Judith Anderson

Dame Frances Margaret Anderson, known on stage and screen as Judith Anderson, was an Australian actress born on 10 February 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She built a long career across theatre, film, and television, earning two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for both a Grammy and an Academy Award.

Early life

The youngest of four children, Anderson was born to Jessie Margaret Saltmarsh, a former nurse, and James Anderson Anderson, a Scottish-born sharebroker and prospector. She attended Norwood, a private school, but left before graduating.

Early acting

She made her professional debut in 1915 under the name Francee Anderson, playing Stephanie in A Royal Divorce at Sydney’s Theatre Royal. The company was led by Scottish actor Julius Knight, whom she credited for teaching her the basics of acting. She performed with him in adaptations of The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Three Musketeers, Monsieur Beaucaire, and David Garrick, and toured New Zealand in 1917.

Early years in America

Ambitious to leave Australia, Anderson chose the United States over London due to World War I. She spent four unsuccessful months in California, then moved to New York with no better luck. After a period of poverty and illness, she joined the Emma Bunting Stock Company at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in 1918–19, later touring with other stock companies.

Broadway and film

Her Broadway debut came in Up the Stairs (1922), followed by The Crooked Square (1923) and a Chicago run of Patches (1923). Peter Weston (1923) had a short run. In 1924, she changed her stage forename to Judith and scored her first success with Cobra, co-starring Louis Calhern, which ran 35 performances.

The Dove (1925) ran 101 performances and cemented her on Broadway. She toured Australia in 1927 with Tea for Three, The Green Hat, and Cobra. Back on Broadway, she appeared in Behold the Bridegroom (1927–28) and played the lead in Anna (1928), later replacing Lynn Fontanne in Strange Interlude (1929).

Anderson’s film debut was a Warner Bros. short, Madame of the Jury (1930), followed by her feature debut in Blood Money (1933). In 1931, she played the Unknown Woman in the American premiere of Pirandello’s As You Desire Me, which ran 142 performances.