Is The Great Lillian Hall Based On A True Story?

Summary Jessica Lange shines in The Great Lillian Hall, receiving praise for her award-worthy performance in this HBO original movie.

The film is inspired by the life of stage actress Marian Seldes, blending real-life events with a compelling fictional narrative.

The Cherry Orchard, a play by Chekhov, plays a significant role in the film, adding depth to the story of Lillian Hall's dementia.

In The Great Lillian Hall, the titular character is a legendary Broadway actress who gets diagnosed with dementia while rehearsing to open a major production. Jessica Lange stars as Lillian Hall, delivering a brilliant performance as a woman whose mood and mental state changes throughout the film. With Lily Rabe and Kathy Bates also featured, the HBO movie is an American Horror Story reunion that was 10 years in the making. Other cast members include Pierce Brosnan, Jesse Williams, Michael Rose, and Cindy Hogan.

The Great Lillian Hall is one of the few successful Jessica Lange movies following her exit from American Horror Story almost a decade ago. With seven reviews, The Great Lillian Hall currently has a critic rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and with fewer than 50 reviews, an audience rating of 93%. These percentages could change over time, but initial reviews are overwhelmingly positive. The reviews rave about Lange’s performance, which has been deemed award-worthy. The Great Lillian Hall is an original HBO movie available for streaming on Max.

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The Great Lillian Hall Is Loosely Based On Marian Seldes

Lillian Hall Is Not A Real Person

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The Great Lillian Hall was directed by Michael Cristofer and features an original screenplay by Elisabeth Seldes Annacone. This was the feature film screenwriting debut for Seldes Annacone. The writer’s aunt was stage and film actress Marian Seldes, a five-time Tony Award nominee and one-time winner for 1967’s A Delicate Balance. Seldes made her Broadway debut in 1947’s Medea and had her final performance in 2008’s La fille du régiment before her 2014 death at 86.

Marian Seldes loosely inspired the character of Lillian Hall, who was the subject of a documentary by R.E. “Rick” Rodgers about her final years that showed her progressing dementia. Theater writer James Grissom called the documentary a “violation” of Seldes and “an invasion, a protracted abuse of a woman who is not defended at any point.” In The Great Lillian Hall, Lillian's director, David (Williams) also makes a documentary about her, focusing on her final play and the dementia that overtook her life and career.

Fortunately, David’s documentary about Lillian doesn’t take on the negative qualities of Rodgers’ about Seldes. While Seldes’ documentary featured interviews from her only daughter, who mocked her mother, Lillian’s daughter, Margaret (Rabe), praised her mother, even though they had a complicated relationship. David’s documentary was meant to highlight Lillian’s brilliance in spite of her diagnosis, not just invade her privacy.

Related Wahl Street & 9 Other Great Documentaries About Hollywood Actors The lives of Hollywood actors get laid out in the press every day but sometimes documentaries tell the stories better.

Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard Was A Real Play That Opened In 1904

The Play Was Seen As A Comedy And A Tragedy

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The play Lillian Hall stars in and spends The Great Lillian Hall preparing for is The Cherry Orchard by famed Russian writer Anton Chekhov. The Cherry Orchard is about an aristocratic Russian landowner, the character Lillian played, who returns to her family estate with a huge cherry orchard before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. She allows the estate to be sold, with the play having themes about class, memory, and letting go.

Chekhov wrote the play, but it was first directed by Konstantin Stanislavksi. Chekhov and Stanislavksi disagreed on the play’s genre, with the writer seeing it as a comedy and the director seeing it as a tragedy. The Cherry Orchard was Chekhov’s final play and was last performed on Broadway in 2016 with Diane Lane. In 1981, it was adapted into a TV movie starring Judi Dench, and in 1999, Charlotte Rampling starred in her own film adaptation. The Cherry Orchard was the perfect choice for The Great Lillian Hall due to its history and message.

Where To Watch The Great Lillian Hall

Sources: Follies Of God By James Grissom, IMDB, Encyclopedia.com