Acting · London, England · Born June 7, 1909
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.
MovieA Streetcar on Broadway
2006
as Self (archive footage)
MovieMiss Daisy's Journey: From Stage to Screen
2003
as Daisy Werthan (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieJessica Tandy: Theatre Legend to Screen Star
2003
as Self (archive footage)
MovieMoments of Discovery: The Making of Fried Green Tomatoes
1998
as Self
An African love story
1996
as Self
MovieNobody's Fool
1994
as Beryl Peoples
MovieCamilla
1994
as Camilla Cara
MovieTo Dance with the White Dog
1993
as Cora Peek
TVIntimate Portrait
1993
as Self
MovieUsed People
1992
as Freida
MovieFried Green Tomatoes
1991
as Ninny Threadgoode
MovieThe Story Lady
1991
as Grace McQueen
TVDream On
1990
as (archive footage)
MovieNight of 100 Stars III
1990
as Self
MovieDriving Miss Daisy
1989
as Daisy Werthan
MovieCocoon: The Return
1988
as Alma Finley
MovieThe House on Carroll Street
1988
as Miss Venable
Movie*batteries not included
1987
as Faye Riley
MovieFoxfire
1987
as Annie Nations
MovieCocoon
1985
as Alma Finley
MovieThe Bostonians
1984
as Miss Birdseye
MovieBest Friends
1982
as Eleanor McCullen
MovieStill of the Night
1982
as Grace Rice
MovieThe World According to Garp
1982
as Mrs. Fields
TVAmerican Playhouse
1982
as Fonsia Dorsey
MovieHonky Tonk Freeway
1981
as Carol
MovieThe Gin Game
1981
as Fonsia Dorsey
TVThe Kennedy Center Honors
1978
as Self
MovieButley
1974
as Edna Shaft
MovieTennessee Williams' South
1973
TVJudd, for the Defense
1967
TVThe F.B.I.
1965
as Ardyth Nolan
MovieThe Birds
1963
as Lydia Brenner
TVThe Merv Griffin Show
1962
as Self
MovieHemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man
1962
as Mrs. Helen Adams
MovieThe Moon and Sixpence
1959
as Blanche Stroeve
The Christmas Tree
1958
as Mrs. Martin
MovieThe Light in the Forest
1958
as Myra Butler
TVSuspicion
1957
TVTelephone Time
1956
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Award Accepter
TVAlfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as Edwina Freel
MovieThe Fourposter
1955
Producers' Showcase
1954
as Agnes
The Marriage
1954
as Liz Marriott
TVGeneral Electric Theater
1953
as Laura Whitemore
TVOmnibus
1952
TVHallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Mrs. Martin
MovieThe Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
1951
as Frau Lucie Marie Rommel
TVGoodyear Television Playhouse
1951
as Leticia Blacklock
TVSchlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
as Cora Torrence
MovieSeptember Affair
1950
as Catherine Lawrence
Prudential Family Playhouse
1950
TVLights Out
1949
TVStudio One
1948
as Connaught O'Brien
TVThe Philco Television Playhouse
1948
as Liz Marriott
TVThe Ed Sullivan Show
1948
as Self
MovieA Woman's Vengeance
1948
as Janet Spence
MovieForever Amber
1947
as Nan Britton
MovieThe Green Years
1946
as Kate Leckie
MovieDragonwyck
1946
as Peggy O'Malley
MovieThe Valley of Decision
1945
as Louise Kane
MovieBlonde Fever
1944
as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
MovieThe Seventh Cross
1944
as Liesel Roeder
TVGolden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Nominee
Murder in the Family
1938
as Ann Osborne
MovieIndiscretions of Eve
1932
as Penelope, the Maid
