Celebrity sexuality: Judith Anderson, Mrs Danvers, sexuality and 'truthfulness ' in biography

Desley Deacon

doi:10.1080/1031461X.2011.649859

Celebrity sexuality: Judith Anderson, Mrs Danvers, sexuality and 'truthfulness ' in biography

Desley Deacon^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Australian-born actress Judith Anderson's portrayal of the housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Hitchcock's 1940 film Rebecca has made her the poster girl for scholarly analyses of lesbian sexuality on film; and the plethora of books in the last few years about gays in Hollywood-scholarly and sensational-assume that Anderson was a lesbian. Yet evidence about her sexuality is highly ambiguous. This article uses Anderson's case to examine the biographer's problem in dealing accurately and meaningfully with their subject's sexuality, especially that of celebrities.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	45-60
Number of pages	16
Journal	Australian Historical Studies
Volume	43
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2011.649859
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2012

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Celebrity sexuality: Judith Anderson, Mrs Danvers, sexuality and 'truthfulness ' in biography

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