Eugenia Rawls

Eugenia Rawls and Tallulah Bankhead in "The Little Foxes"

Eugenia Rawls was born in Macon, Georgia on September 11, 1913. She described how, at the age of four and resenting the arrival of a sibling, she stood on a chair to reach the telephone and asked the operator to connect her with her grandmother in the nearby town of Dublin. She told her grandmother she would prefer to live with her, and Eugenia's family complied. Grandmother Rawls and her two unmarried daughters encouraged the child to perform at declamation contests and tableaux vivants, and supported her quest to become an actress. After attending the University of North Carolina as a Carolina Playmaker, she moved to New York and made her Broadway debut in 1934 as Peggy Rogers in Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour."

Her most famous role came in 1939 as Tallulah Bankhead's daughter, Alexandra, in "The Little Foxes". She replaced the original actress on Broadway, and performed with Ms. Bankhead in the show when it toured across America.

Ms. Rawls appeared in many New York based television shows in the 1950s and 60s, and had a recurring role on "As The World Turns."

She created several one-woman shows, which she played in regional theatres, Great Britain, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Her "Tallulah, A Memory" was a dramatization of her friend's outrageous life. Ms. Rawls also wrote and performed in "Women of The West" and "Affectionally Yours, Fanny Kemble"

She was married to Donald Seawell, a theatrical producer and Tallulah Bankhead's attorney. They had two children.

Eugenia Rawls died on November 8, 2000 in Denver Colorado at the age of eighty-seven.

Career

STAGE DEBUT

Clare Tree Major's Children's Theatre, New York City, 1933.

BROADWAY DEBUT

Peggy, "The Children's Hour", Maxine Elliott's Theatre, 1934-35, for eight-hundred-twenty-two performances.

STAGE APPEARANCES

Tomassa, "To Quito and Back", Guild Theatre, New York City, 1937.

Dene Horey, "Journeyman", Fulton Theatre, New York City, 1938.

"Susannah and the Elders" and "The Inner Light", both Westport Country Playhouse, CT, 1938.

Celia, "As You Like It", Titania, "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and Bianca, "The Taming of the Shrew", all New York World's Fair Theatre, New York City, 1939.

Alexandra, "The Little Foxes", National Theatre, New York City, 1939.

Ellean, "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray", 1940.

Alexandra, "The Little Foxes", Newport Playhouse, RI, 1941.

Ingenue, "Curtain Going Up", Westport Country Playhouse, CT, 1941.

Title role," Harriet", University of Syracuse Theatre, NY, 1942.

Evelyn Heath, "Guest in the House", Plymouth Theatre, New York City, 1942.

Connie, "Cry Havoc", Studebaker Theatre, Chicago, 1943.

Mrs. de Winter, "Rebecca", Ogunquit Playhouse, ME, 1944.

Hester Falk, "The Man Who Had All the Luck", Forrest Theatre, New York City, 1944.

Harriet Harris, "Strange Fruit", Royale Theatre, New York City, 1945.

Ann Downs, "The Shrike", Cort Theatre, New York City, 1952.

Sophie Czerney, "The Great Sebastians", American National Theatre Academy (ANTA) Theatre, New York City, 1956.

Catherine, "All the Way Home", Playhouse in the Park, Philadelphia, 1961.

Standby for role of Nina Kracow, "First Love", Morosco Theatre, New York City, 1961.

Emily Bindix, "A Case of Libel", Longacre Theatre, New York City, 1963.

Amanda, "The Glass Menagerie", Playhouse in the Park, Cincinnati, OH, 1965.

"Our Town", Repertory Theatre of New Orleans, 1967.

Mrs. Beavis, "The Poker Session", Martinique Theatre, New York City, 1967.

Title role, Affectionately "Yours, Fanny Kemble", Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, 1972, and later at the Bath Festival, U.K., 1972, School for Social Research Theatre, London, 1974.

Title role, "Tallulah", a Memory, American Embassy Theatre, Dublin, Ireland, 1972.

Amanda Mangebois, "The Enchanted", Kennedy Center, Washington, DC, 1973.

"Women of the West", Kennedy Center, Washington, DC.

TOURS

Jane Bennett, "Pride and Prejudice", U.S. cities, 1934.

Alexandra, "The Little Foxes", U.S. cities, 1940-41.

Evelyn Heath, "Guest in the House", U.S. cities, 1942.

Mrs. de Winter, "Rebecca", U.S. cities, 1944.

Title roles, "Affectionately Yours", "Fanny Kemble" and "Tallulah, A Memory" in U.S. cities including Washington, DC, Chapel Hill, NC, 1974.

"Women of the West", U.S. and European cities as well as on board the Queen Elizabeth II ocean liner.

TELEVISION APPEARANCES

Mrs. Elvsted, "Hedda Gabler," The U.S. Steel Hour, CBS,1954.

Margaret, "Road to Reality", ABC, 1960-61.

Elaine Harris, "Love of Life", CBS, 1966-67.

Grace Burton, "As the World Turns", CBS, 1972-73.

Armstrong Circle Theatre, NBC.

Dupont Show of the Month, NBC.

"The Great Sebastians", NBC, 1957.

The Doctors, NBC, 1963.

Nurses, CBS, 1963.

"The Magnificent Yankee," Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC, 1965.

"A Punt, a Pass, and a Prayer," Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC, 1968.

The Joe Franklin Show.

Julianne Moore's former nanny, "As The World Turns" 1985. Her character was murdered by the evil James Stenbeck, but returned in dream sequences.

RADIO

"Look Homeward Angel," Voice of America.

"Arrowsmith."

Also recorded ninety-six talking books for the sightless.

BOOKS

"Tallulah, a Memory", University of Alabama Press, 1979.

"A Moment Ago", Denver Center for the Performing Arts Press, 1984.