Sheilah Graham facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sheilah Graham
Graham in Impact (1949)
Born	Lily Shiel (1904-09-15)15 September 1904 Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK
Died	17 November 1988(1988-11-17) (aged 84) Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Pen name	Sheilah Graham
Occupation	Gossip columnist author actress
Period	c. 1924 – 1985
Subject	Celebrities, Popular culture, Hollywood
Spouses	John Graham Gillam (1925–1937) Trevor Westbrook (1941–1946) Wojciechowicz Wojtkiewicz (1953–1956)
Partner	F. Scott Fitzgerald (14 July 1937–1940)
Children	2, including Robert T. Westbrook

Sheilah Graham (born Lily Shiel; 15 September 1904 – 17 November 1988) was a famous British-born American gossip columnist. She wrote about Hollywood stars during the "Golden Age" of movies. Before becoming a well-known columnist, she was a showgirl and a writer in London. Her career in Hollywood lasted almost 40 years, where she became a very successful writer and author.

F. Scott Fitzgerald
– sketch by Gordon Bryant
for Shadowland magazine

Sheilah Graham was also known for her relationship with the famous writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She wrote a best-selling book about their time together called Beloved Infidel, which was later made into a movie. This book helped to tell their story to many people.

Sheilah Graham's Early Life

Sheilah Graham was born Lily Shiel in Leeds, England, on September 15, 1904. She was the youngest of eight children. Her parents were Jewish and came from Ukraine. Her father, a tailor, passed away from tuberculosis when she was a baby. He was on a trip to Berlin at the time.

After her father died, her mother and the children moved to a small basement apartment in a poor area of London called Stepney Green. Her mother, who didn't speak much English, worked hard cleaning public restrooms to support her family. Because of their difficult situation, her mother had to send Lily to the Jews Hospital and Orphanage.

Life at the Orphanage

Lily entered the orphanage when she was six years old. Her daughter, Wendy Fairey, later wrote about this time. Lily's golden hair was shaved to prevent lice, which made her feel very sad and embarrassed.

Despite this, Lily did very well at the orphanage. Eight years later, she was the "Head Girl" of the institution. She was the captain of the cricket team and won many awards. These awards included one for Hebrew language and another for reciting a poem. Lily was trained to become a teacher. When she left the orphanage, her mother was very ill with cancer, and Lily went home to care for her.

Marriage and New Beginnings

After her mother passed away, 16-year-old Lily got a job demonstrating toothbrushes in a department store. She moved into a small apartment in London's West End. In 1925, when she was 20, she married Major John Graham Gillam. He was a decorated officer from World War I and an author.

Major Gillam helped Lily improve her speaking and manners. She also enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Around this time, she changed her name to Sheilah Graham. She also became a music hall dancer, performing in popular shows.

While working in the theater, Sheilah started writing professionally. She wrote an article called "The Stage Door Johnnies, by a Chorus Girl" for a newspaper. This article was about the men who waited for performers after shows. Sheilah found some success as a freelance writer and published two novels, but they did not sell well.

Becoming a Hollywood Columnist

In 1933, John Gillam moved to the U.S., and Sheilah followed him in 1934. Her early success as a writer helped her get jobs as a reporter in New York City. She worked for newspapers like the New York Mirror and the New York Journal American. She divorced John in June 1937.

In 1935, John Neville Wheeler, who ran a major news service called the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA), hired Sheilah. He wanted her to write a syndicated Hollywood column. A "syndicated column" means the same article is published in many different newspapers. Sheilah said she felt a bit clumsy at first in Hollywood. She had to learn how to write about the film industry carefully. She also felt a bit insecure about her own education compared to other writers.

Hollywood Fame and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sheilah Graham's column, "Hollywood Today," quickly became very popular. She wrote it every day for over 35 years, except when she was a war correspondent during World War II. At its most popular, her column appeared in 178 newspapers. This was more than her rivals, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. Sheilah, along with these two, became very powerful. They could help or hurt the careers of Hollywood stars. Sheilah called them "the last of the unholy trio."

In July 1937, Sheilah met F. Scott Fitzgerald and fell in love. She had been engaged to someone else, but she broke off that engagement soon after meeting Fitzgerald. Sheilah often said that if people remembered her at all, it would be because of Scott Fitzgerald.

They lived together and were always companions. Fitzgerald was still married to his wife, Zelda, who was in a special care facility. Sheilah did not like being called his "mistress." She wrote that she was "a woman who loved Scott Fitzgerald for better or worse until he died." Sheilah was the one who found Fitzgerald's body when he passed away from a heart attack in 1940. They had only been together for three and a half years, but her daughter said Sheilah never truly got over him.

During their time together, Fitzgerald created a special learning plan for Sheilah. He taught her many things, and she later wrote about this in her book A College of One. She also wrote about their relationship in Beloved Infidel, which was made into a movie.

After Fitzgerald's death, Sheilah needed a break. She became a foreign correspondent for NANA in London. This allowed her to show her skills as a serious journalist. She interviewed famous people like George Bernard Shaw and Winston Churchill. She stayed in London until the end of World War II.

In the UK, she met Trevor Cresswell Lawrence Westbrook. His company made Spitfire fighter planes for the Royal Air Force. They married after she returned to the United States in late 1941. Sheilah had two children, Wendy and Robert, during this marriage. They divorced in 1946.

In 1947, Sheilah became a United States citizen. In 1953, she married her third husband, Wojciechowicz Stanislavovich Wojtkiewicz. Sheilah continued to be very successful. She demanded a high salary for her column, similar to what big stars earned. She also wrote for Photoplay magazine and had her own radio show. In 1951, her radio show moved to television, where she interviewed celebrities. This was an early version of today's talk shows.

Later Years and Passing

In 1957, Sheilah Graham appeared as herself in an episode of a TV show called Mr. Adams and Eve.

In 1969, Sheilah changed her column's name and style. She felt that people were less interested in Hollywood gossip. Her new column, "Hollywood Everywhere," covered celebrities, public figures, and different topics.

Sheilah wrote her last syndicated column in 1971. She then moved to Palm Beach, Florida. There, she continued to appear on television, wrote for magazines, and published nine more books. She passed away on November 17, 1988, in Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 84. She died from heart failure.

Books by Sheilah Graham

• Gentleman-Crook. A Novel. (1933)
• Film-Struck (c1941)
• Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman (1958, with Gerold Frank)
• Rest of the Story: The Odyssey of a Modern Woman (1964)
• College of One: The Story of How F. Scott Fitzgerald Educated the Woman He Loved (1967)
• Confessions of a Hollywood Columnist (1969)
• Garden of Allah (Crown, 1969)
• A State of Heat (1972, memoir)
• How to Marry Super Rich: Or, Love, Money and the Morning After (1974)
• For Richer, for Poorer (1975)
• The Real F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thirty-Five Years Later (1976)
• The Late Lily Shiel (1978)
• My Hollywood: A Celebration and a Lament (1984)
• Hollywood Revisited: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration (1985)

Film and TV Appearances