Jessica Tandy Biography

Jessica Alice Tandy (7 June 1909 " 11 September 1994) was a British-American stage and film actress, who spent most of her 67-year career in the United States. She appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV.

Born in London to a headmistress and a travelling salesman, she made her professional debut on the London stage in 1927, at the age of 18. During the 1930s, she appeared in a large number of plays in London's West End, playing roles such as Ophelia, opposite John Gielgud's legendary Hamlet, and Katherine, opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V. In the 1930s, she also worked in a couple of British films. Following the end of her marriage to the British actor Jack Hawkins, she moved to New York in 1940, where she met Canadian actor Hume Cronyn. He became her second husband and frequent partner on stage and screen.

She won the Tony Award for her performance as Blanche Dubois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948, sharing the prize with Katherine Cornell (who won for the female lead in Antony and Cleopatra) and Judith Anderson (for the latter's portrayal of Medea). Over the following three decades, her career continued sporadically and included a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's horror film, The Birds (1963), and a Tony Award-winning performance in The Gin Game (1977, playing in the two-hander play opposite Hume Cronyn). Along with Cronyn, she was a member of the original acting company of the Guthrie Theater.

In the mid-1980s she had a career revival. She appeared with Cronyn in the Broadway production of Foxfire in 1983 and its television adaptation four years later, winning both a Tony Award and an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Annie Nations. During these years, she appeared in films such as Cocoon (1985), also with Cronyn.

She became the oldest actress to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Driving Miss Daisy (1989), for which she also won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). At the height of her success, she was named as one of People's "50 Most Beautiful People". She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1990, and continued working until shortly before her death.

Early life

The youngest of three siblings, Tandy was born in Geldeston Road in Hackney, London. Her mother, Jessie Helen (née Horspool), was the head of a school for mentally handicapped children, and her father, Harry Tandy, was a travelling salesman for a rope manufacturer. Her father died when Tandy was 12, and her mother subsequently taught evening courses to earn an income. Tandy was educated at Dame Alice Owen's School in Islington.

Acting career

Tandy began her career at the age of 18 in London, establishing herself with performances opposite such actors as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud. She entered films in Britain, but after her marriage to Jack Hawkins failed, she moved to the United States. In 1942, she married Hume Cronyn and over the following years played supporting roles in several Hollywood films.

Like so many stage actors, Tandy had a hand in radio, as well. Among other programs, she was a regular on Mandrake the Magician (as Princess Nada), and then with husband Hume Cronyn in The Marriage which ran on radio from 1953 to 1954, and then segued onto television.

She made her American film debut in The Seventh Cross (1944). She also appeared in The Valley of Decision (1945), The Green Years (1946, as Cronyn's daughter), Dragonwyck (1946) starring Gene Tierney and Vincent Price and Forever Amber (1947). She won a Tony Award for her performance as Blanche Dubois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948. After this (she lost the film role to actress Vivien Leigh), she concentrated on the stage, becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1952.

Over the next three decades, her film career continued sporadically, but included The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) opposite James Mason, The Light in the Forest (1958), and a role as a domineering mother in Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds (1963). She gained a Tony Award for her performance in The Gin Game (1977).

The beginning of the 1980s saw a resurgence in her film career, with character roles in The World According to Garp, Best Friends, Still of the Night (all 1982) and The Bostonians (1984). She and Cronyn were now working together more regularly on stage and television, including the films Cocoon (1985), *batteries not included (1987) and Cocoon: The Return (1988) and the Emmy Award winning television film Foxfire (1987, recreating her Tony winning Broadway role). However, it was her colourful performance in Driving Miss Daisy (1989), as an aging, stubborn Southern-Jewish matron, that earned her an Oscar.

She gained a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her work in the grassroots hit Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), and co-starred in The Story Lady (1991 telefilm, with daughter Tandy Cronyn), Used People (1992, as Shirley MacLaine's mother), television film To Dance with the White Dog (1993, with Cronyn), Nobody's Fool (1994), and Camilla (also 1994, with Cronyn). Camilla was to be her last performance, at the age of 84.

Other awards

Tandy was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990.

• 1979 - Sarah Siddons Award Chicago theatre
• 1986 - Drama Desk Special Award
• 1990 - National Medal of Arts
• 1991 - Women in Film [[Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards#THE CRYSTAL AWARD|Crystal Award]]
• 1994 - Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement shared with her husband, Hume Cronyn

Personal life

Tandy's first marriage to British actor Jack Hawkins in 1932, produced one daughter, Susan Hawkins (born 1934). The couple divorced in 1940. Tandy married her second husband, Canadian actor Hume Cronyn, in 1942; the marriage lasted until her death in 1994. They had two children, daughter Tandy Cronyn (an actress who would co-star with her mother in the NBC telefilm The Story Lady), and son Christopher.

Death

Prior to moving to Connecticut, she lived with Cronyn for many years in nearby Pound Ridge, New York and they remained together until her death in 1994. In 1990, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and fought it for the next four years. Tandy also suffered from angina and glaucoma. Despite all this and her advancing age, she continued working. She died at home on 11 September 1994 in Easton, Connecticut at age 85.

Work

Broadway credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Jupiter Laughs	Dr. Mary Murray
1942	Yesterday's Magic	daughter Cattrin
1947	'	Blanche DuBois	Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
1950	Hilda Crane	Hilda Crane
1951	'	Agnes
1959	Five Finger Exercise	Louise Harrington
1966	'	Agnes
1971	Home	Marjorie
1977	'	Fonsia Dorsey	Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
1982	Foxfire	Annie Nations	Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
1983	'	Amanda Wingfield
1986	'	Lady Elizabeth Milne	Nominated "? Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1932	'	Maid
1938	Murder in the Family	Ann Osborne
1944	'	Liesel Roeder
1944	Blonde Fever	Diner at Inn	uncredited
1945	'	Louise Kane
1946	Dragonwyck	Peggy O'Malley
1946	'	Kate Leckie
1947	Forever Amber	Nan Britton
1948	'	Janet Spence
1950	September Affair	Catherine Lawrence
1951	'	Frau Lucie Marie Rommel
1956	'		Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1957	'	Julia Lester	Short film presented in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"
1958	'	Myra Butler
1962	Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man	Helen Adams	Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture
1963	'	Lydia Brenner
1976	Butley	Edna Shaft
1981	Honky Tonk Freeway	Carol
1982	'	Mrs. Fields
1982	Still of the Night	Grace Rice
1982	Best Friends	Eleanor McCullen
1984	'	Miss Birdseye
1984	Terror in the Aisles		archival footage
1985	Cocoon	Alma Finley	Nominated "? Saturn Award for Best Actress
1987	*batteries not included	Faye Riley	Saturn Award for Best Actress
1987	Foxfire	Annie Nations	TV movie Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1988	'	Miss Venable
1988	Cocoon: The Return	Alma Finley	Nominated "? Saturn Award for Best Actress
1989	Driving Miss Daisy	Daisy Werthan	Academy Award for Best Actress BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (2nd place) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (2nd place) Silver Bear for the Best Joint Performance Nominated "? American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture
1991	Fried Green Tomatoes	Ninny Threadgoode	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated "? BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture
1991	'	Grace	TV movie Nominated "? Golden Globe Award for Best Actress " Miniseries or Television Film
1992	Used People	Freida
1993	To Dance with the White Dog	Cora Peek	TV movie Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1994	'	Herself	documentary
1994	Nobody's Fool	Beryl Peoples
1994	Camilla	Camilla Cara