Jessica Tandy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jessica Tandy
Tandy, c. 1950s
Born	Jessie Alice Tandy (1909-06-07)7 June 1909 Hackney, London, England
Died	11 September 1994(1994-09-11) (aged 85) Easton, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1927–1994
Spouse(s)	Jack Hawkins ​ ​ (m. 1932; div. 1940)​ Hume Cronyn ​ (m. 1942)​
Children	3

Jessie Alice Tandy (born June 7, 1909 – died September 11, 1994) was a famous British-American actress. She performed in over 100 stage plays and had more than 60 roles in movies and TV shows. Jessica Tandy won many important awards. These included an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe Award, and an Emmy Award.

She was well-known for playing Blanche DuBois in the first Broadway play of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948. Her movies also included Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. At 80 years old, she made history. She became the oldest actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Driving Miss Daisy.

Early Life

Jessica Tandy was the youngest of three children. She was born in Hackney, London, England. Her father, Harry Tandy, was a traveling salesman. Her mother, Jessie Helen Horspool, was in charge of a school for children with special needs.

Jessica went to Dame Alice Owen's School in Islington. When she was 12, her father passed away. After this, her mother taught evening classes to earn money for the family.

Acting Career

Jessica Tandy (left) with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando in 1947. She played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway, winning a Tony Award.

Jessica Tandy started her acting career in London in 1927 when she was 18. In the 1930s, she acted in many plays in London's West End. She played famous characters like Ophelia in Hamlet and Katherine in Henry V.

She also started acting in British films. After her first marriage ended, she moved to the United States. She hoped to find even better roles there.

Like many stage actors, Jessica Tandy also worked in radio shows. She was a regular on "Mandrake the Magician." Later, she starred with her second husband, Hume Cronyn, in a radio show called "The Marriage." This show then moved to television.

Her first American movie was The Seventh Cross in 1944. She had supporting roles in several other Hollywood films. These included The Valley of Decision (1945) and The Green Years (1946). She also appeared in Dragonwyck (1946) and Forever Amber (1947). In 1948, she played a woman who couldn't sleep and committed murder in A Woman's Vengeance.

For the next 30 years, her movie career was not always busy. She found more important roles on stage. During this time, she appeared in films like The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951). She also played a strong mother in Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie, The Birds (1963).

Jessica Tandy in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "The Glass Eye" (1957).

On Broadway, she won a Tony Award for her role as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948. She did not get to play this role in the movie version, so she focused more on stage acting. In 1977, she won her second Tony Award for The Gin Game. She won her third Tony in 1982 for Foxfire. Both of these plays also starred her husband, Hume Cronyn.

In the 1980s, her film career became very active again. She took on special character roles in movies like The World According to Garp (1982). She and Hume Cronyn worked together often in movies and TV shows. They starred in Cocoon (1985), *batteries not included (1987), and Cocoon: The Return (1988). They also appeared in the TV movie Foxfire (1987), for which she won an Emmy Award.

However, her most famous role was in Driving Miss Daisy (1989). She played an older, determined Jewish woman from the South. This role earned her an Oscar.

She was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). She continued acting in films like Used People (1992) and the TV movie To Dance with the White Dog (1993) with her husband. Her last movie was Nobody's Fool (1994), which she made when she was 84 years old.

Other Awards and Honors

Jessica Tandy was recognized for her amazing talent many times.

• In 1979, she was added to the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
• She received the Sarah Siddons Award in 1979 for her work in Chicago theatre.
• In 1986, she received a Drama Desk Special Award.
• She was a Kennedy Center Honors Recipient in 1986.
• In 1990, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
• In 1991, she received the Crystal Award from Women in Film.
• In 1994, she and her husband, Hume Cronyn, received a special Tony Award for their lifetime achievements in theater.

Personal Life and Death

Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in 1988.

In 1932, Jessica Tandy married English actor Jack Hawkins. They had one daughter named Susan Hawkins. Susan also became an actress. Jessica and Jack divorced in 1940.

In 1942, she married Canadian actor Hume Cronyn. They stayed together until her death in 1994. They had two children: a daughter named Tandy Cronyn, who also became an actress, and a son named Christopher Cronyn. Jessica Tandy became a citizen of the United States in 1952.

In 1990, Jessica Tandy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She also had other health issues like angina (chest pain) and glaucoma (an eye condition). Even with these illnesses, she kept working. Jessica Tandy passed away at her home in Easton, Connecticut, on September 11, 1994. She was 85 years old.

Work

U.S. Stage Credits

Filmography

†Re-issued on DVD as The Christmas Story Lady

Television

See also

In Spanish: Jessica Tandy para niños