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She's an American writer and famous playwright. She was actually considered one of "America's major dramatists" due to her controversial political and socialistic opinions. -
Hellman was born into a Jewish family in New Orleans. Her Father was Max Hellman, a liquor salesman and her mother was Julia Newhouse, who was part of a wealthy family in banking. Ultimately, the wealth on her mother's side of the family influenced the make up of stories and characters in her future works.She was surrounded by a lot of closeminded and greedy people growing up which introduced her to different the perspectives of others; However, she did have her one friend, her nurse Sophronia.
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Although born in New Orleans, Lilian also visited New York City often. It was like her second home because her dad would often go on business trip back and forth between the two. She'd go to public schools in New Orleans but also attended boarding school run by her aunts in New York. Ultimately, she was surrounded by alot of diversity and had to learn to adjust very quickly.
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She first attended New York University , taking relatively general courses.
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She later then attended Columbia University but earned no degree.
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Leaving school, she found a job at a publishing house, where she got a glimpse of the writer and artist lifestyle. She then met her Arthur Kober, a playwright aurthor and with him moved to Hollywood.
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After leaving college, she was hired as a book reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune, a small publishing house in the mid-1920s and met/married a playwright, Arthur Kobler, in 1925. However, they divorced around 7 years later in 1932.
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During the early 1930's, while still being married to Arthur, Lilian met Dashiell who also had a wife. These two had kept this affair a secret until they had both split up with each other's significant other. They never officially gotten married since Dashiell never actually filled for divorce but the two stood by each other till Hammett's death in 1961 due to his battle with lung cancer. They lasted almost thirty years with no kids of their own, but had interactions with Dashiell's kids.
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Her first ever play which had given her recognition. This play emphasized the abuse of power and its effects through the true story of sexual allegations made about a student and teacher which resulted in someone taking their own life. This play had tried the morals of untalked about topics and put her work out into controversy. -
Is about a unstable family along with the struggle of organizational unions. -
Ranks as one of the most powerful in American dramas. Set in the South, it depicts a family full of greed and hate. The idea of this play had come from her own personal life which involved capitalists’ motives. -
"Watch on the Rhine" was about an underground hero and spoke against Nazis. Additionally, these two were particularly her anti-fascists works, which increased her political activism. She addresses Americas failures in noticing Hitler's and Mussolini’s motives in early years.
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Won this award for "Watch on the Rhine" being the best play of the year!
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A second part of ‘The Little Foxes” with the same family. -
A play about obsessive love portrayed in New Orleans. -
Won another award for "Toys in the Attic" being the best play of the year!
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This era was when Hellman stepped away from plays and started writing her own biographies, talking about her career, personal relationships, and political activities. These political activities were the same opinions in which had her blacklisted in the 1950's for being apart of the communist party with her late husband Dashiell. However, these books go into great detail and don't intensively spotlight her fame in playwriting.
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Won this award for for An Unfinished Woman!
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She also received the National Book Award nomination in 1974 for Pentimento: A Book of Portraits.
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Lilian Hellman had suffered from a weak heart for many years. She had trouble doing things and had excessive energy loss, making it difficult for her to spend time doing things with others. This same heart condition caused her to go into cardiac arrest and she died June 30th 1984 in her home in Martha's Vineyard at age 79.