Early acting She made her professional debut (as Francee Anderson) in 1915, playing Stephanie at the
Theatre Royal, Sydney, in
A Royal Divorce. Leading the company was Scottish actor
Julius Knight, whom she later credited with laying the foundations of her acting skills. She appeared alongside him in adaptations of
The Scarlet Pimpernel,
The Three Musketeers,
Monsieur Beacauire, and
David Garrick. In 1917, she toured New Zealand. One year later, she had changed her acting forename (albeit not for legal purposes) to Judith and had her first triumph with the play
Cobra (1924) co-starring
Louis Calhern, which ran for 35 performances. Anderson then went on to
The Dove (1925), which went on for 101 performances and really established her on Broadway. She toured Australia in 1927 with three plays:
Tea for Three,
The Green Hat, and
Cobra. Back on Broadway, she was in
Behold the Bridegroom (1927–28) by George Kelly, and had the lead role in
Anna (1928). She replaced
Lynn Fontanne during the successful run of
Strange Interlude (1929). Anderson made her film debut in a short for Warner Bros., "Madame of the Jury" (1930). She made her feature-film debut with a role in
Blood Money (1933). In 1931, she played the Unknown Woman in the American premiere of
Pirandello's
As You Desire Me, which ran for 142 performances. (It was
filmed the following year with
Greta Garbo in the same role.) She was in a short-lived revival of
Mourning Becomes Electra (1932), then did
Firebird (1932),
Conquest,
The Drums Begin (both 1933), and
The Mask and the Face (1933, with
Humphrey Bogart). Anderson then focused on Broadway with
Come of Age (1934) and
Divided By Three (1934).
Broadway star She had a big hit with the lead in
Zoe Akins'
The Old Maid (1935) from the novel by
Edith Wharton, in the role later played
on film by
Miriam Hopkins. It ran for 305 performances. In 1936, Anderson played
Gertrude to
John Gielgud's
Hamlet in a production that featured
Lillian Gish as Ophelia. In 1937, she joined the
Old Vic Company in London and played
Lady Macbeth opposite
Laurence Olivier in a production by
Michel Saint-Denis, at the Old Vic and the
New Theatre. She returned to Broadway with
Family Portrait (1939), which she adored, but only it had a short run. She later toured in the show.
Rebecca Anderson then received a career boost when she was cast in
Alfred Hitchcock's
Rebecca (1940). As the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, she was required to mentally torment the young bride, the "second Mrs. de Winter" (
Joan Fontaine), even encouraging her to commit suicide, and to taunt her husband (
Laurence Olivier) with the memory of his first wife, the never-seen "Rebecca" of the title. The film was a huge critical and commercial success, and Anderson was nominated for
Best Supporting Actress at the
13th Academy Awards.
1940s '' (1944) Anderson was second billed in an
Eddie Cantor comedy,
Forty Little Mothers (1940) at
MGM. She stayed at that studio for
Free and Easy (1941), then went over to
RKO to play the title role in
Lady Scarface (1941). In 1941, she played Lady Macbeth again in New York City opposite
Maurice Evans in a production staged by
Margaret Webster, a role she was to reprise with Evans on television,
firstly in 1954 and
then again in 1960 (the second version was released as a feature film in Europe). This ran for 131 performances. Anderson made her appearance in
Robinson Jeffers'
The Tower Beyond Tragedy at the outdoor
Forest Theater in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, on July 2–5, 1941. This was the first time it played in a professional manner. John Burr's
Carmel Pine Cone review admired Anderson's performance and proclaimed the production was “an unqualified success." Director
Charles O'Neal persuaded Anderson to appear in both
The Tower Beyond Tragedy and the
Family Portrait. She returned to films to make four movies at Warner Bros.:
All Through the Night and
Kings Row (both 1942), and
Edge of Darkness and
Stage Door Canteen (both 1943). In 1942–43, on stage she played Olga in
Chekhov's
Three Sisters, in a production, which also featured
Katharine Cornell,
Ruth Gordon,
Edmund Gwenn,
Dennis King, and
Alexander Knox. (
Kirk Douglas, playing an orderly, made his Broadway debut in the production.) It ran for 123 performances. The production was so illustrious, it was featured on the cover of
Time. Anderson returned to Hollywood to appear in
Laura (1944). She briefly returned to Australia to tour American army camps. She was back in Hollywood to appear in
And Then There Were None (1945),
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), and
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946). Anderson had rare top billing in
Specter of the Rose (1946), written and directed by
Ben Hecht. She returned to support roles for
Pursued (1947),
The Red House (1947), and
Tycoon (1947).
Medea In 1947, she triumphed as
Medea in a version of
Euripides' eponymous tragedy, written by poet Robinson Jeffers and produced by John Gielgud, who played Jason. She was a friend of Jeffers and a frequent visitor to his home
Tor House in Carmel. She won the
Tony Award for
Best Actress for her performance. The show ran for 214 performances. Anderson then toured throughout the country with it.
1950s On the big screen, Anderson played a golddigger in
Anthony Mann's Western
The Furies (1950) and made her TV debut in a 1951 adaptation of
The Silver Cord for
Pulitzer Prize Playhouse. She guest-starred on TV shows such as
The Billy Rose Show and
Somerset Maugham TV Theatre. She returned to Broadway with
The Tower Beyond Tragedy by Jeffers (1950), and toured
Medea in German in 1951. and
The Elgin Hour. She was in several episodes of
The Star and the Story and an episode of
Climax!, as well as playing Memnet in
Cecil B. DeMille's epic
The Ten Commandments (1956). In 1955, she toured Australia with
Medea. In 1956, she was in a production of
Caesar and Cleopatra for ''
Producers' Showcase''. Anderson appeared in a 1958 adaptation of
The Bridge of San Luis Rey for
The DuPont Show of the Month and played the memorable role of Big Mama, alongside
Burl Ives as Big Daddy, in the screen adaptation of
Tennessee Williams's play,
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). She followed it with a return to Broadway, in the short-lived
Comes a Day by Speed Lampkin (1958). "I don't profess to know much about films", she said around this time. "I seldom see one." Anderson reprised her performance as
Medea for TV in 1959; in the same year, she appeared in a small-screen adaptation of
The Moon and Sixpence with Laurence Olivier. Also in 1959 she played the title character in
Wagon Train S3 E8 "The Felizia Kingdom Story", and appeared in several episodes of
Playhouse 90 and one of
Our American Heritage.
1960s In 1960, she played Madame Arkadina in Chekhov's
The Seagull first at the
Edinburgh Festival, and then at the Old Vic, with
Tom Courtenay,
Cyril Luckham and
Tony Britton. That year she also performed in
Cradle Song and
Macbeth (both 1960) for TV. She won The Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, for once again playing Lady MacBeth. She had support roles in
Cinderfella (1960) and
Why Bother to Knock (1961). In 1961, she toured an evening in which she performed
Macbeth,
Medea and
Tower. Anderson was in
The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1964) for TV. In 1966, she did a performance on stage in
Elizabeth the Queen, which received poor reviews. She received acclaim for her lead performance in a TV version of
Elizabeth the Queen (1968, with
Charlton Heston). She followed it with
The File on Devlin (1969) and
A Man Called Horse (1970). The latter was her first feature since
Why Bother to Knock. In 1970, she realised a long-held ambition to play the title role of
Hamlet on a national tour of the United States and at New York City's
Carnegie Hall.
Spoken word and radio Anderson also recorded many
spoken-word record albums for
Caedmon Audio from the 1950s to the 1970s, including scenes from
Macbeth with Maurice Anderson (Victor, in 1941), an adaption of
Medea,
Robert Louis Stevenson verses, and readings from
the Bible. She received a Grammy nomination for her work on the
Wuthering Heights recording.
Return to Australia Anderson returned briefly to Australia. She guest-starred in
Matlock Police and was in the film
Inn of the Damned (1974). Her other credits that decade included
The Borrowers (1973) and
The Chinese Prime Minister (1974)
Later career In 1982, she returned to
Medea, this time playing the Nurse opposite
Zoe Caldwell in the title role. Caldwell had appeared in a small role in the Australian tour of
Medea in 1955–56. She was nominated for the
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. In 1984, she appeared in
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock as the
Vulcan High Priestess T'Lar. That same year, she commenced a three-year stint as matriarch Minx Lockridge on the daytime NBC soap opera
Santa Barbara elapsing from 1984 until 1987. When asked why, she replied "Why not? It's practically the same as doing a play." She had professed to be a fan of the daytime genre – she had watched
General Hospital for 20 years – but after signing with
Santa Barbara, she complained about her lack of screen time. The highlight of her stint was when Minx tearfully revealed the horrific truth that she had switched the late Channing Capwell with Brick Wallace as a baby, preventing her illegitimate grandson from being raised as a Capwell. This resulted in her receiving a
Supporting Actress Emmy nomination although her screen time afterwards diminished to infrequent appearances. After leaving the series, she was succeeded in the role by the quarter-century younger American actress
Janis Paige. Her last movies were
The Booth and
Impure Thoughts (both 1985). ==Personal life==