plays and, with Richard Wilbur , wrote a libretto for a musical version of Voltaire's Candide (1955). Her other plays include Days to Come (1936), The Autumn Garden (1951), and Toys in the Attic (1960). In 1931 she met the writer Dashiell Hammett , who remained her constant companion until his death in 1961.

See her autobiographical works, An Unfinished Woman (1969), Pentimento (1973), and Scoundrel Time (1976) biographies by W. Wright (1986), C. Rollyson (1988), and A. Kessler-Harris (2012) P. Feibleman, Lilly: Reminiscences of Lillian Hellman (1988) J. Mellen, Hellman and Hammett (1996).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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