The Final Curtain

At Truman Capote's Masked Ball (1966)

Tallulah had now reached a point in her career where she was becoming a caricature of herself. Her fans expected outrageous behavior from her and she seldom displeased them. She had successfully performed in every entertainment medium and had achieved memorable performances in each. She now had the money and fame that she so wanted in her early life, but the years of heavy smoking and drinking had taken a toll on her body. Furthermore, stories of her volatile behavior and work ethics were rapidly reducing job offers.

In 1956, Tallulah sold Windows and moved into a four-story townhouse at 230 E. 62nd Street in New York City. By now, Edie Smith, Dola Cavendish, Patsy Kelly and others who had long served her, left to fulfill other obligations. Tallulah now preferred the company of young gay men to look after her. In addition to general goffer duties, they were required to read scripts and offer their opinions about them, supervise cooks and chauffeurs in Tallulah's employ, act as escorts on rare nights out on the town, and hold her hand when she went to sleep. Ted Hook, just one in a long series of "caddies", would work for Tallulah for over five years.

During the long intervals between her professional duties, Tallulah became a homebody. She remained a night owl and didn't arise until 4pm. She would then settle down to watch her favorite soap operas, which she had been addicted to since they first appeared on the tv horizon. During this time, Tallulah refused all visitors and telephone calls. Anyone who dared visit her while she was watching a soap opera would be instructed to sit in silence until her shows ended.

She ate very little, but consumed gin and bourbon constantly and was never without a cigarette. During the evening hours, Tallulah would receive guests and would expect them to stay until it was time for her to go to bed early the next morning. Usually the evenings with guests were spent playing bridge. Tallulah adored bridge and played the game seriously. Whether or not one could play bridge was always a question she would ask a job applicant. If you couldn't play, chances were good that you would not be hired as her cook, chauffeur, housekeeper, bookkeeper or whatever.

After complaining of having difficulty breathing, Tallulah learned from her doctors that she had emphysema. She tried unsuccessfully to quit smoking and continued to look for her next big hit, hoping for a great comeback. In 1964, while visiting her friend Dola Cavendish in Canada, she received the script for a film called Fanatic. Dola urged her to take it.

Made in England, Fanatic was yet another in a series of campy horror films that featured famous aging actresses in the lead roles. Tallulah conserved her energy and curtailed her bad habits to appear as professional as possible. She was mortified during her initial arrival at the hotel when she fell after catching her heel on a rubber mat. A photographer documented the act and the photo ran in newspapers and magazines around the world.

Tallulah was paid $50,000 for Fanatic, which was re-titled Die, Die, My Darling for the United States market. Tallulah hated the title and protested, but she couldn't do anything about it. Although critics praised her performance, the film quickly disappeared from theaters.

Tallulah retreated to her New York apartment. She did make another rare public appearance in 1966 when she attended Truman Capote's famous Black and White Ball. Tallulah prepared for the event weeks in advance. She was unable to dance at the party, so she just sat back and received a long line of former friends and admirers. She even spoke to Lillian Hellmann and forgave her for the Little Foxes incident twenty-five years earlier. Tallulah invited several friends back to her apartment that night including Jesse Levy, a forty-five-year-old playboy who would become Tallulah's next and last "caddy".

In early 1967, television producer Bill Dozier asked Tallulah to appear on his program, Batman. She would be paid $20,000 to appear in a two-part episode portraying the villainous "Black Widow". When Dozier explained to Tallulah that the part would be need to be campy, she retorted, "Don't talk to me about camp, dahling, I invented it!" Tallulah appeared to be having terrific fun in the episode, effectively hiding the fact that she was suffering from physical ailments.

Tallulah would appear on the Smothers Brothers Show, the Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show during the coming months. The Tonight Show appearance on May 14, 1968, in which she chatted with Paul McCartney and John Lennon about baseball and music, would be her last tv appearance.

She spent the summer of 1968 with her sister at Eugenia's home in Rock Hall, Maryland. Eugenia was still healthy, but Tallulah was frail and weighed less than 100 pounds. Over the years, the two sisters had not gotten along that well, and Eugenia still irritated Tallulah most of the time. Tallulah stayed in a tiny cottage on Eugenia's property and resumed her daily habits, watching soap operas in the afternoon and playing bridge at night. Tallulah confessed to Eugenia that she didn't care about anything anymore and prayed every night that she wouldn't wake up in the morning.

Tallulah returned to her New York apartment and, in December, she contracted the Asian flu. She didn't respond to antibiotics and was placed in the hospital. After developing pneumonia and falling into a coma, she was placed in intensive care where she died on December 12, 1968. Her last discernible words were "codeine, bourbon".

Tallulah was buried in St. Paul's Churchyard in Rock Hall, Maryland in a simple casket lined in her favorite color, baby boy blue. (see Tallulah's grave here)

Tallulah's Last Will and Testament revealed that she was not as poor as she often claimed. She left an estate valued at almost 2 million dollars. Half of the estate went to her long-time friend, Eugenia Rawls and her husband, Donald Seawell. Tallulah also also left generous portions to Jesse Levy, Estelle Winwood and Edie Smith. Tallulah's sister, Eugenia, who had long fallen out of favor, was left $5,000 and a monthly allowance of $250.