Matinee Classics - Jessica Tandy Biography & Filmography

Jessica Tandy ACTOR

PHOTOS

JESSICA TANDY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Jessica Tandy was born on June 7th, 1909 in Stoke Newington, London with the middle name Alice, born to Harry Tandy and Jessie Helen Horspool. She was the youngest of three children and at the age of twelve her father passed away. She received her early years education ay Dame Alice Owen's School and then as a teenager she studied acting at the Ben Greet Academy and was sixteen years old when she first acted on stage in a production of, "The Manderson Girls".

Tandy then went on to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and appeared in some more stage plays such as, "The Rumour" and "The Matriarch". After gaining enough stage experience she gave the film industry a chance and her debut role was in the film, "The Indiscretions of Eve" (1932).

Although she wanted to work in film, roles were not coming that easy to her, therefore, she focused on stage performing during the 1930's through 1940's continuing to make appearances in, "Honour Thy Father", "Jupiter Laughs", "Anne of England", "Portrait of a Madonna" and in 1937 she appeared on Broadway in, "A Streetcar Named Desire", a role for which she won a Tony Award.

When , "A Streetcar Named Desire" was made into a film, she was not offered a part in the film, however, Tandy did not let that discourage her and as her career progressed, she did work on a number of other films such as, "The Seventh Cross" (1944), "The Green Years" (1946), "Forever Amber" (1947), "Lights Out" (1951), "The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel" (1951) and "The Birds" (1963).

With her second husband, in addition to her film work, together they appeared in a number of stage productions such as, "A Delicate Balance" (1944), "The Fourposter" (1951), "Triple Play" (1959), "Hamlet" (1963) and "The Three Sisters" (1963). They also worked together on the NBC Radio show, "The Marriage" (1953-1954).

Along with her radio, stage and film work, she also made time to go to college and graduate in 1974 with a law degree. After appearing in the Broadway stage production of, "Foxfire" (1983) she was cast in the role of the television version four years later and for her role as Anne Nations, she won both a Tony and an Emmy Award.

Some of her film roles added to her resume later on in life were, "Honky Tonk Freeway" (1981), "The World According to Garp" (1982), "Cocoon" (1985), "Batteries Not included" (1987) and her biggest role as Daily Worthan in, "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), a performance that earned her an Oscar, Golden Globe and British Film Award. Also making her the oldest actress at the age of eighty one to take home a Best Actress Oscar.

Finally, Tandy had received the recognition in Hollywood she had sought after and now roles were much easier to come by. She earned another Oscar nomination for her role in the film, "Fried Green Tomatoes" (1991) followed by her final two film roles, "Nobody's Fool" and "Camilla" (both released in 1994).

Jessica married twice throughout her lifetime, first to actor, Jack Hawkins in 1932 and after having one child this marriage came to an end in 1940. She then married actor and producer, Hume Cronyn in 1942 and they had two children together and remained married until she passed away on September 11th, 1994 in Easton, Connecticut after suffering from ovarian cancer. Her remains were cremated and her family holds her ashes.