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The Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame was founded in 1998 for the purpose of honoring Alabamians who have made significant contributions to film, television or theatre. The organization is sponsored jointly by Theatre Tuscaloosa and Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The Alabama Stage and Screen Hall of Fame inducted its first class of honorees In April 1999, including the late actress Tallulah Bankhead, actress and author Fannie Flagg and philanthropists Mr. and Mrs. Winton M. Blount, who contributed over $21 million for a new home for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
2000 honorees included the late actress Lois Wilson, who appeared in more than 130 films from 1917 to 1965, as well as numerous Broadway and television appearances; Polly Holliday, perhaps best known for her role as "Flo" on the television show Alice, who has a long and distinguished career in movies and on stage; director John Badham, whose movie Saturday Night Fever defined the disco era; and actress / singer Nell Carter, who won a Tony Award for her performance in Ain't Misbehavin' .
The list of inductees includes: (for 2006) actor Jim Nabors; (for 2004) actress / comedian Brett Butler and actor Johnny Mack Brown; (for 2003) director / producer Tom Cherones and singer / actor Nat King Cole; (for 2002) actor George "Goober" Lindsey, actor Dean Jones, composer / lyricist Hugh Martin; (for 2001) author Truman Capote, singer / actress Rebecca Luker and the film To Kill a Mockingbird ; (for 2000) actress Lois Wilson, singer / actress Nell Carter, actress Polly Holliday and film director John Badham; (for 1999) actress Tallulah Bankhead, actress / comedian / author Fannie Flagg and philanthropists and patrons of the arts Mr. and Mrs. Winton M. Blount.
Each year, a new group of inductees are honored at the annual gala, featuring a cast of dancers and singers from the roster of Theatre Tuscaloosa, accompanied by the Steve Sample Orchestra, with arrangements by Steve Sample, Sr. and Ray Reach.
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman, considered a classic of 20th century drama. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 of the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in 1900, it focuses on the struggle for control of a family business. Tallulah Bankhead starred in the original production as Regina Hubbard Giddens.
Jasper is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 14,352 as of the 2010 census. Named in honor of Sergeant William Jasper, an American Revolutionary War hero, Jasper was settled around 1815 and incorporated on August 18, 1886.
Dinah Washington was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of "Queen of the Blues". She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Nell Carter was an American singer and actress.
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.
Fania Borach, known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedian, illustrated song model, singer, and theater and film actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. She is known as the creator and star of the top-rated radio comedy series The Baby Snooks Show.
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival (ASF) is among the ten largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. The festival is permanently housed in the Carolyn Blount Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama.
Polly Dean Holliday is an American actress who has appeared on stage, television and in film. She is best known for her portrayal of sassy waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the 1970s sitcom Alice, which she reprised in its short-lived spin-off, Flo. Her character's catchphrase of "Kiss my grits!" remains the most memorable line associated with the series Alice.
Fannie Flagg is an American actress, comedienne, and author. She is best known as a semi-regular panelist on the 1973–1982 versions of the game show Match Game and for the 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was adapted into the 1991 motion picture Fried Green Tomatoes. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay adaptation. Flagg lives in California and Alabama.
Shelton State Community College is a public community college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Operated by the Alabama State Department of Postsecondary Education, Shelton is one of the largest two-year colleges in the state. Approximately 4,500 students are enrolled in some form of coursework, including around 3,000 full-time students. The college is currently in good standing with its regional accrediting body SACSCOC.
Mary Badham is an American actress who portrayed Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. At the time, Badham was the youngest actress ever nominated in this category.
The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City, New York, was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new Theater Hall of Fame would be located in the Uris Theatre. James M. Nederlander and Gerard Oestreicher, who leased the theater, donated the space for the Hall of Fame; Arnold Weissberger was another founder. Blackwell noted that the names of the first honorees would "be embossed in bronze-gold lettering on the theater's entrance walls flanking its grand staircase and escalator." The first group of inductees was announced in October 1972.
Julia Eliza Bruns was an American stage and silent film actress and model. Bruns came to prominence for her work as a model. Her image was illustrated by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917. She appeared on numerous magazine covers and Sunday feature pages.
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.
John Baragrey was an American film, television, and stage actor who appeared in virtually every dramatic television series of the 1950s and early 1960s.
The Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors the achievements of women associated with the U.S. state of Alabama. Established in 1970, the first women were inducted the following year. The museum is located in Bean Hall, a former Carnegie Library, on the campus of Judson College in Marion, Alabama. It became a state agency in 1975 by an act of the Alabama Legislature. The organization is governed by an eleven-member board. They are elected to three-year terms with a minimum of one board member from the fields of art, business, community service, education, law, medicine, politics, religion, and science. In addition to the board, the President of Judson College and Governor of Alabama both serve as voting members.
Marie Bankhead Owen was Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History for over three decades, as well as a documentarian of Alabama history who authored numerous books on the subject. Owen served as an advisor for the Federal Writers' Project history of the state. In 1939, Owen helped select the Alabama state motto. She was actively opposed to a Federal mandate giving women the right to vote, and believed in the supremacy of the white race. Owen was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1975. Her niece was actress Tallulah Bankhead.
The William Brockman Bankhead Colonial Revival style house in Jasper, Walker County, Alabama, was built in 1925. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 30, 2022.