Jessica Tandy
Acting • Born 1909-06-07 – Died 1994-09-11
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.
Filmography
73 credits
Driving Miss Daisy
Movie • 1989
Daisy Werthan
The Birds
Movie • 1963
Lydia Brenner
Fried Green Tomatoes
Movie • 1991
Ninny Threadgoode
Cocoon
Movie • 1985
Alma Finley
*batteries not included
Movie • 1987
Faye Riley
Cocoon: The Return
Movie • 1988
Alma Finley
The World According to Garp
Movie • 1982
Mrs. Fields
Nobody's Fool
Movie • 1994
Beryl Peoples
Still of the Night
Movie • 1982
Grace Rice
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
Movie • 1951
Frau Lucie Marie Rommel
Dragonwyck
Movie • 1946
Peggy O'Malley
The Bostonians
Movie • 1984
Miss Birdseye
Murder in the Family
Movie • 1938
Ann Osborne
The Valley of Decision
Movie • 1945
Louise Kane
Best Friends
Movie • 1982
Eleanor McCullen
The Light in the Forest
Movie • 1958
Myra Butler
September Affair
Movie • 1950
Catherine Lawrence
The House on Carroll Street
Movie • 1988
Miss Venable
The Seventh Cross
Movie • 1944
Liesel Roeder
Camilla
Movie • 1994
Camilla Cara
A Woman's Vengeance
Movie • 1948
Janet Spence
The Story Lady
Movie • 1991
Grace McQueen
The Green Years
Movie • 1946
Kate Leckie
Forever Amber
Movie • 1947
Nan Britton
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
Movie • 1962
Mrs. Helen Adams
To Dance with the White Dog
Movie • 1993
Cora Peek
Butley
Movie • 1974
Edna Shaft
Foxfire
Movie • 1987
Annie Nations
Tennessee Williams' South
Movie • 1973
The Fourposter
Movie • 1955
Night of 100 Stars III
Movie • 1990
Self
Used People
Movie • 1992
Freida
The Gin Game
Movie • 1981
Fonsia Dorsey
Indiscretions of Eve
Movie • 1932
Penelope, the Maid
Blonde Fever
Movie • 1944
Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
The Christmas Tree
Movie • 1958
Mrs. Martin
Honky Tonk Freeway
Movie • 1981
Carol
Jessica Tandy: Theatre Legend to Screen Star
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
Miss Daisy's Journey: From Stage to Screen
Movie • 2003
Daisy Werthan (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Streetcar on Broadway
Movie • 2006
Self (archive footage)
The Moon and Sixpence
Movie • 1959
Blanche Stroeve
Moments of Discovery: The Making of Fried Green Tomatoes
Movie • 1998
Self
Dream On
TV • 1990
(archive footage)
The F.B.I.
TV • 1965
Ardyth Nolan
Omnibus
TV • 1952
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
Studio One
TV • 1948
Connaught O'Brien
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Laura Whitemore
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Mrs. Martin
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Edwina Freel
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Cora Torrence
Judd for the Defense
TV • 1967
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Liz Marriott
Producers' Showcase
TV • 1954
Agnes
Lights Out
TV • 1949
Suspicion
TV • 1957
Telephone Time
TV • 1956
The Kennedy Center Honors
TV • 1978
Self
The Marriage
TV • 1954
Liz Marriott
Prudential Family Playhouse
TV • 1950
Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993
Self
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Julia Lester
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Laura Bowlby
Studio One
TV • 1948
Mrs. Moore
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Annie Nations
Goodyear Television Playhouse
TV • 1951
Leticia Blacklock
Judd for the Defense
TV • 1967
Helen Wister
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
Omnibus
TV • 1952
Self - Reader
Omnibus
TV • 1952
Louisa Catherine Johnson
Omnibus
TV • 1952
Jackie
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Bertha Jacks