Dame Judith Anderson

[quote] Working with Donald Wolfit,

I love that you put his name before Lillian Gish's and Lionel Barrymore's, Donald Wolfit Troll.

R1 lol it wasn't intentional, it was just who I saw first in her biographies.

Speaking of her mole…

I have heard she was seriously considered for the role of Mrs. Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate.

R4, she’s one of the few who could’ve matched Lansbury’s excellent performance.

[quote] One of the greatest actresses of all time.

Yet Leeann Hunley BEAT her for the Emmy in 1986

R6 Bea Arthur, Angela Lansbury, and Alfre Woodward have lost Emmy's too?

R5 I agree! Judith might be even more cold and calculating!!

What does the Emmy possess?

When it came to acting, Dame Judith was no Leann Hunley.

Just think of what Leeann would have done with Medea or Clytemnestra on stage.

The afternoon where Leann Hunley BEAT Dame Judith for the Emmy

Leann also BEAT theatre greats such as Eileen Herlie, Uta Hagan & Kathleen Widdoes

Despite all of these actresses having acted in some of the classics of Theatre - Leann still BEAT THEM

R11 Al Martinez was hot

A. Just A.

Leann!

Judith turned down "The Little Foxes" because she found the script repulsive, but after seeing Tallulah in it realized she made a mistake. She would have been very different as Regina but no less commanding.

Big dyke ya know.

Dame Judith didn't show up to the Emmys, to save herself the embarrassment of losing to Leanne Hunley

[quote] She was so famous that Walt Disney based Lady Tremaine, the Wicked Stepmother, on Judith Anderson.

OP, is this you in this video?

I've already posted Judith's first press photograph from 1922.

She was a flapper.

[quote] One of the greatest actresses of all time.

Such hyperbole!

I bet there are only two Datalounge Eldergays who've seen Anderson in the flesh.

The rest of us have only seen her in too many lousy supporting roles on TV.

I saw her as the Nurse in Medea on Broadway in 1982, r20. She was fantastic even though it was a small part.

Dame Judith was a lezzy. She loved pussy.

The IGNOMINY!

The Shame! 'One of the greatest actresses of all time' playing a small supporting part.

It was a passing of the Medea mantel, r23.

I love her acting. She was one of the best. I loved her in Laura with Vincent Price.

That's a nice attitude, R24.

My mother (whom some people might consider somewhat of a vulgarian) was taken to 'Medea' with Anderson in the 50s. She described the tedium of the ordeal and having to suppress her girlish giggles.

(I am less ill-mannered than her).

She ate pussy like a champ.

R27 = Vulgarian

Cheap...

Tyler Perry really turned the role of Madea inside-out.

I thought she was building up to make a team with Cedric Hardwicke.

I found this picture dated 1972 with a big cast of stars and Judith in horror-show make-up..

I don't know the production but I guess it's American.

I'm sure it was appropriate for her character, r31.

Why would she do Minx Lockridge?

R32 Poor Judith was typecast as freaks in Grand-Guignol because of her prominent Anglo-Saxon nose.

Her prominent Anglo-Saxon nose wasn't as thick as Owen Wilson's nose or as long as Babs' nose.

Who’s snatches did she lick, back on the day?

^ You rang

The photo at R31 is from a TV production (1956) of Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra," with Hardwicke and Bloom in the title roles. Anderson played Ftatateeta, Cleopatra's nurse. Flora Robson's make-up was even more dramatic when she played the role in the 1945 movie with Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra.

The aged actress prowls the bus depot by Hollywood and Vine, flinty eyes flicking this way and that, severe tweed suit scratching unfettered breasts nearly raw.

It has to be tonight. No longer will she crawl back to [italic]that cunt[/italic]Cornelia Otis Skinner for succor. Fuck that grande dame bitch AND her one woman shows. SHE was on Broadway first.

A Midwestern blonde steps daintily down, cardboard suitcase in hand. Her skin is the milky white of a dandelion, soon to be blown asunder.

The actress practically lunges to Gate 7 at the deliciously defenseless sight, draws on her ciggie, and brisky, almost ostentatiously tosses it at the young girl’s feet. This cornfed chit is the night’s Chosen One.

Eyes widen, pupils dilate, a gasp floats heavenward. “My goodness, I’ve seen you in the movies, haven’t I? Why, you’re… you’re…”

She is. And by morning the mooncalf maiden will know her name all too well, after it’s carved on her Boise buttock.

Flora was no stranger to dusky make-up.

So versatile!

I love Madea movies

Her performance in Rebecca ALONE earns her a DataLounge thread.

Did Judith and Eva La G lock labia?

There were a lot of actors of her generation who appeared in real stinkers at the end of their career:

Laurence Olivier comes to mind. His last films were The Jigsaw Man, The Bounty, Wild Geese II, and War Requiem.

Marlon Brando's last films were Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Brave, Free Money, and The Score.

Rex Harrison post Dr Doolittle- A Flea in Her Ear, Staircase, Crossed Swords, Shalimar, Ashanti, The Fifth Musketeer, and A Time to Die

Elizabeth Taylor's last films were A Little Night Music, The Mirror Crack'd, Young Toscanini, and The Flintstones.

[quote]One of the greatest actresses of all time.

I dunno, I found her quite over the top when I watched Rebecca recently, but also I do realise this could've been due to acting conventions of the time (I also thought Joan Fontaine was kinda ridiculous in that film too).

I'll hand my gay card in at the door as I leave.

R44 For Olivier, Bounty was not a bad movie per se. But Wild Geese II was terrible

BIG MAMA!!!!

An immortal.

Did you like Madea’s Halloween 2?

Another Madea/Medea joke, r48? How droll.

R49 what is your fave??

That's a MAN, baby!

As Lavinia Mannon in "Mourning Becomes Electra" on Broadway.

Florence Reed as Christine

While writing about Lady Scarface I learned that Jane Bowles went all-out to get into Judith's pants when they worked together on the stage. Her efforts failed, which speaks to Anderson's sound judgment.

She said of her two brief marriages, "They were much too long."

R52, R53 It's a pity that the movie version of that play is unwatchable.

How the hell did Roz get that role?

^ Putting a quarter in the swear jar.

Roz was married to the producer wasn't she? She just starred in that empty-headed tear-jerker "Sister Kenny" for the same director.

Was Brisson involved with Electra, r59?

R31, R37

1. I wonder if there was any behind-scenes gossip between semi-gay Cyril Ritchard and Farley Granger.

2. I know that Cedric Hardwicke was Bernard Shaw's favorite actor and this got Sir Cedric Hardwicke his knighthood back in '34.

But I don't know why New York TV producers bothered gathering a good cast such as this to appear in TV production with cardboard sets and primitive camerawork when Vivien had already made a superior big screen version with lavish sets in excellent Technicolor.

TV needed special *prestige* productions, r61. Look how many Tennessee Williams TV versions there are.

I wonder if Judith and Coral crossed paths?

Same birthplace. Both typecast as manipulating BITCHES.

Coral brought more glamour.

Oh.

Another Wikipedia OP.

She could be perfect. Like Agnes Moorehead with less of a hair trigger.

[quote] Oh. Another Wikipedia OP.

The OP has quite obviously cut-and-pasted from Wiki. You can tell because they mention performances and theatrical partnerships that NO one here has seen.

At least we can be grateful that the OP hasn't duplicated the brazen claim that Anderson was "Probably the greatest actress of all time".

R54 the poster is fun. The movie also has great character actors like Eric Blore and Marion Martin. It's free on Youtube.

*3* GIRLS *3*

Lady Scarface

No one really cares about this wizened dyke. Except maybe Star Trek fans.

I loathe sensationalist brainless gossip-merchants but Wiki says—

[quote] Anderson was interviewed by Boze Hadleigh for his book “Hollywood Lesbians” in1994.

She was. And she flips OUT on him at the end of their talk when he says it couldn’t possibly hurt anyone if she came out at her age.

She shrieks, “I don’t owe anyone ANYTHING!! Leave me ALONE!!!”

We can assume that’s when the interview was concluded.

She was horrifying in Rebecca, job well done.

I wonder if it's true that Hitchcock had Judith Anderson on a trolley?

She was a hoot as Herodias in the camp classic Salome with Rita Hayworth. Charles Laughton was also at his hammy best as Herod Antipas.

I love her in "Salome", laughing maniacally as she walks off at the end. Compare her performance to Sian Phillips as the similar Empress Livia in "I Claudius". Only three years later, she was the campy slave Memnet in "The Ten Commandments". ("You prayed for a basket?"), Then back to lady of the house as Big Mama.

You can find her in a few TV specials on line like "The File on Devlin" and "The Ghost of Paulina de Cobre", as well as footage of her as Queen Elizabeth opposite Charlton Heston. I wish there was more of her anthology TV work online, but I'm afraid that's probably all lost. As Minx Lockridge, she got her Emmy nomination for the storyline where she admits that she switched grandson Brick as a baby so he wouldn't be raised as a Capwell. She could also be very funny, evidence in a story where she refused to hear any bad news from Lionel and Augusta (that Sophia was alive) until she had her coffee and her muffin. All you heard when they told her the news off screen was the sound of glass shattering.

Also on "Santa Barbara", they had her flirt with younger characters like Joe Perkins and Cruz Castillo. Her Australian accent, rarely heard, came out in her realizing that the handyman was Joe, at first afraid but trusting him when he said he was innocent of murder, then renting at him. She wanted to be on the show more, but after the first year and a half, they hardly used her. Her last episode fell on the show's 3rd anniversary., and if she had difficulty remembering lines, they hid it pretty well.

Both of them have enormous noses—

Judith shines in two western film noir, "Pursued" and "The Furies", having a memorable moment with a vindictive Barbara Stanwyck and a pair of flying scissors. She later did a "Wagon Train" episode that is quite good.

Of her theatrical movies, only one ("Inn of the Damned") is truly horrible. "Lady Scarface" isn't great, but she's fun in it. She has nice comedy roles in two MGM films, "Forty Little Mothers" and "Free and Easy". Warner Brothers used her well as a Nazi spy in "All through the Night" and as a Danish woman killing Nazis in "Edge of Darkness".

She never sucked my cock......but she ate my snatch.

Yes, R79, she did four movies at Warner Bros; 'All Through the Night, and Kings Row (both 1942), Edge of Darkness, and Stage Door Canteen (both 1943).

What I find fascinating is that Warners had Dame Judith on the lot as well as Dame Gladys Cooper in '42 and Dame Flora Robson in '39, '40 and '44.

Warner wanted Flora Robson on a seven year contract but she wanted to get back home while London was suffering with the Nazi bombardment.

Rare interview. She's amazingly polite even though the interviewer is asking about things that I wouldn't remember a year later on 20 or 30.

R82 I very much enjoyed that interview. She has an agile, quick delivery. And says some good things at 11.30 about the differences of working on stage and on screen. She says she feels ‘puny’ and ‘powerless’ on screen.

15.30, She tells an amusing anecdote abut her over-critical mother and 'Laura'.

17, 'A man called Horse' was disastrous, Richard Harris was envious.

23, My sanity and insecurity; 24 Raising an eyebrow with Barbara Stanwyck. 27, Charles Laughton is tricky.

30, 'The Ten Commandments was circus'; Mr De Mille says 'No'. 33, Tennessee Wiliams is ugly and 37, Burl Ives has girth.

R74 is that Edith from Downton Abbey as the second Mrs. DeWinter?

R84 Got my own answer. Her name is Olivia Colman. She reminded me of Laura Carmichael.

Dame Judith would have been great as a Violet Crawley like character, but Maggie Smith would probably get unintentional giggles as Mrs. Danvers or Herodias. Both would be fabulous as Lady Bracknell.

Academy Award winning actress Olivia Colman!

Mrs Danvers floating towards her is hysterical!

[quote]r83 'A man called Horse' was disastrous, Richard Harris was envious.

Why was a man called horse? (Well, I know why he is in my household…)

r82 Thanks for posting the interview. She is generous with her praise of colleagues she admired, including Olivier, Hitchcock, Selznick, Rita Hayworth, Delmer Daves, Lewis Milestone, Elizabeth Taylor, and Freddie Young.

R69, R82 I just realised both these clips are part of the so-called "Judith Anderson Archives" on Youtube.

I assume this archive is run by a Lesbian who's young and Irish but canny and astute.

[quote] Dame Judith Anderson . . .Working with Donald Wolfit

No, not so. Different continents.

She had always wanted to play Hamlet, and, at age 72, finally did, but the critics were not kind.

NYT:

Dame Judith Anderson has had a long, distinguished career in the theater and for some time has dreamed about playing “Hamlet.” Not just in “Hamlet”— after all, she once was Gertrude to Gielgud's Hamlet— but as “Hamlet.” Madness? Folly? Disaster? Before Miss Anderson played her “Hamlet” at Carnegie Hall last night (the first of two performances) one expected a little bit of every thing. Should any 72‐year‐ old lady attempt to play Hamlet? Not this 72‐year‐ old lady.

I never realized she was Big Mama ! I always thought Rebecca was overwrought and hammy acting at its finest except for her character. She played chillingly evil to perfection. Alas,I cant watch any movie with Olivier in it.I really dont get him.

[quote] Alas,I cant watch any movie with Olivier in it.I really dont get him.

That, R92, is your misfortune.

When you're more mature and able to open up your mind you will appreciative his energy and artistry.

R93 Honey,if I get "more mature" I'll be older than the Golden Girls ! Im not a Shakespeare fan,so maybe thats part of it. In fact,as I get more mature I find many of the old classics I used to love a tad much,acting wise.

[quote]r91 The New York Times: “Should any 72‐year‐ old lady attempt to play Hamlet?”

I would say no, as Hamlet is supposed to be a college student with mommie and daddy issues.

Even the comparatively younger Olivier, Branagh, Burton, etc. were pushing it.

[quote] “Should any 72‐year‐ old lady attempt to play Hamlet?”

Bernhardt did it with a wooden leg.

I [italic]would[/italic] like to see a 72-year-old Bernhardt play Hamlet drunk. Without the wooden leg.

Olivier was masterful. One of his later movies Dracula, with Frank Langella is a guilty pleasure of mine.

R29 If I were Dame Judith Anderson I would sack the man who made that unflattering pin-up picture!

That may have be a character portrait but it shouldn't have been released to the public.

"One of the greatest actresses of all time."

Or is?

Pola Negri wasn't an actress; she posed in front of a camera and moved her lips.

HOW VERY DARE YOU!

review the nominees one more time!!

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series

Eileen Herlie (Myrtle Fargate, All My Children)

Kathleen Widdoes (Emma Snyder, As the World Turns)

Leann Hunley (Anna DiMera, Days of Our Lives)

Uta Hagen (Hortense, One Life to Live)

Dame Judith Anderson (Minx Lockridge, Santa Barbara)

Not only did I see her live onstage playing the Nurse in Madea

......I met her in a reception line!

so fuck ya!

This is the Datalounge I miss.

[quote] I met her in a reception line!

You met her in a reception line, R104?

Is your name Barry Fitzgerald?

R106 This brings up the question. Did she ever find the marmalade? Hope it wasn't a store bought.

She cleaned out half the muffs between Hollywood and Manhattan.

^

I'm guessing that's Lesbian slang. I wouldn't know.

Dame Judith did!

[quote]Academy Award winning actress Olivia Colman! Mrs Danvers floating towards her is hysterical!

Yes, but that's not Olivia Colman. That's Jo Neary.

Olivia Colman is in that particular episode of "That Mitchell and Webb Look" that this sketch is from, but that's absolutely not her in the sketch.

Hitchcock never had Mrs. Danvers glide in "Rebecca," but he said he made a point in the film of photographing her walking as little as he possibly could. He wanted it to seem as if she were a part of Manderley and was always, always there.

Rebecca...the Musical

the coup de theatre begins at 7:00

[quote]r112 He wanted it to seem as if she were a part of Manderley and was always, always there.

What Mrs. Danvers / Dame Judith was always, always was neck deep in MUFF!

R113 Wow!

Very dangerous!!!

There's an entire saga around that musical, r115.

How you make a satisfactory musical about a handsome, grouchy, insular man and a tediously insular, female milksop?

Broadway's Biggest Scandal: Rebecca the Musical

Wasn’t Anderson preparing to appear in “Caneface: The Musical” when she died?

Did her pussy stink?

Mrs. Danvers as Velma Kelly

Dame Judith was a great tragic actress of the early 20th Century.

Really, r122? Who knew?

She really does look like your cool lesbian aunt who lived in the city, and might visit every 5 years or so on her travels.

Lady Macbeth

The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1967)

R125 is an instructive photo illustrating the difference between stage make-up and street make-up.

As does this, r127...

R128 That moment was shocking.

R125 is a ghastly picture.

But she could be groomed and photographed well (for those who enjoy cleavage; Not me)

Jane Seymour is hiding in r128s chorus line. I think it was her first film appearance.

[quote] Dame Judith was a great tragic actress of the early 20th Century.

I assume, R122, you're talking about her stage roles and that you're an eldergay.

I enjoyed her as the adventuress in THE FURIES, Walter Huston’s last film. Barbara Stanwyck’s character dispatched her character with a pair of scissors.

And of course, she was excellent as Mrs. Danvers in REBECCA.

[quote]One of the greatest actresses of all time.

She's overrated.

[quote] One of the greatest actresses of all time.

Our OP is certainly over-rating her.

Cut-and-pasting notes on a stage career unseen by most of us. And her movie career was mostly in B roles.

Was she a lezzy?

No, she wasn't, R136.

Listen to that interview up above.

Dame Judith outlived almost everyone

She's wonderful in many things, but I have to say I was totally floored by her in a later performance in a TV play I saw on PBS. So many of those actresses as they get older become caracatures of their earlier performances. (Think Bette.) Anyway, Dame Judith was shockingly subtle and very funny in it. Would be interesting to see it again now.

She was a legend

Last night my brother and I watched Alfred Hitchcock's 𝐑𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐚 (1940). Apart from the brief clips from 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐝 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭 (1995), I had never actually seen it. Awesome film.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐈𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 (1946) was what we watched tonight. Now, that was one hell of a movie!

I'd put both of these TCM airings on the DVR back in February, and just watched them.