Sheilah Graham Westbrook
| Sheilah Graham | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Lily Shiel 15 September 1904 Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK |
| Died | 17 November 1988 (aged 84) Palm Beach, Florida, US |
| Pen name | Sheilah Graham |
| Occupation | Gossip columnist, author, actress |
| Period | c. 1924 – 1985 |
| Subject | Celebrities, Popular culture, Hollywood |
| Spouses | John Graham Gillam (1925 – June 1937) Trevor Westbrook (1941–1946) Stanley Wojtkiewicz (1953–1956) |
| Partner |
F. Scott Fitzgerald (14 July 1937–1940) |
| Children | Wendy Westbrook Fairey Robert T. Westbrook |
Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a British-born, nationally syndicated American gossip columnist during Hollywood's "Golden Age". Along with Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper, Graham came to wield sufficient power to make or break Hollywood careers—prompting her to describe herself as "the last of the unholy trio."
Graham also was known for her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald, a relationship she played a significant role in immortalizing through the autobiographical Beloved Infidel, a bestseller that was made into a film. In her youth, she had been a showgirl and a freelance writer for Fleet Street in London and had published several short stories and two novels. These early experiences would converge in her career in Hollywood, which spanned nearly four decades, as a successful columnist and author.
Graham was born Lily Shiel in Leeds, England, the youngest of Rebecca (Blashman) and Louis Shiel's eight children (two died). Her parents were Ukrainian Jews. Her father, a tailor who had fled the pogroms, died of tuberculosis on a trip to Berlin while she was still an infant. Her mother and the children moved to a basement flat in a Stepney Green slum in the East End of London. Her mother, who spoke little English, struggled to provide for her children there by cleaning public lavatories. In 1914, her mother was forced by these circumstances to place her in the Jews Hospital and Orphanage.
In Recollections of Sheilah Graham, her daughter, Wendy Fairey, wrote: "Entering this institution at age six, my mother had her golden hair shaved to the scalp as a precaution against lice. To the end of her life, she was haunted by the degradation of this experience. Eight years later when she 'graduated,' she had established herself as Norwood's "Head Girl": captain of the cricket team and recipient of many prizes, including both the Hebrew prize and a prize for reciting a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning". Graham, then still known as Lily, had been trained for a career in teaching. When she left the orphanage, her mother was dying of cancer, and Graham returned home to care for her.
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