Actress Tandy dead at 85

The Associated Press

NEW YORK Ä Jessica Tandy, who won an Academy Award at age 80 for her portrayal of a spirited Southern matriarch in "Driving Miss Daisy," died Sunday at her Connecticut home after a four-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 85.

Tandy's acting career spanned more than 60 years, mostly on stage in New York and London. She was Broadway's original Blanche DuBois in the memorable 1947 production of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" that co-starred Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski.

Some of her best-known stage appearances were with her second husband, actor Hume Cronyn. Together they starred on Broadway in such plays as "The Fourposter," "The Physicists," "A Delicate Balance," "Noel Coward in Two Keys," "The Gin Game," "Foxfire" and "The Petition." The actress won three Tony Awards, Broadway's highest honor Ä first for "Streetcar" in 1948, then "The Gin Game" in 1978 and "Foxfire" in 1983.

But it was as Daisy Werthan, the independent, crotchety widow who forms a deep friendship with her black chauffeur, that Tandy scored her biggest popular success. "Driving Miss Daisy," which was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, was a box-office and artistic hit, grossing over $100 million and winning a best picture Oscar in 1990 and the best actress award for Tandy.

"I'm not a big movie name, and I knew they needed someone who was bankable," Tandy said at the time.

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