Judith Anderson's Mrs Danvers in 'Rebecca' one among many roles in stellar acting career started at Adelaide Rep
Judith Anderson in her Oscar-nominated role of Mrs Danvers (with Joan Fontaine) in Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 version of Rebecca. At left: Judith Anderson: Australian Star, First Lady of the American Stage, a biography by Australian National Uiversity emeritus history professor Desley Deacon.
Judith Anderson’s role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) was nominated for the best supporting actress Academy Award. This was a highlight of Adelaide-born and -educated Anderson’s film work that was limited compared to her distinguished theatre career in New York and London.
Raised at Rose Park by a determined single mother, Francee Anderson first performed with Adelaide Repertory Theatre and made her professional debut in Sydney in 1915 at 17. Three years later, unable to get film work in Los Angeles despite a letter to director Cecil B. De Mille, she moved to New York and a long stage career.
After her belated role in Rebecca, appearances followed during in 1940s films such as Lady Scarface, Kings row, and Otto Preminger’s Laura (1944) with Gene Tierney. Anderson got to work with Cecil B. De Mille as Memnet for his epic The Ten Commandments (1956). Anderson’s other 1950s film roles included Herodias in Salome (1953) and Big Mama alongside Burl Ives in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a hot tin roof.
Anderson began in television in the early 1950s, starring in prestigious event dramas such as recreating her Medea in 1959 and productions of Macbeth in 1954/60, winning the Emmy award for both performances as Lady MacBeth.
Anderson frequently starred on Hallmark Hall of Fame and in the TV special Light’s Diamond Jubilee (1954), on all networks. In 1970, she had a role in the film A man called Horse. In 1984, besides appearing in Star Trek III: The search for Spock, Anderson started three years as matriarch Minx Lockridge on the NBC TV serial Santa Barbara.
