LEST WE FORGET DAME JUDITH ANDERSON
(February 10, 1897 - Jaunary 3, 1992)

"I have not myself a very serene temperament." Judith Anderson knew she gave fellow actors a hard time.  During the many years she starred as Medea she was extremely aware of anyone moving on her lines or taking a tone from a line that had just been said, and the cast came to dread her extensive notes after a performance.  Marian Seldes, who played one of her ladies-in-waiting, remarked that "her standards for behavior in and out of the theater were high...."

Born in Adelaide, Australia, she decided at the age of seven--when she saw Dame Nellie Melba, the Australian signer perform--that she wanted to act.
Her father, who had once been known as the "Silver king of Australia," lost his money through gambling and left his family when she was five, leaving her mother to support her children.  When they moved to Sydney in 1915 she made her first professional appearance as Stephanie in Julius Knight's production of A Royal Divorce.  After touring in several popular plays for a couple of years, members of Knight's company convinced her to try her luck in America. Armed with a letter of introduction to Cecil B. De Mille and accompanied by her mother, she traveled to Hollywood.  After four unsuccessful months, she and her mother relocated to New York.
                            Her Broadway debut occurred in 1922.  Billed as Frances Anderson (her birth name), she appeared with Arnold Daly in On the Stairs.  Changing her first name to Judith, her next notable performance was as Elsie Von Zile in Martin Brown's Cobra (1924). David Belasco cast her in a two-season run of Willard Mack's  play The Dove.  Following her role in George Kelly's
Behold the Bridegroom (1927), she succeeded Lynn Fontanne as Nina Leeds in Strange Interlude. Other starring roles in New York included: Lavinia in O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra, Delia in Zoe Akins's Pulitzer-prize winning drama The Old Maid.  She had no formal training or experience in classical drama, but Guthrie McClintic insisted on casting her as Gertrude in the John Gielgud production of Hamlet (1936).  Thus was her reputation as a 'classical' actress established.  A London appearance at the Old Vic in 1937 as Lady Macbeth opposite Laurence Olivier followed.

She starred as Clytemnestra and directed Robinson Jeffers's
The Tower Beyond Tragedy.  Critics praised her Lady Macbeth opposite Maurice Evans in 1941 and when Katharine Cornell revived
The Three Sisters, she played Olga to high praise.

All of her prior performances were eclipsed however when in 1947, under the direction of John Gielgud, she created the vengeful Medea in Jeffers's adaptation of Euripides' tragedy.  It was the premiere of his play, Gielgud's first production of a Greek classic, and the first time it had been done in the modern professional theatre.  Considered by most critics to be Anderson's most brilliant portrayal, she received the Donaldson Award, the New York Critics' Award and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Award for best speech, and she was named the "First Lady of the Theatre" by the General Federation of Women's Clubs.

As Medea

She won the Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance and toured in this role in Germany in 1951 and to France and Australia 1955-56.

In 1953 she was directed by Charles Laughton in his adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet's John Brown's Body with a cast featuring Raymond Massey and Tyrone Power.
 She toured extensively in her most famous roles and played the lead in Maxwell Anderson's Elizabeth the Queen. She realized a long-held ambition to play Hamlet on a national tour of the U.S. and at New York's Carnegie Hall.   Playing Hamlet was in emulation of the Divine Sarah Bernhardt.  And in 1982 she played the role of the Nurse in Medea starring Zoe Caldwell. The New Yorker praised her "who, at eighty four, is as strong-voiced and commanding a stage presence as ever." (May 17, 1982).  Note: I saw her play the Nurse and went back stage to meet her.  She was tiny and very gracious but I was surprised at her diminutive stature, considering the fierce power of her on stage presence and voice.

As Lady Macbeth

FILM AND TV

Who has ever seen the film of Du Maurier's Rebecca, is not likely to forget her sinister, off center, Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper who tries to destroy Joan Fontaine, the second mistress of Manderley. For this convincing performance she was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress. The role led to several film appearances during the 1940s in Lady Scarface,
Kings Row, All Through the Night, Laura, The Diary of a Chambermaid. and a memorable role as Emily Brent in Rene Clair's And Then There Were None.
Other roles included a gold digger in The Furies (1950), Herodias in Salome and most notably "Big Mama" with Burl Ives as "Big Daddy" in the screen adaptation of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof also starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor.
       On television she recreated her roles as Medea and for  Lady Macbeth she won two Emmy Awards.  

As Mrs. Danvers

In the 1950s to the 1970s she recorded many 'spoken word' record albums for Caedmon Audio, including her performance as Lady Macbeth (opposite Anthony Quayle). Other recordings include an adaptation of Medea, Robert Louis Stevenson verses and readings from the Bible. For her work on the Wuthering Heights recording she received a grammy nomination.

In 1960 she received her highest honor when she was created Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (D.B.E.) in recognition of "her most distinguished contribution to the stage."
On June 10, 1991, in the Queen's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), "in recognition of service to the performing arts."

Source:  Notable Women in the American Theatre. 1989.   Faye E. Head
Wikipedia site.