Welcome to another Wildcard Wednesday! Today’s post will feature rare audio and video clips of Tallulah Bankhead. Like Merm, Tallulah is one of my favorites. Though we covered Lifeboat (1944) in the very first Film Friday post, and highlighted her episode as one of the best Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours, this will (surprisingly) be my first entry DEDICATED to this one-of-a-kind diva. Once again, we’ll have to make up for lost time!

Tallulah will be featured in an upcoming Pre-Code series of posts on Film Friday, so we’ll leave her movies for then. Instead, here’s a 1953 interview she gave to Edward R. Murrow on Person To Person.

Here’s an extended monologue Ms. Bankhead performed on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1959. Very funny!

Here’s a clip from her appearance on a 1959 episode of Milton Berle’s Kraft Music Hall. They really work well together.

And here’s a video of Tallulah singing! This is from Hollywood in early 1932. That’s Sam Coslow at the piano.

Now for some audios! Here Ms. Bankhead plays Margo Channing (the role she insisted was based on her) in a 1952 Theatre Guild on the Air production of All About Eve. 

This one is incredibly fascinating. Here’s a 1947 excerpt from Guest Star with Tallulah and Donald Cook playing a scene from the delightful Noel Coward comedy, Private Lives, in which they were currently starring.

And I saved the best for last. Here are two excerpts of Ms. Bankhead playing her greatest role: Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes. These were released on a 1951 ANTA album. She plays off of Kent Smith, Eugenia Rawls, Howard Smith, and Paul Byron.

Come back next week for a whole new Wildcard Wednesday post! And remember to tune in tomorrow for more Xena episodes in our exciting countdown!