“I like people who refuse to speak until they are ready to speak.”

—Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman was an American writer and dramatist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1907.  She would be 105.

She wrote for both stage and screen. In 1934 her drama, The Children’s Hour, hit Broadway. It ran for 691 performances. The Little Foxes premiered in 1939, the film version won an Academy Award. Her Watch on the Rhine followed in 1941  (it was later adapted by Dashiell Hammett for the screen in 1943). Hellman was nominated for an another Academy Award for her screen play for The North Star. Another Part of the Forest premiered on stage in 1946, the story line followed the same characters from The Little Foxes, only this time they were 20 years younger. She penned an English translation of L’Alouette Jean Anouilh’s play about Joan of Arc, called  The Lark in 1955. Toys in the Attic won a Tony Award in 1960.

Hellman published three memoirs. Her first, An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir,  won the national Book Award in 1969.

Hellman was a member of the Screen Writers Guild and one of the groups major supporters. She was also active in politics, and was especially interested in the Spanish Civil War. She wrote several anti-fascist plays and was a casual member of the Communist Party. She was blacklisted in 1947.

I found a lot of Hellman quotes to choose from for today’s thought. Here are a few others I really liked:

“Since when do we have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?”
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashion.”
“It is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minute.”

Hellman, on jacket of her autobiography An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir (Photo credit: Wikipedia)