Blanche DuBois

Last updated

Blanche DuBois
Jessica Tandy with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando. cph.3b23243.jpg
Jessica Tandy (left, with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando) created the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and received a Tony Award
First appearance A Streetcar Named Desire
Created by Tennessee Williams
Portrayed by Gillian Anderson
Ann-Margret
Tallulah Bankhead
Cate Blanchett
Blythe Danner
Gretchen Egolf
Renée Fleming
Uta Hagen
Rosemary Harris
Isabelle Huppert
Yvonne Kenny
Maria Kraakman
Jessica Lange
Vivien Leigh
Lois Nettleton
Carrie Nye
Angelica Page
Geraldine Page
Nicole Ari Parker
Maxine Peake
Natasha Richardson
Amy Ryan
Jessica Tandy
Rachel Weisz
In-universe information
GenderFemale
OccupationHigh school English teacher
Family Stella DuBois (sister)
Stanley Kowalski (brother-in-law)
SpouseAllan Grey (deceased)
RelativesJessie (cousin, deceased)

Blanche DuBois (married name Grey) is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Streetcar Named Desire . The character was written for Tallulah Bankhead and made popular to later audiences with Elia Kazan's 1951 film adaptation of Williams' play; A Streetcar Named Desire , starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando.

Contents

Character overview

Blanche DuBois is described as an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty and concerns about how others perceive her looks. She has an obsession with staying out of direct light, and even covers a light bulb with a paper lantern. She is desperate for attention and has a history of sexual promiscuity. She was formerly a teacher, who was fired for having an affair with one of her teenaged students. [1] [2] Williams saw her as being 30 years of age. [3]

Michael Kahn, former head of Julliard's drama program and an acquaintance of Williams, described Blanche as "a moth that is fluttering too near the flame," "searching for safety." [2]

Portrayals

Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire Vivien Leigh in Streetcar Named Desire trailer 2.jpg
Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche DuBois has been portrayed several times on stage and on screen. According to Kahn, "Every Blanche who played it that Tennessee saw, he would tell them that they were his favorite Blanche. Because each actress brought something different to the role than somebody else, and I think he liked that." [2]

Jessica Tandy received a Tony Award for her performance as Blanche in the original Broadway production. Uta Hagen took over the role of Blanche for the national tour, which was directed by Harold Clurman.[ citation needed ]

Blanche was also portrayed by Vivien Leigh in the London stage production, which was directed by her then-husband Laurence Olivier, She reprised the role in the 1951 film adaptation. The film was directed by Elia Kazan, and Leigh won her second Academy Award for this performance.[ citation needed ]

Tallulah Bankhead portrayed the role in 1956. Bankhead, a close friend of Williams, had been the inspiration for the role, and he wanted her to star in it. However, she was initially uninterested and the producer thought she would overpower the character's fragility. When she played the role in 1956, some critics agreed she was too strong in it, but Williams personally felt that she gave a "heroic" portrayal of the role. [4]

Geraldine Page portrayed the role in 1976 at the once celebrated Academy Festival Theatre in Lake Forest, Illinois [5] The production was directed by Jack Gelber who had been enlisted by Page's husband Rip Torn (who played Stanley) to helm the revival. The production was applauded for having the "savvy that gives the performers full stretch." According to one review, "This is not the Blanche of butterfly wings. This is gossamer with guts." [6]

Blanche has also been portrayed onstage by Kim Stanley, Ann-Margret, Arletty, Blythe Danner, Cate Blanchett, Claire Bloom, Faye Dunaway, Lois Nettleton, Jessica Lange (who reprised the role in the 1995 television adaptation), Marin Mazzie, Natasha Richardson, Laila Robins, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Amanda Drew, Nicole Ari Parker, [7] Isabelle Huppert, [8] Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson, [9] Maxine Peake and Angelica Page. [10]

Etymology and inspiration

The character is reputedly named after theatre critic Blanche Marvin, a former actress and friend of Williams. [11] Some critics believe that Blanche DuBois was inspired by Williams' mother. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivien Leigh</span> British actress (1913–1967)

Vivien Leigh, styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963). Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as the 16th-greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema.

<i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i> 1947 play by Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of personal losses, leaves her once-prosperous situation to move into a shabby apartment in New Orleans rented by her younger sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley.

<i>Sweet Bird of Youth</i> 1959 play by Tennessee Williams

Sweet Bird of Youth is a 1959 play by Tennessee Williams that tells the story of a gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. The main reason for his homecoming is to get back what he had in his youth, primarily, his old girlfriend, whose father had run him out of town years before. The play was written for Tallulah Bankhead, a good friend of Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tallulah Bankhead</span> American actress (1902–1968)

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944). She also had a brief but successful career on radio and made appearances on television. In all, Bankhead amassed nearly 300 film, stage, television and radio roles during her career. She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarlett O'Hara</span> Fictional character in Gone with the Wind

Katie Scarlett O'Hara is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the main character in the 1970 musical Scarlett and the 1991 book Scarlett, a sequel to Gone with the Wind that was written by Alexandra Ripley and adapted for a television mini-series in 1994. During early drafts of the original novel, Mitchell referred to her heroine as "Pansy", and did not decide on the name "Scarlett" until just before the novel went to print. PBS has called O'Hara "quite possibly the most famous female character in American history..."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigrid Thornton</span> Australian actress

Sigrid Madeline Thornton is an Australian film and television actress. Her television work includes Prisoner (1979–80), All the Rivers Run (1983), SeaChange (1998–2019) and Wentworth (2016–2018). She also starred in the American Western series Paradise (1988–91). Her film appearances include Snapshot (1979), The Man from Snowy River (1982), Street Hero (1984) and Face to Face (2011). She won the AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for the 2015 miniseries Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Kowalski</span> Fictional character

Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claire Bloom</span> British actress (born 1931)

Patricia Claire Bloom is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and a Tony Award. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

<i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Elia Kazan

A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1951 American Southern Gothic drama film adapted from Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It is directed by Elia Kazan, and stars Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden. The film tells the story of a Mississippi Southern belle, Blanche DuBois, who, after encountering a series of personal losses, seeks refuge with her sister and brother-in-law in a dilapidated New Orleans apartment building. The original Broadway production and cast was converted to film, albeit with several changes and sanitizations related to censorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivien Leigh on stage and screen</span>

British actress Vivien Leigh (1913–1967) was born in Darjeeling, India; her family returned to England when she was six years old. In addition to her British schooling, she was also educated in France, Italy and Germany, and became multilingual. Classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, her film debut was in an uncredited role in the 1935 comedy Things Are Looking Up.

Stella Kowalski is one of the main characters in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. She is the younger sister of central character Blanche DuBois and wife of Stanley Kowalski.

<i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i> (opera) Opera by André Previn

A Streetcar Named Desire is an opera composed by André Previn in 1995 with a libretto by Philip Littell. It is based on the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée Asherson</span> English stage and screen actress (1915–2014)

Dorothy Renée Ascherson, known professionally as Renée Asherson, was an English actress. Much of her theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpool Playhouse, and the Westminster Theatre. Her first stage appearance was on 17 October 1935, aged 20, and her first major film appearance was in The Way Ahead (1944). Her last film appearance was in The Others (2001).

A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play by Tennessee Williams.

Lia Williams is an English actress and director, on stage, in film and television. She has had television roles in The Crown, in May 33rd (2004) for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, and in The Missing (2016), Kiri (2016), His Dark Materials (2019–2022) and The Capture (2019–2021).

<i>St. Martins Lane</i> (film) 1938 British film

Sidewalks of London, also known as St Martin's Lane, London After Dark, and Partners of the Night, is a 1938 British black-and-white comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker or street entertainer who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivien Leigh. The film co-stars Rex Harrison and Tyrone Guthrie in a rare acting appearance. It also features Ronald Shiner as the barman (uncredited). It was produced by Mayflower Pictures Corporation.

<i>The Glass Menagerie</i> (1950 film) 1950 film

The Glass Menagerie is a 1950 American drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Tennessee Williams and Peter Berneis is based on the 1944 Williams play of the same title. It was the first of his plays to be adapted for the screen.

<i>The Scarlett OHara War</i> 1980 television film by John Erman

The Scarlett O'Hara War is a 1980 American made-for-television drama film directed by John Erman. It is based on the 1979 novel Moviola by Garson Kanin. Set in late 1930s Hollywood, it is about the search for the actress to play Scarlett O'Hara in the much anticipated film adaptation of Gone with the Wind (1939). This film premiered as the finale of a three-night TV miniseries on NBC called Moviola: A Hollywood Saga.

Blanche Marvin, also known as Blanche Zohar, is an American-born theatre critic, producer, writer, and former actress and dancer who is based in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. "Dirty Old Women". NYMag.com. May 18, 2006. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Blanche DuBois: Chasing Magic, Fleeing the Dark". NPR. March 15, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  3. "How old is Blanche DuBois?". Tampa Bay Times. September 16, 2011. Archived from the original on April 24, 2014. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  4. Williams, Tennessee (March 4, 1956). "A Tribute From Tennessee Williams To 'Heroic Tallulah Bankhead'". The New York Times . Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  5. "BARAT GROUP EKES OUT A NEW SERIES". July 10, 1992.
  6. Kolin, Philip C. (2000). Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire. Cambridge University Press.
  7. Brantley, Ben (December 3, 2009). "A Fragile Flower Rooted to the Earth". The New York Times. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  8. "Un tramway" (in French). Les Archives du spectacle. February 4, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  9. "What's on: A Streetcar Named Desire". Young Vic Theatre. July 23, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  10. Weinreich, Regina (May 25, 2011). "Tennessee Williams Remembered at the 92nd Street Y". HuffPost.
  11. Clark, Nick (July 27, 2014). "Critic claims 'I was the inspiration for Blanche DuBois'". The Independent . Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  12. Ali, Fizzah (2016). "The creation of Tennessee Williams' Blanche Dubois: a biographical psychotic neurotic". Hektoen International. 8.