43 Facts About Libby Holman

Elizabeth Lloyd Holman was an American socialite, actress, singer, and activist.

Libby Holman had an older sister Marion and younger brother Alfred Jr.

Later in life, Libby Holman subtracted two years from her age, insisting she was born in 1906, the year she gave the Social Security Administration as the year of her birth.

Libby's sister Marion is named as Marion Holzman in the 1917 Hughes High School yearbook, but her sister Libby is a Holman in the 1919 issue.

Libby Holman graduated from Hughes High School in spring 1920, entering the University of Cincinnati in the fall.

Libby Holman graduated early in 1923 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Libby Holman then moved to New York City to begin working at an acting career, while taking classes at Columbia University as a backup plan.

Libby Holman left her hometown in the fall of 1924 to pursue acting in New York City.

Libby Holman first lived at an all-women's dormitory at a YWCA and took classes at Columbia University.

Libby Holman was in a touring company of the 1926 Greenwich Village Follies, and another run Fall 1926 to January 1927.

Merry-Go-Round marked the first time Libby Holman was noticed and praised by critics in the press.

Friends noticed Libby Holman beginning to drink and party heavily at this point in her life.

Libby Holman was catapulted into stardom with her lead role in The Little Show.

Libby Holman plays a mulatta prostitute who the audience sees hiding her earnings in her stockings.

Libby Holman introduced the Dietz-Schwartz standard "Something to Remember You By" in Three's a Crowd.

Libby Holman sang a rendition of Body and Soul that would be recorded as one of the biggest 1930s radio hits.

Libby Holman was typecast in her early career as a white woman who played mixed-race characters.

Libby Holman was offered a part in Rang Tang in 1927 under the assumption she would pass as black.

Libby Holman's skin had extraordinary texture and while her hair often looked messy, it had a beautiful sheen.

Mabel showed us the garden and Libby Holman said, 'I hate flowers.

Libby Holman was a large girl with a fuzzy head of hair.

Libby Holman had slits for eyes and a bee-stung mouth and a somewhat unreliable singing voice.

Libby Holman went around in a ratty old beret and an overcoat made from the pelts of one fox and several rabbits with rabies.

Libby Holman put it in an envelope and left the room.

Libby Holman had a variety of relationships with both men and women during her lifetime.

Biographer Milt Machlin speculates that Libby Holman engaged with the drug scene due to influence from friends like Tallulah Bankhead and lover Jeanne Eagels, who were prolific users.

Libby Holman met actress Jeanne Eagels during The Little Show's run through mutual friend Clifton Webb.

Libby Holman was devastated after Eagels' sudden death in October 1929, likely from an overdose of chloral hydrate, and went through a period of depression afterwards.

Libby Holman asked his friend Dwight Deere Wiman, the producer of the show, to introduce him to her.

Libby Holman pursued her around the world in his plane and became known as "Smitty, the traveling bear" in Holman's friend group, referencing his pet-like devotion to following her around the world.

Libby Holman said she was unable to remember much of the night or the following day; the numerous testimonies given by Walker in the inquest contradicted each other.

Libby Holman left for Cincinnati to seek the help of her father, who was a lawyer.

On January 10,1933, Libby Holman gave birth to Christopher Smith "Topper" Reynolds.

For, if Libby Holman was the richest woman in the world, and celebrated and honored with special friendships, the specter of violence tracked her from the start.

That Libby Holman was unable to remember what happened is repeated by biographer Jon Bradshaw's work.

In March 1939, Libby Holman married Ralph Holmes, a film and stage actor.

Libby Holman waited till the day they were due to open, after the owners had spent a vast amount on publicity, and told them she was not going to sing in their club until they changed their racial door policy.

Libby Holman had given him permission to go mountain climbing with a friend on Mount Whitney, the highest peak in California, but was unaware that the boys were ill-prepared for the adventure.

Libby Holman was involved in the civil rights movement and became a close friend and associate of Martin Luther King Jr.

On June 18,1971, Libby Holman was found nearly dead in the front seat of her Rolls-Royce.

Libby Holman was taken to the hospital where she died hours later.

Libby Holman's death was ruled a suicide due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Libby Holman was cremated and her ashes were scattered at Treetops.