Tandy Family History & Genealogy

Jessica Tandy Born June 7, 1909 in Stoke Newington, London, England, UK Died September 11, 1994 in Easton, Connecticut, USA (ovarian cancer) Birth Name Jessie Alice Tandy Height 5' 4" (1.63 m) A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice Tandy in London in 1909, the daughter of Jessie Helen (Horspool), the head of a school for mentally handicapped children, and Harry Tandy, a traveling salesman. Her parents enrolled her as a teenager at the Ben Greet Academy of Acting, where she showed immediate promise. She was 16 when she made her professional bow as Sara Manderson in the play "The Manderson Girls", and was subsequently invited to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Within a couple of years, Jessica was making a number of other debuts as well. Her first West End play was in "The Rumour" at the Court Theatre in 1929, her Gotham bow was in "The Matriarch" at the Longacre Theatre in 1930, and her initial film role was as a maid in The Indiscretions of Eve (1932). Jessica married British actor Jack Hawkins in 1932 after the couple had met performing in the play "Autumn Crocus" the year before. They had one daughter, Susan, before parting ways after eight years of marriage. An unconventional beauty, she was passed over for leading lady roles in films, thereby focusing strongly on a transatlantic stage career throughout the 1930s and 1940s. She grew in stature while enacting a succession of Shakespeare's premiere ladies (Titania, Viola, Ophelia, Cordelia). At the same time, she enjoyed personal successes elsewhere in such plays as "French Without Tears", "Honour Thy Father", "Jupiter Laughs", "Anne of England" and "Portrait of a Madonna". And then she gave life to Blanche DuBois. When Tennessee Williams' masterpiece "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, Jessica's name became forever associated with this entrancing Southern belle character. One of the most complex, beautifully drawn, and still sought-after femme parts of all time, she went on to win the coveted Tony award. Aside from introducing Marlon Brando to the general viewing public, "Streetcar" shot Jessica's marquee value up a thousandfold. But not in films. While her esteemed co-stars Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden were given the luxury of recreating their roles in Elia Kazan's stark, black-and-white cinematic adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Jessica was devastatingly bypassed. Vivien Leigh, who played the role on stage in London and had already immortalized another coy, manipulative Southern belle on celluloid (Scarlett O'Hara), was a far more marketable film celebrity at the time and was signed on to play the delusional Blanche. To be fair, Leigh was nothing less than astounding in the role and went on to deservedly win the Academy Award (along with Malden and Hunter). Jessica would exact her revenge on Hollywood in later years. In 1942, she entered into a second marriage, with actor/producer/director Hume Cronyn, a 52-year union that produced two children, Christopher and Tandy, the latter an actor in her own right. The couple not only enjoyed great solo success, they relished performing in each other's company. A few of their resounding theatre triumphs included the "The Fourposter" (1951), "Triple Play" (1959), "Big Fish, Little Fish (1962), "Hamlet" (he played Polonius; she played Gertrude) (1963), "The Three Sisters (1963) and "A Delicate Balance." They supported together in films too, their first being The Seventh Cross (1944). In the film The Green Years (1946), Jessica, who was two years older than Cronyn, actually played his daughter! Throughout the 1950s, they built up a sturdy reputation as "America's First Couple of the Theatre." In 1963, Jessica made an isolated film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963). Low on the pecking order at the time (pun intended), Hitchcock gave Jessica a noticeable secondary role, and Jessica made the most of her brittle scenes as the high-strung, overbearing mother of Rod Taylor, who witnesses horror along the California coast. It was not until the 1980s that Jessica (and Hume, to a lesser degree) experienced a mammoth comeback in Hollywood. Alongside Hume she delighted movie audiences in such enjoyable fare as Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), The World According to Garp (1982), Cocoon (1985) and *Batteries Not Included (1987). In 1989, however, octogenarian Jessica was handed the senior citizen role of a lifetime as the prickly Southern Jewish widow who gradually forms a trusting bond with her black chauffeur in the genteel drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Jessica was presented with the Oscar, Golden Globe and British Film Awards, among others, for her exceptional work in the film that also won "Best Picture". Deemed Hollywood royalty now, she was handed the cream of the crop in elderly film parts and went on to win another Oscar nomination for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) a couple of years later. Jessica also enjoyed some of her biggest stage hits, earning two more Tony Awards for her exceptional work in "The Gin Game" (1977) and "Foxfire" (1982). Both co-starred her husband, Hume, and both were beautifully transferred by the couple to television. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1990, Jessica bravely continued working with Emmy-winning distinction on television. She died of her illness on September 11, 1994. Her last two films, Nobody's Fool (1994) and Camilla (1994), were released posthumously. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / [contact link] Spouse (2) Hume Cronyn (27 September 1942 - 11 September 1994) ( her death) ( 2 children) Jack Hawkins (22 October 1932 - 2 January 1940) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Mother of Susan Hawkins with Jack Hawkins and Tandy Cronyn and Christopher Cronyn with Hume Cronyn. Grandmother of actress Katherine Cronyn. 1990: Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. She won a Tony Award in 1978 for "The Gin Game". She won a Tony Award in 1948 for "A Streetcar Named Desire". Starred (with husband Hume Cronyn) as Liz Marriott on NBC Radio's "The Marriage" (1953-1954). 1989: She became the 12th performer to win the Triple Crown of acting. Oscar: Best Actress, Driving Miss Daisy (1989); Tonys: Best Actress-Play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1948) and Best Actress-Play, "The Gin Game" (1978) and Best Actress-Play, "Foxfire" (1983); Emmy: Best Actress-Miniseries/Special, Foxfire (1987). Has won four Tony Awards: in 1948, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "A Streetcar Named Desire," an award shared with Judith Anderson for "Medea" and Katharine Cornell for "Antony and Cleopatra"; as Best Actress (Play) in 1978 for "The Gin Game" and in 1983 for "Foxfire"; and in 1994 a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement shared with her husband, Hume Cronyn. She also received Tony Award nominations in 1971 as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for "Rose" and in 1986 as Best Actress (Play) for "The Petition.".

John Tandy was born on December 9, 1751 in Bowling Green, Virginia United States, and died at age 64 years old on December 8, 1816 in Warsaw, KY. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember John Tandy.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Calvin Tandy.

Myron W Tandy of Concord, Contra Costa County, CA was born on August 15, 1901, and died at age 89 years old on July 24, 1991.

She was Robert Tandy's mother.

Gertrude A Tandy of Saint Louis, Saint Louis City County, MO was born on August 5, 1919, and died at age 67 years old on March 27, 1987. Gertrude Tandy was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Section W Site 604 2900 Sheridan Road, in St. Louis.

Russell H Tandy of North Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, FL was born on December 9, 1918, and died at age 79 years old on March 25, 1998.

Mary Louise (Rowland) Tandy was born on May 15, 1734 in Lexington, Kentucky United States. She was in a relationship with John Tandy, and had a child Sarah (Tandy) Hanks. Mary Tandy died at age 90 years old on January 13, 1825 in Warsaw. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Mary Louise (Rowland) Tandy.

Gertrude L Tandy of Lees Summit, Jackson County, MO was born on November 3, 1910, and died at age 95 years old on November 20, 2005.

Anne (“Annie”) Webb, daughter of William and Jane Webb, (was born May 6, 1822 in McMinnville, Warren County, Tennessee.) Married Calvin Tandy (on July 13, 1842 in Jefferson County, Iowa.) Had twelve children and lived in Oskaloosa, Iowa. (Died July 1, 1898. Buried at Beacon Cemetery, Mahaska County, Iowa – confirmed on findagrave – obituary included, but no mention of her parents.)

Dair Albert Tandy was born to Sylva Tandy and George Tandy, and has a brother Robert Tandy. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Dair Albert Tandy.

Sarah (Tandy) Hanks was born on June 23, 1791 in Lexington, Kentucky United States to John Tandy and Mary Louise (Rowland) Tandy. She was in a relationship with Thomas Hanks, and had a child Thomas Hanks. Sarah Hanks died at age 70 years old on February 11, 1862 in Carrollton. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Sarah (Tandy) Hanks.

Arthur Joseph Tandy was born in 1892, and died at age 24 years old on August 5, 1917. Arthur Tandy was buried at Ypres (menin Gate) Memorial Panel 19 - 22. in South Wales. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Arthur Joseph Tandy.

Leveta E (Tandy) West of Brownfield, Terry County, TX was born on June 6, 1930, and died at age 75 years old on December 29, 2005 at 902 S. Pecos, in Brownfield.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Priscilla Gertrude Tandy.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Robert Tandy.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember George Tandy.

Jane (Elder) Tandy of Will Australia. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Jane Elder Tandy.

Purchase Edwar Tandy of Malvern Australia, was married to Emma Fisher Tandy, and has a child Annie Maude Mary Tandy. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Purchase Edwar Tandy.