Recently released confidential files from the public record office have revealed that Tallulah Bankhead, a popular American movie actress, was considered a danger to public morality and was nearly deported from Britain by the home office.
This was due to a scandal in which she was accused of engaging in "indecent and unnatural practices" with Eton schoolboys, which had caused five of them, including the son of a lord and a baronet, to leave the prestigious school. Although the scandal had been circulating in theatrical circles for years, the headmaster had kept it under wraps, preventing official attempts to have Bankhead deported.
The MI5 had called Bankhead "an extremely immoral woman," suspected her of being both a lesbian and immoral with men, and claimed that her father, a senator, had turned her out of the house when she was young due to her immoral proclivities.
The scandal allegedly took place at the Cafe de Paris hotel in Bray on the Thames, a popular spot for the "smart and fast set." Although special branch detectives investigated the matter and found evidence of Bankhead's frequent visits to the hotel, they could not corroborate the allegations of "indecent and unnatural offences."
The headmaster of Eton, Dr. CA Alington, refused to cooperate with the home office, claiming that he could not provide any information that could embarrass Eton. MI5 secured a private letter to Eton parents in which the head denied anybody was expelled but admitted two boys had been dismissed and three disciplined. The scandalous affair involving Bankhead, who was a friend of Ivor Novello and one of the most popular West End actresses of her time, had remained a secret until the confidential MI5 report was released.
