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Biography
Judith Anderson (1897-1992) was born in Australia and, in 1915, began her professional acting career there. In 1918, she went to America and spent five years in stock and touring companies. From 1924 until 1934, she played on Broadway and in touring companies, attracting some critical recognition. Her first great success cam when she played the Woman in Come of Age (1934), followed by Delia Lovell in The Old Maid (1934). In 1936, she played Gertrude to John Gielgud’s Hamlet, establishing her reputation as a classical actor. This was reinforced by her outstanding portrayal of Lady Macbeth in two Broadway productions in 1937 and 1941. Perhaps her greatest performance was in Medea (1947), for which she received a Tony award. Rosamund Gilder in Theatre Arts wrote: ‘Her Medea is pure evil, dark, dangerous, cruel, raging, ruthless.’
In the 1940s, she also appeared 15 films without managing to replicate her considerable stage successes, although she was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940). In the 1950s, her stage appearances were became rare and much of her work was in films and television. She became the first performer to win two Emmy Awards for playing the same role in two separate television productions of the same play: the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Shakespeare's Macbeth, staged and broadcast in 1954 and 1960. In 1984, she appeared as Minx Lockridge in the TV soap opera Santa Barbara.
Small, dark and sharp-featured, she had none of the conventional good-looks of most female stars. It was her passion and ability to explore the deepest of emotions that made her one of the great stage performers.
In 1959, she was made a Dame of the British Empire.
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Theatre: Playbills | IN THE SUMMER HOUSE (by Jane Bowles) with JUDITH ANDERSON |
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