I'm not good at writing to people I love

Tallulah Bankhead was born into an important political Alabama family, the Brockham Bankheads. Her grandfather and her uncle were both U.S. Senators and her father William B. Bankhead was a member of Congress and served as Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1936 and 1940. Growing up, Tallulah and her elder sister Eugenia mostly lived with their grandparents —their mother died three weeks after Tallulah's birth— and they also spent a fair amount of time with their aunt Marie (who later became Head of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, succeeding her husband Thomas Owen upon his death in 1920). 

Although William Bankhead was an often-absent father, he was adored by both his daughters, especially Tallulah. She thought the world of him, valued his opinions and worried about hurting his political career whenever she got herself into trouble. In 1932, for instance, Tallulah caused quite a storm when in an interview with Motion Picture Magazine she had ranted about how much she wanted a man. She was very concerned about what the controversy would do to her father and vowed never to speak to the press again (read more in this post). 

Her father was someone Tallulah could turn to in her hour of need. In November 1936 she wrote him the following letter, seeking his assistance in an income tax matter. While asking for his help, she urged her father not to do anything that would jeopardise his career ("...if in my ignorance I am suggesting that you do anything that is unethical please forgive me, and if that is the case just forget this letter..."). 

The letter was written at a time when Tallulah was being considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939). Tallulah told her father that hopefully in a few weeks time she would have some good news regarding the film. As we all know, however, the news she had hoped for never came.

To this Congressman Bankhead responded (in part): 

I am, of course, glad that you wrote to me about this matter and it will be no embarrassment whatever to me to undertake to be of every possible assistance…. It does seem to me that it is a very large claim for excess taxes for one year…. We have been most anxious to hear something definite about whether you would be engaged to play the part of Scarlett O’Hara in "Gone with the Wind." We have daily inquiries from everywhere from your friends, many of whom seem to think that the matter has already been settled, but I have told them that it had not….

Source: RR Auction

Above: Tallulah and her sister Eugenia (left photo) and the sisters photographed with their grandfather Alabama Senator John Hollis Bankhead in 1917 (r.) Below: 1937, Tallulah with her father William B. Bankhead and her stepmother Florence McGuire Bankhead, whom her father married in 1914.