A leading Broadway star from the 1920s through the 50s, Judith Anderson was perhaps most famous for her savage, award-winning performance as "Medea" in 1947; as a formidable Lady Macbeth (opposite Laurence Olivier in London in 1937 and Maurice Evans on Broadway in 1941); and as an interpreter of the neurotic heroines of Eugene O'Neill (Nina in "Strange Interlude" in 1928 and Lavinia in "Mourning Becomes Electra" in 1932). Anderson made her film debut in 1933 and played the sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's "Rebecca" seven years later. It was the first, and most memorable, in a series of malevolent character roles that exploited her severe features and commanding presence. Cast against type, Anderson made an effective Big Mama in Richard Brooks' film adaptation of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958). Late in her career she gained a new following as campy grande dame Minx Lockridge on the NBC TV soap opera, "Santa Barbara".
- Also Credited As:
Dame Judith Anderson, Frances Anderson, Frances Margaret Anderson-Anderson
- Born:
February 10, 1898 in Adelaide, Australia
- Died:
January 3, 1992.
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Job Titles:
Actor
Family
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Father: James Anderson-Anderson.
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Mother: Jessie Margaret Anderson.
Milestones
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1915 Stage debut in A Royal Divorce at the Theater Royal in Sydney, Australia
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1918 New York stage debut (Broadway stock) at the 14th Street Theatre
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1918 Went to Hollywood with a letter of introduction to Cecil B DeMille, who rejected her for the movies
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1924 Broadway debut in The Cobra
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1933 Film debut, Blood Money
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1937 London stage debut, Macbeth at the Old Vic
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1947 Starred on Broadway in landmark production of Medea (which ran 214 performances), adapted specifically for Anderson from Euripides s drama by poet Robinson Jeffers; followed Broadway run with an eight-month coast to coast tour
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1949 Returned to Broadway to star as Medea at the City Center
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1954 Appeared on TV s Light s Diamond Jubilee
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1954 Played Lady Macbeth on Hallmark Hall of Fame
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1960 Again played Lady Macbeth on a Hallmark Hall of Fame broadcast
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1971 Starred on stage in title role of Hamlet at Carnegie Hall in New York
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1982 Played the nurse in a Broadway revival of Medea ; production broadcast on PBS (1983)
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1984 Featured in a regular role on TV soap opera, Santa Barbara
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1984 Former Lion Theater on West 42nd Street in New York (Theater Row) renamed the Judith Anderson Theater
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1986 Narrated feature, Impure Thoughts
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1991 Hospitalized in Santa Barbara with a stroke (August)
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Entertained US Armed Forces overseas during WWII
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Toured Australia with an American stock company