Sheilah Graham
Sheilah Graham | |
---|---|
Born | Lily Shiel 15 September 1904[1] Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK |
Died | 17 November 1988 Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. | (aged 84)
Pen name | Sheilah Graham |
Occupation |
|
Period | c. 1924[2] – 1985 |
Subject | Celebrities, Popular culture, Hollywood |
Spouses |
|
Partner | F. Scott Fitzgerald (14 July 1937–1940) |
Children | 2, including Robert T. Westbrook |
Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was an English-born, nationally
Graham also was known for her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald, a relationship she played a significant role in immortalizing through the autobiographical Beloved Infidel, a bestseller that was made into a film.
Early life
Graham was born Lily Shiel in
In Recollections of Sheilah Graham, her daughter, Wendy Fairey, wrote: "Entering this institution at age six, my mother had her golden hair shaved to the scalp as a precaution against lice. To the end of her life, she was haunted by the degradation of this experience. Eight years later when she 'graduated,' she had established herself as Norwood's "Head Girl": captain of the cricket team and recipient of many prizes, including both the Hebrew prize and a prize for reciting a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning". Graham, then still known as Lily, had been trained for a career in teaching. When she left the orphanage, her mother was dying of cancer, and Graham returned home to care for her.[1]
Marriage to John Graham Gillam
Upon her mother's death, the 16-year-old took a job in a department store demonstrating a speciality toothbrush and moved into a tiny flat in London's
It was during her time in the British musical theater that Graham began to write professionally, anecdotally receiving two
Early career
In 1933, John Gillam sought his fortune in the U.S., followed by Lily. (She arrived on the Queen Mary in 1937 as Lily Gillam, with her occupation as writer.) Her modest, youthful success as a writer enabled her to land jobs as a staff reporter in New York City, working successively for the
In 1935, John Neville Wheeler, head of the North American Newspaper Alliance, which was becoming the preeminent press service, recruited her to write NANA's syndicated Hollywood column. She describes having "landed in the film capital on two left feet" and needing to temper her brash outspokenness with film industry sensibilities. In her autobiographical book A College of One, she relates the dichotomy between dealing with "notoriously ignorant" filmmakers and the discomfort she felt over her own limited education and background in the company of her colleagues in journalism and screenwriters, mentioning Robert Benchley, Marc Connelly, Dorothy Parker and F. Scott Fitzgerald, to whom she would soon become an intimate, longtime companion.[5]
The Hollywood years and Fitzgerald
Although marked by an inauspicious start, Graham quickly rose to fame through her column, "Hollywood Today," which she wrote daily for over 35 years, interrupted only by serving as a war correspondent during World War II. The column at its peak was carried in 178 papers in 1966, compared to 100 papers for rival Louella Parsons and 68 for Hedda Hopper.[6] Along with these two rivals, Graham came to wield sufficient power to make or break Hollywood careers—prompting her to describe herself as "the last of the unholy trio."[7]
She divorced John Gillam in June 1937 to become engaged to the Marquess of Donegall (Dermot Chichester). A month later, she met F. Scott Fitzgerald, with whom she relates having immediately fallen in love, and the engagement with Chichester was broken soon thereafter.[8] Ruthe Stein quotes her as saying, "I'll only be remembered, if I'm remembered at all, because of Scott Fitzgerald."[citation needed]
They shared a home and were constant companions while Fitzgerald was still married to his wife Zelda, who was institutionalized in an asylum.[8] Nonetheless, Graham protested at being described as his "mistress" in her book The Rest of the Story on the basis that she was "a woman who loved Scott Fitzgerald for better or worse until he died." It was she who found his body in 1940 in the living room of her West Hollywood, California, apartment, where he had died of a heart attack.[8] They had been together only three and a half years, but her daughter reports that Graham "never really got over him."[1] During those three years, Scott outlined an educational "curriculum" for her and guided her through it, which she later wrote about in detail in A College of One.[5] Graham also later wrote of her years spent with Fitzgerald in the 1958 book Beloved Infidel,[8][9] which was later adapted as a movie. Upon Fitzgerald's death, seeking a respite from the social demands and frantic pace of her life, Graham arranged for an assignment as a foreign correspondent in NANA's London bureau.[8] This afforded her the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities as a serious journalist. Her first major story from the UK was an in-depth interview with George Bernard Shaw, and she later filed another with Winston Churchill. Her brief respite from Hollywood lasted until the conclusion of World War II.[8]
In the UK, she met Trevor Cresswell Lawrence Westbrook, whose company manufactured Spitfire fighter planes for the Royal Air Force. After her return to the United States in late 1941, they married. Graham's two children, Wendy and Robert, were born during this marriage, which ended in divorce in 1946. Wendy, in her autobiographical book One of the Family, writes of discovering as an adult that her father was, in fact, British philosopher A. J. Ayer; Ayer reportedly suggested that Robert Westbrook's biological father was probably actor Robert Taylor.[1]
In August 1947, Graham was
Neither her foreign correspondence nor motherhood prevented Graham from achieving her ambitions. She demanded $5,000 per week to resume her column, an amount comparable to that of the stars she was covering. In addition, she was a regular contributor to
Later years and death
In 1957, Graham guest-starred as herself in "Academy Award," an episode of the
In April 1969, Graham changed the name and format of her syndicated column, citing waning public interest in Hollywood gossip. Retitled "Hollywood Everywhere," the scope included celebrities, public figures, and diverse commentary.[14]
In 1971, Graham wrote her last syndicated column and moved to Palm Beach, Florida, where she continued for several years to make celebrity guest appearances on television, wrote on a freelance basis for magazines, and authored nine more books.[7] She co-starred in the 1978 talk show America Alive!, in its "gossip check" segment.[16]
Graham died on 17 November 1988, in Palm Beach, Florida, of congestive heart failure at the age of 84.[7]
Books
- Gentleman-Crook. A Novel. (1933)
- One other early novel, unknown title, published in Britain before 1935.
- Film-Struck (c1941)
- Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman (1958, with Gerold Frank)
- Rest of the Story: The Odyssey of a Modern Woman (1964)
- College of One: The Story of How F. Scott Fitzgerald Educated the Woman He Loved (1967)
- Confessions of a Hollywood Columnist (1969)
- Garden of Allah (Crown, 1969)
- A State of Heat (1972, memoir)
- How to Marry Super Rich: Or, Love, Money and the Morning After (1974)
- For Richer, for Poorer (1975)
- The Real F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thirty-Five Years Later (1976)
- The Late Lily Shiel (1978)
- My Hollywood: A Celebration and a Lament (1984)
- Hollywood Revisited: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration (1985)
Filmography
Film | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
1939 | That's Right – You're Wrong | Sheila Graham – Newspaper Columnist | Uncredited |
1947 | Jiggs and Maggie in Society | Herself | |
1949 | Impact | Herself | |
1950 | The Great Jewel Robber | Television Commentator | Uncredited |
1959 | Girls Town | Sister Grace | |
1960 | College Confidential | Reporter | (final film role) |
Television | |||
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1958 | The Bob Cummings Show | Sheliah Graham | 1 episode |
1959 | General Electric Theater | Aunt Cecilia | 1 episode |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fairey, Wendy. "Recollection of Sheilah Graham". Oral History. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
- ^ Westbrook, Robert. "Robert Westbrook: Biography". Website. Retrieved 20 November 2006.
- ^ "We Remember Sheilah Graham", jwa.org; accessed 23 July 2015.
- ^ Gillam was the first commanding officer of a highly-acclaimed WWI concert party, The Diamond Troupe, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order by King George V during the 1917 Birthday Honours.
- ^ a b Graham, Sheilah. College of One: The Story of How F. Scott Fitzgerald Educated the Woman He Loved, 1967.
- ^ Sheilah Graham Is Dead at 84; Wrote Hollywood Gossip Column
- ^ a b c Krebs, Ablin (19 November 1988). "Sheilah Graham Is Dead at 84; Wrote Hollywood Gossip Column". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Graham, Sheilah. Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman, 1958 (with Gerold Frank).
- ^ "Beautiful Infidel," imdb.com [unreliable source?]
- ^ "Growing up in Disneyland by Ron DeFore: Interview" Teddy Rose Book Reviews (October 8, 2019); retrieved June 2, 2021 note: "Stanislavovich" is misspelled as "Stanislavnovich"
- ^ "Just Goes to Show It’s Dog-Meet-Dog World Out There" Los Angeles Times (November 12, 1997); retrieved June 2, 2021
- ^ "Sheilah Graham Los Angeles Examiner Photographs Collection, 1920-1961 via digitallibrary.usc.edu (February 2, 1956); retrieved June 2, 2021
- ^ "The Alamo Mission" Los Angeles Times (January 6, 2010); retrieved June 2, 2021
- ^ a b Graham, Sheilah. Confessions of a Hollywood Columnist, 1969.[ISBN missing]
- ^ The Classic TV Archive Mr. Adams and Eve (1957-58) Accessed 12 June 2021
- ^ "Shows like 'America, Alive' should be encouraged". Public Opinion. 11 August 1978. p. 52. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
External links
- Sheilah Graham at IMDb