Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman went to college in New York, 1922-1924, and remained there for her first job, with a publishing house. Lillian Hellman married press agent Arthur Kober in 1925, when she was not yet twenty.

Traveling to Nazi Germany in 1929, Lillian Hellman learned of fascism and anti-Semitism, themes in her later work. Lillian Hellman and her husband moved to Hollywood in 1930, and she began working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her marriage began to sour; they divorced in 1932.

She began a long on-again, off-again relationship with novelist Dashiell Hammett; his detective characters Nick and Nora Charles are believed to be based on Hammett and Hellman.

Lillian Hellman's play, The Children's Hour, was produced in 1933. It is a story of two female boarding school teachers accused by a student of a lesbian relationship, a controversial theme that led to the play's banning in not only Boston, but also Chicago and London. It also brought Lillian Hellman to the public's attention, brought her financial success, and led Sam Goldwyn to hire her as a screenwriter.

Her first film, Dark Angels, was released in 1935. That was followed by a movie version of The Children's Hour, which omitted the lesbian theme and substituted a (heterosexual) love triangle instead.

In 1939, the best-known play of Lillian Hellman premiered: The Little Foxes, about a Southern family's struggle for power and money, with members of the family turning against each other. Her 1941 production, Watch on the Rhine, raises the specter of Nazi Germany and fascism.

Her politics were influenced by trips to Nazi Germany and to Spain, and sided with the underdog against greed and power. Lillian Hellman was associated with the left in politics in America. She traveled to Russia in 1944 as a guest of the Soviet government, even visiting the front lines. Hammett was known for his connections to the left, too. After the war, they continued these associations.

The relationship of Hammett and Hellman was often strained, especially after the war, because of the heavy drinking habits of Hammett and, to a somewhat less extent, Hellman herself. She worked in the campaign of Henry Wallace in 1948.

Hellman came to the attention of the House Un-American Activities Committee, before which she was required to testify in 1952. Her letter, distributed before her testimony, is known for its statement that she would testify only about her own activities, and not those of others. She denied current and recent affiliation with the Communist Party.

The relationship of Hammett and Hellman was often strained, especially after the war, because of the heavy drinking habits of Hammett and, to a somewhat less extent, Hellman herself.

Lillian Hellman continued her work in the theater and also adapted plays for the Hollywood screen. In An Unfinished Woman (1969), Pentimento (1973), and Scoundrel Time (1976), Lillian published her memoirs in unconventional style. She was criticized for loosely representing facts in the memoirs, fictionalizing incidents in her life and, according to some critics, even making up characters.

The controversy was keen, in particular, around her stories of an American woman working in the anti-Nazi resistance in Europe, whom she called Julia and whose story was the focus of the 1977 film, Julia. Details of the Julia story, and of Hellman's trip for Julia into Germany to deliver money for the resistance, have been demonstrated to be inconsistent with known facts, and some doubt Julia ever existed.

In 1980, when author Mary McCarthy appeared on the Dick Cavett talk show, and called Hellman overrated and dishonest, Hellman filed a "mental pain and anguish" lawsuit. The case was unresolved at Hellman's death.

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