Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
American actress who was a star of the London stage at the age of 21.
On the island
Eight records
On the Sunny Side of the Street
reason_from_quote: Whenever I come into a nightclub, a restaurant, wherever he's playing, he always stops whatever he's playing and starts the song for me.
verbatim_reason: I think it it's one of the most divine records.
verbatim_reason: What was so touching about this record … is because he was a rather old man and he's not a great singer. But the feeling and the knowledge of him singing it, it was one of the tops of all time.
verbatim_reason: It's about a lynching really, which is pretty frightening. But I think it's most moving.
verbatim_reason: I think anything that Ella Fitzgerald does is okay with me.
Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
verbatim_reason: I had the honor of knowing her. … She got one thousand curtain calls. … She had the greatest voice of that type in the world.
Perry Como and the male voices of the Robert Shaw Chorale
verbatim_reason: I love it dearly. I heard it for years. … It ended up always Perry Como singing with the choir the Lord's Prayer. I think it's very beautiful.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:11Could you endure loneliness for a long time?
Well, uh, if I could have so many more records and so many more books … Food and drink from time to time, you know. I think I could. No, I don't think I could 'cause I love bridge and poker. No poker games.
Presenter asks
4:53What's the origin, Tallulah, of your unusual and very beautiful Christian name?
Well, thank you. My great-grandfather went from Greenville, South Carolina to Alabama to look over this property he'd acquired. And he passed through Georgia where Tallulah Falls is, which is 80 feet taller than Niagara Falls. And he wrote back to my great-grandmother and said, if [they] have first child as a girl, I want [her] called [Tallulah] after these beautiful falls. And my Aunt Maureen … told me that [Tallulah] meant Love Maidens … then I went to a luncheon at the Women's Club in Atlanta … [a man] said, we all know that tallula means terrible … And she [the goddess] was the goddess of vengeance … Then I met these two divine people from [Israel] and they told me that Tallulah means rock of precipice … So there you go. You can take your choice.
Presenter asks
6:35What inspired you to become an actress?
Well, inspired is hardly the word, because I'm so lazy. I should have never gone on the stage, but I can't make a living any other way.
The keepsakes
The book
W. Macneile Dixon
Well, I would take a book which was given me by the most Wonderful man, great actor, great author, got two surprises. Great director of his own plays, I have had the honour of being in one called Reflected Glory. It's called the human situation. By W. McNeill Dixon. And I don't know quite how to describe it, except that one can pick it up and put it down, pick it up again in a month, a week, or two weeks, or read it over again. and I'd have it in front of me here. A Book of Philosophy And theosophy in a way.
The luxury
And the first uh real possession I ever had. was a painting of me by the greatest portrait painter, I think, in the world, Augustus John, painted me. And uh I would take that, not because it was of me, I was just a model, it was his great art. And I remember a great friend of mine and a very fine producer, he he said to Lula, I always knew you had a soul, but it took Augustus John to let the world know it, you know.
Presenter asks
10:42Did you enjoy [Hollywood]?
No. I cannot stand semi-tropical weather. I cannot stand it.
Presenter asks
14:48Have you any one big ambition professionally, any part you want to play?
No, no … Just to retire.
Presenter asks
16:54How good a Robinson Crusoe would you be? Could you look after yourself on a desert island?
I couldn't. I can't even put a key in a door, darling. I can't do a thing for myself.
Presenter asks
17:04If you found yourself in possession of some kind of craft, a raft was washed up, would you try to escape, or would you sit it out on the island?
Oh, I'd sit anything out and escape … Well, I can float sitting up practically, but I had a swimming pool, like an Olympic pool, but I don't think I ever got to the end of it. I'm too lazy to try and swim.
“I'm so lazy. I should have never gone on the stage, but I can't make a living any other way.”
“I cannot stand semi-tropical weather. I cannot stand it.”
“I don't like crowds, but I love them in the theater, you know. No, I'm lazy, darling. You know, I don't like doing anything. I'm the type that I never stand up if I can sit down, I never sit down if I can lie down, you know.”
“I can't even put a key in a door, darling. I can't do a thing for myself.”
“[My gardener said,] I don't have any favorites. If I had a favorite, the others wouldn't come up for me, you see? So I don't want to miss any of these.”
“I always knew you had a soul, but it took Augustus John to let the world know it, you know.”