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Eva Le GallienneActress
Date of Birth: 11.01.1899
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Eva Le Gallienne
Early Life and CareerEva Le Gallienne was born in 1899 in London, England, to poet Richard Le Gallienne and Danish journalist Julie Norregard. After her parents' divorce when she was three years old, Eva spent her childhood constantly moving between Paris and London. At the age of 15, she made her stage debut in Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Monna Vanna". The following year, Le Gallienne moved to New York and later briefly lived in Arizona and California, where she performed in various plays and productions. After a tour of Europe in the late 1910s, she returned to New York as a popular actress, starring in numerous Broadway plays, including Arthur Richman's "Not So Long Ago" and Ferenc Molnár's "Liliom".
Founding the Civic Repertory Theatre
Disillusioned with the commercial theater industry, Eva, with the support of a Colorado gold mine owner who was her lover at the time (Eva was a lesbian), founded her own theater in New York called the Civic Repertory Theatre. Unfortunately, the theater was disbanded in 1935 during the Great Depression. Despite being open about her sexual orientation, Le Gallienne rarely spoke publicly about it. While she was often seen in the company of actresses Tallulah Bankhead, Estelle Winwood, and Blyth Daly, there was no concrete information about their relationships beyond rumors.
Relationships and Later Career
In 1918, Le Gallienne met Ukrainian-born Hollywood actress Alla Nazimova. They began appearing together at various parties, and Nazimova helped Le Gallienne establish connections in the film industry. However, their relationship ended quickly due to Nazimova's jealousy towards other young actresses. Throughout the 1920s, Le Gallienne had a relationship with writer Mercedes de Acosta, who was married at the time. Despite this, de Acosta wrote two plays for Le Gallienne, "Sandro Botticelli" and "Jehanne de Arc".
In 1927, Le Gallienne's relationship with Josephine Hutchinson, an actress, became widely publicized and shed light on her personal life. Hutchinson's husband filed for divorce upon learning of his wife's affair with Eva, blaming her for the breakdown of their marriage. This conflict made headlines in newspapers. However, it did not faze Le Gallienne, and a few months later, she staged the play "Alison's House", which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. The following months were tumultuous for Le Gallienne, as she drank heavily and frequently engaged in conflicts. During this time, she visited a neighbor and somberly advised, "If you have thoughts of lesbianism, banish them. Your life will be nothing but an endless tragedy." Around the same time, she also proclaimed that "love between two women is the most beautiful thing in the world".
In 1929, shortly after the stock market crash, Le Gallienne was offered a leadership position at the National Theater Division. Despite being nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself, she declined, stating that she preferred to work with truly talented people.
Over the next few decades, Le Gallienne continued to act in films and also wrote the screenplay for the play "Alice in Wonderland". In 1964, she received a Tony Award for her lifetime contributions to theater and film. In 1976, she won an Emmy Award for the adaptation of the play "The Royal Family". In 1980, Le Gallienne was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in "Resurrection". On June 3, 1991, Eva Le Gallienne passed away at her home in Connecticut due to natural causes. In 1986, just before her death, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts for her immense contributions to the arts in the United States.
