Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
June 7, 1909
Place of Birth:
London, England
Social Media
Jessica Tandy
Biography
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy (June 7, 1909 – September 11, 1994) was an English-American stage and film actress.
She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films. Following the end of her marriage to Jack Hawkins, she moved to New York, 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 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 substantial role in Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds (1963), and a Tony Award-winning performance in The Gin Game (playing in the two-character play opposite her husband, Cronyn) in 1977. She, along with Cronyn was a member of the original acting company of The Guthrie Theater.
In the mid 1980s she enjoyed a career revival. She appeared opposite Hume 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.
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Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | A Streetcar on Broadway | Self (archive footage) |
| 2003 | Miss Daisy's Journey: From Stage to Screen | Daisy Werthan (archive footage) (uncredited) |
| 2003 | Jessica Tandy: Theatre Legend to Screen Star | Self (archive footage) |
| 1998 | Moments of Discovery: The Making of Fried Green Tomatoes | Self |
| 1994 | Nobody's Fool | Beryl Peoples |
| 1994 | Camilla | Camilla Cara |
| 1993 | To Dance with the White Dog | Cora Peek |
| 1992 | Used People | Freida |
| 1991 | Fried Green Tomatoes | Ninny Threadgoode |
| 1991 | The Story Lady | Grace McQueen |
| 1990 | Night of 100 Stars III | Self |
| 1989 | Driving Miss Daisy | Daisy Werthan |
| 1988 | Cocoon: The Return | Alma Finley |
| 1988 | The House on Carroll Street | Miss Venable |
| 1987 | *batteries not included | Faye Riley |
| 1987 | Foxfire | Annie Nations |
| 1985 | Cocoon | Alma Finley |
| 1984 | The Bostonians | Miss Birdseye |
| 1982 | The World According to Garp | Mrs. Fields |
| 1982 | Still of the Night | Grace Rice |
| 1982 | Best Friends | Eleanor McCullen |
| 1981 | The Gin Game | Fonsia Dorsey |
| 1981 | Honky Tonk Freeway | Carol |
| 1974 | Butley | Edna Shaft |
| 1973 | Tennessee Williams' South | |
| 1963 | The Birds | Lydia Brenner |
| 1962 | Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man | Mrs. Helen Adams |
| 1959 | The Moon and Sixpence | Blanche Stroeve |
| 1958 | The Light in the Forest | Myra Butler |
| 1958 | The Christmas Tree | Mrs. Martin |
| 1955 | The Fourposter | |
| 1951 | The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel | Frau Lucie Marie Rommel |
| 1950 | September Affair | Catherine Lawrence |
| 1948 | A Woman's Vengeance | Janet Spence |
| 1947 | Forever Amber | Nan Britton |
| 1946 | Dragonwyck | Peggy O'Malley |
| 1946 | The Green Years | Kate Leckie |
| 1945 | The Valley of Decision | Louise Kane |
| 1944 | The Seventh Cross | Liesel Roeder |
| 1944 | Blonde Fever | Restaurant Patron (uncredited) |
| 1938 | Murder in the Family | Ann Osborne |
| 1932 | Indiscretions of Eve | Penelope, the Maid |
| Year | TV Show | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Intimate Portrait | Self |
| 1990 | Dream On | (archive footage) |
| 1978 | The Kennedy Center Honors | Self |
| 1967 | Judd for the Defense | |
| 1967 | Judd for the Defense | Helen Wister |
| 1965 | The F.B.I. | Ardyth Nolan |
| 1962 | The Merv Griffin Show | Self |
| 1957 | Suspicion | |
| 1956 | Telephone Time | |
| 1956 | Tony Awards | Self - Nominee |
| 1956 | Tony Awards | Self - Nominee/Performer |
| 1956 | Tony Awards | Self - Winner |
| 1956 | Tony Awards | Self - Award Accepter |
| 1956 | Tony Awards | Self - Presenter |
| 1956 | Tony Awards | Self (archive footage) |
| 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Edwina Freel |
| 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Julia Lester |
| 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Laura Bowlby |
| 1954 | Producers' Showcase | Agnes |
| 1954 | The Marriage | Liz Marriott |
| 1953 | General Electric Theater | Laura Whitemore |
| 1952 | Omnibus | |
| 1952 | Omnibus | Self - Reader |
| 1952 | Omnibus | Louisa Catherine Johnson |
| 1952 | Omnibus | Jackie |
| 1951 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Mrs. Martin |
| 1951 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Cora Torrence |
| 1951 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Annie Nations |
| 1951 | Goodyear Television Playhouse | Leticia Blacklock |
| 1950 | Prudential Family Playhouse | |
| 1949 | Lights Out | |
| 1948 | Studio One | Connaught O'Brien |
| 1948 | The Ed Sullivan Show | Self |
| 1948 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Liz Marriott |
| 1948 | Studio One | Mrs. Moore |
| 1944 | Golden Globe Awards | Self - Nominee |