Stage actress, born in London, UK, the daughter of Richard Le Gallienne. Making her stage debut in London at 15, she moved to the USA the next year and thereafter spent most of her professional career in America, both as a versatile actress in serious plays and as a director and producer. She founded the Civic Repertory Theater in New York City (192632), and later the American Repertory Theater Company. In addition to translations and stage adaptations, she published her memoirs and a study of Eleonora Duse.
Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a well-known actress, producer, and director, during the first half of the 20th century.
Early life and early career
Eva Le Gallienne was born in London to English poet, Richard Le Gallienne, and Danish feminist journalist, Julie Norregard.
Fame and relationships
The next year Eva sailed for New York, and then on to Arizona and California where she performed in several theater productions. After traveling in Europe for a period of time, she returned to New York and became a Broadway star in several plays including Arthur Richman's Not So Long Ago (1920) and Ferenc Molnár's Liliom (1921).
Disillusioned by the state of commercial theatre in the 1920s, Eva founded the "Civic Repertory Theatre" in New York, with the financial support of one of her lovers, Alice DeLamar, a wealthy Colorado gold mine heiress, whose support was instrumental in the success of the repertory theatre movement in the U.S. In 1928 she gave the performance of her life in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, in which she proved a charming talent.
Eva never hid her homosexuality inside the acting community, but reportedly was never comfortable with her sexuality, struggling privately with it. Later, around 1920, she became involved with writer Mercedes de Acosta.
She and de Acosta began their 5 year affair shortly after de Acosta's marriage to Abram Poole, also a homosexual. De Acosta wrote two plays for Eva during that time, Sandro Botticelli and Jehanne de Arc.
By early 1927, Eva was involved with married actress Josephine Hutchinson. Hutchinson's husband started divorce proceedings and named Le Gallienne in the divorce proceedings as his wife's "correspondent". The press began accusations that named Josephine Hutchinson as a "shadow actress", which at the time meant lesbian. Five months later, Le Gallienne performed in the daring play about Emily Dickinson, entitled Alisons House.
For a time after the Hutchinson scandal, Le Gallienne drank heavily. According to biographer Richard Schanke, Le Gallienne's anxiety over being lesbian haunted her terribly during this time.
Another biographer, Helen Sheehy, has rejected Shanke's portrait of the actress as a self-hating lesbian. Sheehy quotes Le Gallienne's words of advice to her close friend May Sarton, who was also a lesbian: "People hate what they don't understand and try to destroy it. Similarly, Le Gallienne told her heterosexual friend, Eloise Armen, that love between women was "the most beautiful thing in the world."
Eva Le Gallienne starred as Peter Pan in a revival that opened on November 6th, 1928, and presented the lead character full of elan and boyish charm.
In late 1929, just after the great stock market crash, Eva was on the cover of TIME.
In the late 1930s Le Gallienne became involved in a relationship with theater director Margaret Webster.
In the following years she lived with her companion Marion Evensen. In 1960, writer Mercedes de Acosta released her controversial book, Here Lies the Heart, documenting and releasing to the public the details of her numerous affairs with many of Hollywood's leading actresses and female personalities. Eva Le Gallienne, in particular, was furious, and discarded anything reminding her of de Acosta.
Later life
In 1964 Le Gallienne was presented with a special Tony Award in recognition of her 50th year as an actress and in honor of her work with the National Repertory Theatre.
Although known primarily for her theatre work, she has also appeared in films and television productions.
She made a rare guest appearance in a 1984 episode of St. Elsewhere, appearing with Brenda Vaccaro and Blythe Danner as three women sharing a hospital room.
Eva was a naturalized United States citizen.
She died at her home in Connecticut of natural causes at the age of 92.
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