Jessica Tandy

Jessica Tandy
Tandy and Hume Cronyn at the 1988 Emmy Awards
Born	Jessie Alice Tandy June 7, 1909(1909-06-07) London, England, UK
Died	September 11, 1994 (aged 85) Easton, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1932–1994
Spouse(s)	Jack Hawkins (1932–1940) Hume Cronyn (1942–1994) (her death)

Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy (7 June 1909 – 11 September 1994) was an English 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 was nominated for a 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 and Judith Anderson in her 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.

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 British Film Award 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 and career

The youngest of three siblings, Tandy was born in Geldeston Road in the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney.^[1] 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.^[2] Her father died when Tandy was 12, and her mother subsequently taught evening courses to earn an income. Tandy was educated at the Dame Alice Owen's School in the London Borough of Islington.

Tandy began her career at the age of 16 in London, establishing herself with performances opposite such actors as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud. She entered films in England, but after her marriage to the actor 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.

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 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. 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 in 1977.

Jessica Tandy in Driving Miss Daisy, 1989.

After her Tony-winning performance as Blanche DuBois in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, (she lost the film role to actress Vivien Leigh), she concentrated on the stage. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1952. For the next 20 years, she appeared sporadically in films such as The Light in the Forest (1958) and The Birds (1963).

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), and the hit film Cocoon (1985), opposite Cronyn, with whom she re-teamed for *batteries not included (1987) and Cocoon: The Return (1988). She and Cronyn had been working together more and more, on stage and television, notably in 1987's Foxfire which won her an Emmy Award (recreating her Tony winning Broadway role). However, it was her colorful performance in Driving Miss Daisy (1989), as an aging, stubborn Southern-Jewish matron, that earned her an Oscar.

Tandy was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990. She earned 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), To Dance with the White Dog (1993 telefilm, with husband Hume Cronyn), Nobody's Fool (1994), and Camilla (also 1994, with Cronyn). Camilla was to be her last performance, at the age of 84.

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 next husband, Hume Cronyn, in 1942. They had two children, daughter Tandy and son Christopher.

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 which she battled for four years, during which she continued to work. She had previously been treated for angina and glaucoma. She died at home on 11 September 1994 in Easton, Connecticut.

Other awards

• 1979 - Sarah Siddons Award Chicago theatre
• 1986 - Drama Desk Special Award
• 1994 - Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement shared with her husband, Hume Cronyn

Work

Broadway credits

Filmography

References

External links

• Jessica Tandy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jessica Tandy at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Jessica Tandy at the Internet Movie Database
• Jessica Tandy at Find a Grave
• Movie Magazine International Tribute
• Obituary New York Times September 12, 1994