Was Helen Twelvetrees in A Streetcar Named Desire?

Answer 1

Helen Twelvetrees was not in A Streetcar Named Desire. Her last film was in Unmarried, which was released in 1939 and long before A Streetcar Named Desire was made.

The original version of A Streetcar Named Desire was released in 1951. Two remakes were made in 1984 and 1995.

Answer 2

Helen did play Blanche in Summer Stock, at the Sea Cliff Summer Theatre... Sea Cliff, New York. On that first day of rehearsal with the full cast, we waited for Miss Twelvetrees. This very lovely lovely actress and excellent writer too, Anne Marie Barlow, was playing Stella in this production, and of course she was already there, and in fact, everyone in the cast was there, already….Finally, we were told had that Miss Twelvetrees had arrived at the theatre and would be with us at any moment.

Shortly thereafter, this ethereal looking woman---blond and very pretty though in a faded sort of way, came down the path towards the back platform. She was wearing a very feminine white summer dress with flat shoes and she was truly 'a vision' right out of 'The Elysian Fields' . She looked quite a bit older than her actual years, particularly by today's standards---we are not used to seeing women of her age looking that dissipated these days (most of the time) because of Botox, and other things, as well....but alcohol and the pain of her life had taken it's toll on her I'm afraid.

She came closer to greet each of us individually, and as I was introduced to her I couldn't help but notice that she had the saddest eyes I'd ever seen. I thought to myself, 'My God, she is Blanche'. Everything about her was soooo 'Blanche'. She seemed somewhat fragile physically though one sensed great strength in her, too. But it was also obvious that she had an extremely fragile psyche....she was a sweet woman and a very nice person. And she was a truly lovely actress as it turned out....and she was the character of Blanche Dubois down to her marrow....you wanted to 'take care' of her. Something about her brought this out in all of us and almost as one person, we desperately wanted her to succeed, and succeed, she did.

Answer 3

Miss Twelvetrees was 'The Real' Blanche, in every way. I never did find out what her personal story was but it was certainly all in her face and persona, so that what she brought to the play was a unique quality. She didn't have to worry about 'acting', all she had to do was 'be', and it worked like gangbusters for this play... (she had some problems remembering lines...I recall one particular performance she skipped about seven or eight pages, but somehow we got back on track) But she was a 'professional', and because she was such an emotionally fragile woman her Blanche was deeply deeply touching. And in fact, it broke your heart. Like I said, she truly was Blanche.