Laurette Taylor, American Stage Legend

How did Laurette Taylor (1884–1946) become America’s most celebrated actress? What training and experience led to her first stage success, Peg o’ My Heart, in 1912? How did her failed 1920s silent film career influence her stage technique? What was so remarkable about her portrayal of Amanda Wingfield in the original 1945 Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie that many actors and critics have proclaimed her performance as the greatest they have ever seen, before or since? How did alcoholism affect her career? And why has it been so difficult to tell her story on stage and screen?
This biography offers fascinating new insights into the life and craft of Laurette Taylor. Included is a very short play written by the actress, entitled The Dying Wife.

Lynn Kear is an award-winning biographer, playwright, and novelist. She lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Lynn Kear
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 286
Bibliographic Info: 46 photos, appendices, notes, filmography, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-5922-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-6193-6
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi

Preface      1

1. La Belle Laurette      5

2. Charles Taylor      9

3. J. Hartley Manners      20

4. Peg o’ My Heart      42

5. After Peg      77

6. Laurette in Hollywood      112

7. After Hollywood      154

8. The Longest Wake      170

9. Outward Bound      184

10. The Glass Menagerie            196

11. Afterlife      216

Appendix I: Filmography      229

Appendix II: Selected Stage Appearances      231

Appendix III: The Dying Wife by Laurette Taylor      240

Chapter Notes      243

Bibliography      265

Index      269