Lillian ‘Lilly’ Hellman was an American dramatist and screenwriter known for her success as a Broadway playwright. Throughout her career, Hellman was associated with a number of high-profile left-wing causes. Her politics and views often made fodder for her stories.

Her Broadway works include The Children's Hour (Maxine Elliott's Theatre), Days to Come (Vanderbilt Theatre), The Little Foxes (National Theatre), Watch on the Rhine and Candide (Martin Beck Theatre), The Searching Wind, Another Part of the Forest, and Montserrat (Fulton Theatre), Regina (46th Street Theatre), The Autumn Garden (Coronet Theatre), The Lark (Longacre Theatre), Toys in the Attic (Hudson Theatre), My Mother, My Father and Me (Plymouth Theatre), and Lillian and Imaginary Friends (Ethel Barrymore Theatre). 

Her first screenplay was the silent film, The Dark Angel. Hellman also rewrote the play The Children's Hour to conform to motion picture production code and it was released as the film These Three.