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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. JESSICA TANDY: A TWENTIETH CENTURY ACTING CAREER DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Tonia Krueger, M.A. The Ohio State University 2002 Dissertation Committee: Approved By: Dr. Lesley K. Ferris, Adviser Dr. Thomas Postlewait Dr. Joy Reilly Theatre Graduate Program Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3072911 _ ___ _ (g) UMI UMI Microform 3072911 Copyright 2003 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Jessica Tandy (1909-1994) is perhaps best known in the theatre world for her performance as Blanche in the 1947 premiere of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Mamed Desire. For this role she won her first of three Tony Awards and a place forever in theatre history books. In the film world she is unique in that her career did not soar until she was in her 80s, when she became the oldest person in history to win an Academy Award for acting in the title role of Driving Miss Daisy. Tandy made her first contributions to theatre on the London stage where she was among the best known and respected actresses of her generation, but World War II propelled her, like many other British performers, to America, where she remained the rest of her life, making substantial contributions not only to the Broadway premieres of key American playwrights but also to the development of regional theatre, such as the Guthrie Theatre. Star on all fronts, Tandy is one of the most significant actresses not only of her generation but of her century, and her career can be used as a touchstone for understanding the major movements in her field. This study draws upon reviews and programs of numerous productions from the archive of the National Theatre for the Performing Arts in Great Britain located in Covent Garden, London, Tandy’s personal correspondence housed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C., and materials from Tandy’s private scrapbooks now located in the ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Fairfield, Connecticut, home o f Hume Cronyn. The dissertation examines three aspects of her career: 1) a basic chronology of events, 2) issues of ethnicity, age, and gender in relation to key moments, and 3) an account of theatrical figures and movements informing major phases in her career. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION To you my readers. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to Hume Cronyn for permission to examine the Tandy-Cronyn collection at the Library of Congress and for kindly welcoming me into his home for research on the Tandy scrapbooks. Thanks to Candace Bothwell for copying much already published material from the scrapbooks, so that I could look at it at my leisure. Thanks to Susan Cooper, for leading me to Jessica Tandy. Thanks to Mayura Bisineer, for being ready with the words to the song in my heart whenever I forgot them. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VITA November 20,1970 Bom - Tucson, Arizona 1994 BA Theatre, Truman State University (formerly Northeast Missouri State University) 1996 MA Communication/Theatre, Indiana State University 1997-Present Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, Presidential Fellowship, University Fellowship The Ohio State University PUBLICATIONS 1. “Vivien Leigh,” Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 2. “Edith Wynne Matthison,” Oxford Encyclopedia o f Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 3. “Helen Mirren,” Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 4. “Motley,”Oxford Encyclopedia o f Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 5. “Joan Plowright,” Oxford Encyclopedia o f Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 6. “Jessica Tandy,” Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 7. “Irene Worth,” Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. VI Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8. “Diana Wynyard,” OxfordEncyclopedia o f Theatre and Performance. Ed. Dennis Kennedy. London: Oxford University Press, 2002. 9. “Teaching the Play: Dodoji, Noh Theatre.” Instructor's Manual: Types of Drama. Ed. Barbara Santoro. New York: Longman, 2002. 10. “Teaching the Play: In the Blood by Suzan Lori-Parks.” Instructor’s Manual: Types o f Drama. Ed. Barbara Santoro. New York: Longman, 2002. It. “Teaching the Play: Terminal by Susan Yankowitz.” Instructor’s Manual: Types o f Drama. Ed. Barbara Santoro. New York: Longman, 2002. 12. “Edna St. Vincent Millay.” 20th-Century American Dramatists. Third Series. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 249. Ed. Christopher J. Wheatley. New York: Longman, 2001. 13. “Interview with Ezekiel Kofoworola: Directing The Bacchae of Euripides.” Types of Drama: Plays and Contexts. Eighth Edition. Eds. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, Lesley Ferris, Gerald Rabkin. New York: Longman, 2001: 1100-01. 14. “Book Review: Renaissance Drama by Women: Texts and Documents by S. P. Cerasano and Marion Wynne-Davies.” Theatre Studies 43 (1998): 67-69. 15. “Riding Circuits to Writing Editorials: The Life of Glenn Frank,” The Chariton Collector: Northeast Missouri History and Folklore, Winter 1988: 19-22. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Theatre vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgments................................................................................................................... iv Vita.............................................................................................................................................v List of Images........................................................................................................................... x Chapters: 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 2. Chapter One: Entering the Profession ...............................................................................9 3. Chapter Two: Riding Success ..........................................................................................44 4. Chapter Three: Birth of an American .............................................................................75 5. Chapter Four: Broadway and Beyond............................................................................99 6. Chapter Five: FilmStar ...................................................................................................137 7. Epilogue ............................................................................................................................170 Appendices: 1. Appendix 1: Ben Jonson’s Eulogy to Shakespeare ...................................................... 176 2. Appendix 2: Stage Roles ................................................................................................ 178 3. Appendix 3: Film Roles ..................................................................................................192