Jessica Tandy

About Jessica Tandy

Jessica Alice Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress, who appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV. She made her professional debut on the London stage in 1927, at the age of 18. During the 1930s, she appeared in a large number of plays in London’s West End, playing roles such as Ophelia, opposite John Gielgud’s legendary Hamlet, and Katherine, opposite Laurence Olivier’s Henry V. She received a nomination for the Tony Award for her performance as Blanche Dubois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948. She was a member of the original acting company of the Guthrie Theater. In the mid-1980s she had a career revival. She appeared with 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. She became the oldest actress to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Driving Miss Daisy (1989).