Person
Jessica Tandy
London, England
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,…
IMDbKnown for
Popular titles
Photos
More stills of Jessica Tandy
Biography
A closer look
Read full 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
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2006
A Streetcar on Broadway
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
2003
Miss Daisy's Journey: From Stage to Screen
Movie Daisy Werthan (archive footage) (uncredited)
-
2003
Jessica Tandy: Theatre Legend to Screen Star
Movie Self (archive footage)
- 1998
-
1996
An African love story
Movie Self
-
1994
Nobody's Fool
Movie Beryl Peoples
-
1994
Camilla
Movie Camilla Cara
-
1993
To Dance with the White Dog
Movie Cora Peek
-
1993
Intimate Portrait
TV show Self
-
1992
Used People
Movie Freida
-
1991
Fried Green Tomatoes
Movie Ninny Threadgoode
-
1991
The Story Lady
Movie Grace McQueen
-
1990
Dream On
TV show (archive footage)
-
1990
Night of 100 Stars III
Movie Self
-
1989
Driving Miss Daisy
Movie Daisy Werthan
-
1988
Cocoon: The Return
Movie Alma Finley
More credits
-
1988
The House on Carroll Street
Movie Miss Venable
-
1987
*batteries not included
Movie Faye Riley
-
1987
Foxfire
Movie Annie Nations
-
1985
Cocoon
Movie Alma Finley
-
1984
The Bostonians
Movie Miss Birdseye
-
1982
Best Friends
Movie Eleanor McCullen
-
1982
Still of the Night
Movie Grace Rice
-
1982
The World According to Garp
Movie Mrs. Fields
-
1982
American Playhouse
TV show Fonsia Dorsey
-
1981
Honky Tonk Freeway
Movie Carol
-
1981
The Gin Game
Movie Fonsia Dorsey
-
1978
The Kennedy Center Honors
TV show Self
-
1974
Butley
Movie Edna Shaft
- 1973
-
1971
Film '72
TV show Self
-
1967
Judd, for the Defense
TV show
-
1965
The F.B.I.
TV show Ardyth Nolan
-
1963
The Birds
Movie Lydia Brenner
-
1962
The Merv Griffin Show
TV show Self
-
1962
Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
Movie Mrs. Helen Adams
-
1959
The Moon and Sixpence
Movie Blanche Stroeve
-
1958
The Christmas Tree
Movie Mrs. Martin
-
1958
The Light in the Forest
Movie Myra Butler
-
1957
Suspicion
TV show
