Partner Gladys Calthrop, Margaret Webster, Marion Evensen

Queer Places:
Frillinghurst Old Manor, Chiddingfold, Haslemere GU27 2EN, Regno Unito
5 Bedford Gardens, Kensington, London W8 7ED, Regno Unito
The Southdown Hotel, Howard Square, Eastbourne BN21 4BQ, Regno Unito
16 Clifton Hill, London NW8, Regno Unito
Fourteenth Street Theater or Civic Repertory Theatre, 107 W 14th St, New York, NY 10011, Stati Uniti
The Algonquin Hotel Times Square, 59 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036, Stati Uniti
LeGallienne Bird Sanctuary, 40 Hillside Rd, Weston, CT 06883, Stati Uniti

Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author. In her 1960 autobiography, Here Lies the Heart, Mercedes De Acosta claimed to have been intimate with Isadora Duncan, Marlene Dietrich, Alice B. Toklas, Marie Laurencin, Eva Le Gallienne, Malvina Hoffman and Greta Garbo. Le Gallienne has been romantically linked also to Josephine Hutchinson, Tallulah Bankhead, Alla Nazimova, Beatrice Lillie, Alice DeLamar, Laurette Taylor, Maude Adams. Le Gallienne never hid her lesbianism inside the acting community, but reportedly was never comfortable with her sexuality, struggling privately with it. She reportedly briefly considered arranging for a "front" marriage with actor Basil Rathbone.[5]Alice DeLamar, the retiring American heiress who came to Paris as an ambulance driver during the First War, bequeathed Eyre de Lanux and Eva Le Gallienne enough money to keep them through extreme old age.

A broadway star by age 21, Le Gallienne consciously ended her work on Broadway to devote herself to founding the Civic Repertory Theater, in which she was both director, producer, and lead actress. Noted for her boldness and idealism, she became a pioneering figure in the American Repertory Movement, which enabled today's Off-Broadway. A versatile and eloquent actress herself (playing everything from Peter Pan to Hamlet), Le Gallienne also became a respected stage coach, director, producer and manager. Ms. Le Gallienne consciously devoted herself to the Art of the Theatre as opposed to the Show Business of Broadway and dedicated herself to upgrading the quality of the stage. She ran the Civic Repertory Theatre Company for 10 years (1926–1936), producing 37 plays during that time. She managed Broadway's 1100-seat Civic Repertory Theatre at 107 West 14th Street from 1926–32, which was home to her company whose actors included herself, Burgess Meredith, John Garfield, J. Edward Bromberg, Paul Leyssac, Florida Friebus, David Manners, and Leona Roberts.

Le Gallienne was born in London to Richard Le Gallienne, an English poet of French descent, intimate friend of Oscar Wilde, and Julie Norregarda, a Danish journalist.[1] After Eva's parents separated when she was four years old, she and her mother moved to Paris, where she spent her childhood shuttling back and forth between there and Britain. In Paris they lived alongside free-spirited expatriate women such as Edith Wharton, Isadora Duncan, and Gertrude Stein in the area that was later labeled "the left Bank of Lesbos." While in Paris, she was taken backstage to meet Sarah Bernhardt, which, she said "made an enormous impression on me". She made her stage debut at the age of 15 with a walk-on role in a 1914 production of Maurice Maeterlinck's Monna Vanna, then spent several months in a drama school. She left to perform in a minor comedy as a cockney servant, and "brought down the house", receiving excellent reviews.[2]


by Arnold Genthe

The next year, at the age of 16, Le Gallienne and her mother sailed for New York City, where her first few productions were not successful, and she was released from another while it was performing in out of town tryouts.[2] She then spent a season performing on the road and in summer stock. In 1918, while performing in a company with Ethel Barrymore, she formed her first important lesbian relationship with Alla Nazimova and moved into an apartment at the famous Algonquin Hotel. Talullah Bankhead, Estelle Winwood, Eva LaGallienne, and Blythe Daly were dubbed the four horsemen of the Algonquin, referring to the Algonquin Round Table.[5] The affair ended reportedly due to Nazimova's jealousy. Nonetheless, Nazimova liked Le Gallienne very much, and assisted in her being introduced to many influential people of the day. It was Nazimova who coined the phrase "sewing circles", to describe the intricate and secret lesbian relationships lived by many actresses of the day. Le Gallienne also was involved for some time with actresses Tallulah Bankhead, Beatrice Lillie and Laurette Taylor during that time.[5]

After travelling in Europe for a period of time, she returned to New York and became a Broadway star in several plays including Arthur Richman's Not So Long Ago (1920) and Ferenc Molnár's Liliom (1921) for the Theatre Guild.[2]

In 1920, she became involved with poet, novelist and playwright Mercedes de Acosta about whom she was passionate for several years.[6] She and de Acosta began their romance shortly after de Acosta's marriage to Abram Poole which strained their relationship. Still, they vacationed and travelled together often, at times visiting the salon of famed writer and socialite Natalie Barney.[5] De Acosta wrote two plays for Le Gallienne during that time, Sandro Botticelli and Jehanne de Arc. Neither was successful. They ended their relationship after five years.[7] In 1960, when de Acosta was seriously ill with a brain tumour and in need of money, she published her memoir Here Lies the Heart. The reviews were positive and many close friends praised the book.[8] Le Gallienne was furious, denouncing de Acosta as a liar and claiming she invented the stories for fame. But many of de Acosta's affairs, including that with Le Gallienne, are confirmed in personal correspondence.[9]

In 1925 Eva la Galliene and Mercedes de Acosta went in Paris to stage Jehanne D'Arc. On the ship back to America, Eva la Galliene fell in love with Gladys Calthrop. Calthrop stayed in New York after travelling there for the Broadway production of The Vortex, becoming Artistic Director for Eva la Galliene's Civic Repertory Theatre. Rejected by the Actors' Theatre when Eva asked it to produce Ibsen's The Master Builder with herself in the role of Hilda Wangel, she mounted a production herself with Gladys Calthrop, her lover, as designer.

Le Gallienne consciously devoted herself to the "art of the theatre" as opposed to the "show business of Broadway", and was a pioneer in the emerging American Repertory Theater. She ran the Civic Repertory Theatre Company for 10 years (1926–1936), backed by the financial support of one of her lovers, Alice DeLamar, a wealthy Colorado gold mine heiress, producing 37 plays during that time. She managed Broadway's 1100-seat Civic Repertory Theatre (more popularly known as The 14th Street Theatre) at 107 West 14th Street from 1926–32, which was home to her company whose actors included herself, J. Edward Bromberg, Paul Leyssac, Florida Friebus, and Leona Roberts. As head of the Civic Repertory Theatre, she rejected the admission of Bette Davis, whose attitude she described as "insincere" and "frivolous". The Civic Rep disbanded at the height of the Depression in 1934, having mounted 34 productions.[3][4] Le Gallienne was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986.

By early 1927, Le Gallienne was involved with married actress Josephine Hutchinson. Hutchinson's husband started divorce proceedings and named Le Gallienne in the divorce proceedings as "co-respondent". The press began accusations that named Josephine Hutchinson as a "shadow actress", which at the time meant lesbian. Five months later, Le Gallienne performed in a play about Emily Dickinson, titled Alison's House. The play won a Pulitzer Prize.[5]

Le Gallienne and Hutchinson performed together in several plays at the Civic Repertory Theatre, including in Dear Jane (1932), a play by Eleanor Holmes Hinkley based on the life of Jane Austen. Hutchinson was cast as Jane, and Le Gallienne both directed and played her sister, Cassandra Austen. At the play's end, Hutchinson's Jane refuses three male suitors in order to run off to an unmarried future living with her sister, Le Gallienne's Cassandra. [10]

For a time after the Hutchinson scandal, Le Gallienne drank heavily. According to biographer Robert Schanke, the actress's anxiety over being lesbian haunted her terribly during this time. One cold winter's night, drunk, she wandered over to a female neighbour's house. During the conversation that followed, she told her neighbour "If you have any thoughts about being a lesbian, don't do it. Your life will be nothing but tragedy."[5]

Another biographer, Helen Sheehy, has rejected Schanke's portrait of the actress as a self-hating lesbian. Sheehy quotes Le Gallienne's words of advice to her close friend May Sarton, who was also a lesbian: "People hate what they don't understand and try to destroy it. Only try to keep yourself clear and don't allow that destructive force to spoil something that to you is simple, natural, and beautiful." Similarly, Le Gallienne told a friend, Eloise Armen, that love between women was "the most beautiful thing in the world." She starred as Peter Pan in a revival that opened on November 6, 1928, and presented the lead character full of elfin and boyish charm. The flying effects were superbly designed, and for the first time Peter flew out over the heads of the audience. The critics loved "LeG", as she became known, and more than a few favoured her performance over that of Maude Adams, who had originated the role. The Civic Repertory Theatre presented Peter Pan 129 times.

In late 1929, just after the stock market crash, Le Gallienne was on the cover of TIME. During the Great Depression that followed, she was offered directorship of the National Theatre Division of the Works Progress Administration by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She declined on the grounds that she preferred working with "true talent" rather than nurturing jobs for struggling actors and actresses. She was instrumental in the early career of Uta Hagen, whom she cast as Ophelia opposite her own portrayal of Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet.[5]

In 1937 Le Gallienne became involved in a relationship with theatre director Margaret Webster. She, Webster, and producer Cheryl Crawford co-founded The American Repertory Theater – no relation to the institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts later founded by Robert Brustein – which operated from 1946 to 1948.[11] In the following years, she lived with her companion Marion Evensen. In the late 1950s she enjoyed great success playing the role of Queen Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart, an off-Broadway production.[2]

In 1964, Le Gallienne was presented with a special Tony Award in recognition of her 50th year as an actress and in honour of her work with the National Repertory Theatre.[12] The National Endowment for the Arts also recognised her with the National Medal of Arts in 1986.[13][14][15]

In 1982, Le Gallienne returned to the stage to play the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland at the Virginia Theatre, directed by Le Gallienne and co-directed by John Strasberg.[16] This production was produced by Sabra Jones and was intended to initiate The Mirror Theater Ltd and the Mirror Repertory Company.

Although known primarily for her theatre work, she has also appeared in films and television productions. She earned an Oscar nomination for her work in Resurrection, for which she gained the honour of being the oldest Oscar nominee up to that time (1980) until Gloria Stuart in 1997; and won an Emmy Award for a televised version of The Royal Family after having starred in a Broadway revival of that play in 1976. She made a rare guest appearance in a 1984 episode of St. Elsewhere which starred her former apprentice Norman Lloyd, appearing with Brenda Vaccaro and Blythe Danner as three women sharing a hospital room.

On June 3, 1991, Le Gallienne died at her home in Weston, Connecticut from natural causes, aged 92, and her ashes were scattered over her property in Weston, Connecticut.[17]

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