Tandy, Jessica

From New World Encyclopedia
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[[File:Jessica Tandy The Glass Eye Hitchcock 1957.JPG|thumb|upright|Tandy in ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' "The Glass Eye" (1957)]]
 
[[File:Jessica Tandy The Glass Eye Hitchcock 1957.JPG|thumb|upright|Tandy in ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' "The Glass Eye" (1957)]]
On Broadway, she won a [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play|Tony Award]] for her performance as [[Blanche Dubois]] in the original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' in 1948. After this (she lost the film role to actress [[Vivien Leigh]]), she concentrated on the stage. In 1976, she and Cronyn joined the acting company of the [[Stratford Festival]], and returned in 1980 to debut Cronyn's play [[Foxfire (play)|Foxfire]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/9878 | title = Jessica Tandy acting credits | website = Stratford Festival Archives | access-date = 30 May 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190531030726/https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/9878 | archive-date = 31 May 2019 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last = Blackadar| first = Bruce| date = 10 May 1980| title = Hume Cronyn turns playwright with Foxfire| newspaper = Toronto Star| page = F1}}</ref> In 1977, she earned her second Tony Award, for her performance (with Cronyn) in ''[[The Gin Game]]'' and her third Tony in 1982 for her performance, again with Cronyn, in [[Foxfire (play)|Foxfire]].
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Cronyn and Tandy carried forward a tradition that is now a casualty of changing times: the theatrical tour. Cronyn recalled: "We played ‘The Gin Game’ about 800 times [starting in 1978]. We did ‘The Fourposter’ 600 times [1951]. We did Albee’s ‘A Delicate Balance’ I think 400 times [1966] and ‘Noel Coward in Two Keys’ 400 times [1974]."<<ref name=lat/>
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On Broadway, Tandy won a [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play|Tony Award]] for her performance as [[Blanche Dubois]] in the original [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' in 1948. After this (she lost the film role to actress [[Vivien Leigh]]), she concentrated on the stage. In 1976, she and Cronyn joined the acting company of the [[Stratford Festival]], and returned in 1980 to debut Cronyn's play [[Foxfire (play)|Foxfire]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/9878 | title = Jessica Tandy acting credits | website = Stratford Festival Archives | access-date = 30 May 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190531030726/https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/9878 | archive-date = 31 May 2019 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last = Blackadar| first = Bruce| date = 10 May 1980| title = Hume Cronyn turns playwright with Foxfire| newspaper = Toronto Star| page = F1}}</ref> In 1977, she earned her second Tony Award, for her performance (with Cronyn) in ''[[The Gin Game]]'' and her third Tony in 1982 for her performance, again with Cronyn, in [[Foxfire (play)|Foxfire]].
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The beginning of the 1980s saw a resurgence in her film career, with character roles in ''[[The World According to Garp (film)|The World According to Garp]]'', ''[[Best Friends (1982 film)|Best Friends]]'', ''[[Still of the Night (film)|Still of the Night]]'' (all 1982) and ''[[The Bostonians (film)|The Bostonians]]'' (1984). She and Cronyn were now working together more regularly on stage and television, including the films ''[[Cocoon (film)|Cocoon]]'' (1985), ''[[*batteries not included]]'' (1987) and ''[[Cocoon: The Return]]'' (1988) and the [[Emmy Award]] winning television film ''[[Foxfire (1987 film)|Foxfire]]'' (1987, recreating her Tony winning Broadway role).
 
The beginning of the 1980s saw a resurgence in her film career, with character roles in ''[[The World According to Garp (film)|The World According to Garp]]'', ''[[Best Friends (1982 film)|Best Friends]]'', ''[[Still of the Night (film)|Still of the Night]]'' (all 1982) and ''[[The Bostonians (film)|The Bostonians]]'' (1984). She and Cronyn were now working together more regularly on stage and television, including the films ''[[Cocoon (film)|Cocoon]]'' (1985), ''[[*batteries not included]]'' (1987) and ''[[Cocoon: The Return]]'' (1988) and the [[Emmy Award]] winning television film ''[[Foxfire (1987 film)|Foxfire]]'' (1987, recreating her Tony winning Broadway role).

Revision as of 20:31, 9 November 2022

Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy Publicity Photo.jpg
Tandy, c. 1950s
BornJessie Alice Tandy
June 07 1909(1909-06-07)
Hackney, London, England
DiedSeptember 11 1994 (aged 85)
Easton, Connecticut, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1927–1994
Spouse(s)Jack Hawkins​
(m. 1932; div. 1940)​
Hume Cronyn
(m. 1942)
Children3

Jessie Alice Tandy (June 7, 1909 – September 11, 1994) was a British-American actress. Tandy appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She acted as Blanche DuBois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948. Her films included Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and The Gin Game. At 80, she became the oldest actress to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Driving Miss Daisy.

Life

The youngest of three siblings, Jessica Tandy was born in Geldeston Road in Hackney, London the third child of Harry Tandy and his wife, Jessie Helen Horspool. Her mother was from a large Fenland family in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, and the head of a school for mentally handicapped children, and her father was a traveling salesman for a rope manufacturer.[1] She was educated at Dame Alice Owen's School in Islington.

Her father died when she was 12, and her mother subsequently taught evening courses to earn an income. Jessica suffered from tuberculosis as a child which limited her school attendance. However, she accompanied her mother to night school and enjoyed studying poetry, dance, calisthenics, and drama. In 1924 she enrolled at Sir Ben Greet‘s Academy of Acting and made her stage début in The Manderson Girls, at London’s Playhouse Six on November 22, 1927.[1]

Tandy and Hume Cronyn, 1988

In 1932 Tandy married English actor Jack Hawkins and together they had a daughter, Susan Hawkins, born in 1934.

Tandy and Hawkins divorced in 1940. She married Canadian actor Hume Cronyn in 1942.[2] They had two children, daughter Tandy Cronyn, an actress who would co-star with her mother in the TV film The Story Lady, and son Christopher Cronyn.

Tandy became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1952.

In 1990, Jessica Tandy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and she also suffered from angina and glaucoma. Despite her illnesses and age she continued working. On September 11, 1994, she died at home in Easton, Connecticut, at the age of 85.[3][4][5]

Acting career

Tandy (left, with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando) portrayed Blanche in the original 1947 Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire, a role that earned her the 1948 Tony Award for Best Actress
Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in the Broadway play, "The Fourposter," 1952

Tandy was 18 years old when she made her professional debut in The Manderson Girls on the London stage in 1927. During the 1930s, she acted in many plays in London's West End, playing Ophelia (opposite John Gielgud's legendary Hamlet) and Katherine (opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V).[6]

She entered films in Britain, but after her marriage to Jack Hawkins failed, she moved to the United States hoping to find better roles. During her time as a leading actress on the stage in London, she often had to fight over roles with her two rivals, Peggy Ashcroft and Celia Johnson.[7] In the following years, she played supporting roles in several Hollywood films.

Like many stage actors, Tandy also worked in radio. Among other programs, she was a regular on Mandrake the Magician[8] (as Princess Nada), and then with her second husband Hume Cronyn in The Marriage[9] 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 had supporting appearances 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 appeared as the insomniac murderess in A Woman's Vengeance (1948), a film noir adapted by Aldous Huxley from his short story "The Gioconda Smile".

Over the next three decades, her film career continued sporadically while she found better roles on the stage. Her roles during this time 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).

Tandy in Alfred Hitchcock Presents "The Glass Eye" (1957)

Cronyn and Tandy carried forward a tradition that is now a casualty of changing times: the theatrical tour. Cronyn recalled: "We played ‘The Gin Game’ about 800 times [starting in 1978]. We did ‘The Fourposter’ 600 times [1951]. We did Albee’s ‘A Delicate Balance’ I think 400 times [1966] and ‘Noel Coward in Two Keys’ 400 times [1974]."<[2]

On Broadway, Tandy 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. In 1976, she and Cronyn joined the acting company of the Stratford Festival, and returned in 1980 to debut Cronyn's play Foxfire.[10][11] In 1977, she earned her second Tony Award, for her performance (with Cronyn) in The Gin Game and her third Tony in 1982 for her performance, again with Cronyn, in Foxfire.


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.[12]

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

Legacy

Tandy was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990.[13]

  • 1979 – Induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame[14]
  • 1979 – Sarah Siddons Award Chicago theatre
  • 1986 – Drama Desk Special Award
  • 1986 – Kennedy Center Honors Recipient
  • 1990 – National Medal of Arts
  • 1991 – Women in Film Crystal Award[15]
  • 1994 – Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement shared with her husband, Hume Cronyn

Tandy's daughter, Susan Hawkins, became an actress and was cast in small roles in Lost Horizon and Meet John Doe.[16]

Awards for Driving Miss Daisy: 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
Silver Bear for the Best Joint Performance (with Morgan Freeman)[17]
Nominated—American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture
Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

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 Leading Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Academy Awards: A Look At Jessica Tandy OUP Blog, February 23, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Charles Champlin, Life After Jessie : For 52 years, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy shared the love story of the century. Her death last year devastated him, but his love lives on Los Angeles Times, June 18, 1995. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  3. "Jessica Tandy, a Patrician Star Of Theater and Film, Dies at 85".
  4. Obituary: Jessica Tandy. The Independent (12 September 1994).
  5. From the Archives: Jessica Tandy, Star of Stage, Screen and TV, Dies at 85. Los Angeles Times (12 September 1994).
  6. Berger, Marilyn, "Jessica Tandy, a Patrician Star Of Theater and Film, Dies at 85", The New York Times, 12 September 1994.
  7. "At Home with Cronyn and Tandy", The New York Times, May 26, 1994.
  8. Cronyn, Hume (1991). Terrible Liar. New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0688128440. 
  9. Cronyn, Hume (1991). Terrible Liar. New York: William Morrow and Company, 253–54. ISBN 0688128440. 
  10. Jessica Tandy acting credits.
  11. Blackadar, Bruce, "Hume Cronyn turns playwright with Foxfire", 10 May 1980, p. F1.
  12. "Miss Daisy, Jessica Tandy Win Top Oscars", Chicago Tribune, 27 March 1990.
  13. Beautiful Through the Years (in en).
  14. Notes for Jessica Tandy, tcm.com; accessed 11 July 2016.
  15. Past Recipients: Crystal Award. Women In Film.
  16. John Tettemer. American Film Institute. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  17. Berlinale: 1990 Prize Winners (in de). berlinale.de.

References
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External links

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