Jessica Tendy's popularity peaked in 1989, when the 80-year-old English-born actress won the Academy Award for Best Actress in Miss Daisy's Chauffeur. She is the oldest Oscar-winning actress in the history of the award. A year later, People magazine included Tandy in the list of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.
Childhood
Jesse Alice Tandy was born on June 7, 1909 in the London borough of Hackney. She was the youngest in a family of three children of the traveling salesman Harry Tandy and his wife Jesse Helen, headmaster of a school for mentally retarded children. Tandy's father died when she was twelve years old, and her mother had to give extra evening classes at school to be able to support the children.
Youth
The actress was educated at Western University of Ontario, the main campus is located in the city of London, where Jesse Tandy studied law. Initially, it was a church educational institution of the Church of England, in 1908 the university became secular, and since 1923 it bears its current name. The university is known for its good training program in the field of business and law, occupying in this area one of the highest places in the hierarchy of world universities, as well as for brain research.
At the same time, Jessica Tandy studied acting at the Ben Greet Acting Academy, named after a professor at Oxford University.
Jessica Tandy began her acting career at the age of sixteen on the stage of London, and soon she performed on the famous stages of the British capital in the company of Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.
Biography of the actress
Tandy first appeared on the stage in 1929, in 1932 she made her film debut, and in 1940 Jessica Tandy moved to the United States.
Her American film debut took place in 1944 in Fred Zinnemann's thriller The Seventh Cross, followed by roles in Valley of Resolve (1945), Green Years (1946), Dragonwick (1946) and Amber Forever (1947).
In 1948, Jessica Tandy won the Tony Award for her performance in A Streetcar Named Desire.
From the 50s to the 1970s, Jessica Tandy rarely appeared in films, playing mainly roles on television and in the theater. Among her film roles of that time, the most famous was Lydia Brenner in the Hitchcock thriller "Birds".
A new stage in Jessica Tandy's film career began in the 1980s, bringing her first popularity with the films "The World According to Garp" and "Best Friends" in 1982. Tandy's next successful role was nursing home resident Alma Finley in Ron Howard's science fiction film Cocoon. In this picture, the actress appeared in the company of her husband Hume Cronin, with whom in the next couple of years she starred in the films "Batteries Not Supplied" and "Cocoon: Return".
Her popularity peaked in 1989, when the 80-year-old actress won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the drama Chauffeur Miss Daisy.
in 1991, Jessica Tandy received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the comedy drama Fried Green Tomatoes.
The actress played her last role in 1994 in the film "No Fools" by Robert Benton.
In the United States, Jessica Tandy gained great recognition for her work on Broadway, where she shone from the 1930s to 1989. During this time, the actress has won the Tony Award three times, as well as the Drama Desk Theater Award and the Sarah Siddons Award.
Acting work
During her life, Jessica Tandy starred in twelve films.
- "Forever Amber" - 1947 (Action)
- Birds - 1963 (Thriller)
- "Peace from Garp" - 1982 (Tragicomedy)
- Best Friends - 1982 (Comedy)
- Bostonians - 1984 (Drama)
- "Cocoon" - 1985 (Science Fiction / Fantasy)
- Cocoon 2: The Return - 1988 (Sci-Fi / Fantasy)
- Miss Daisy Driver - 1989 (Melodrama)
- Fried Green Tomatoes - 1991 (Drama)
- "Dance with the White Dog" - 1993 (Comedy)
- Camilla - 1994 (Drama)
- "There are no fools" - 1994 (Drama).
Awards and nominations
- Oscar 1990 Best Actress
- 1992 Best Supporting Actress
- BAFTA 1991 Best Actress
- 1993 Best Actress
- Golden Globe, 1963 Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- 1990 Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy
- 1992 Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film
- Emmy 1956 Best Actress in a Miniseries or Film
- 1988 Best Actress in a Miniseries or Film
- 1994 Best Actress in a Miniseries or Film
- Tony 1948 Best Actress in a Play
- 1978 Best Actress in a Play
- 1981 Best Supporting Actress in a Play
- 1983 Best Actress in a Play
- 1986 Best Actress in a Play
- 1994 Special Lifetime Achievement Award
Personal life
In 1932, Jessica Tandy married Jack Hawkins. The first husband was a British film and theater actor, later a World War II veteran, BAFTA and Emmy nominee, whose career spanned over 40 years. From this marriage, a daughter, Susan Hawkins, was born.
After her divorce in 1940, Tandy moved to the United States, where two years later she married Canadian actor and screenwriter Hume Cronin. Each had a second marriage. Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronin have two children, Christopher Cronin and Thandy Cronin.
In 1990, the actress was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but despite this, in the following years, she continued to actively act in films. 11 September 1994 Jessica Tandy died at her home in Easton, Connecticut.
