- Having won Best Actress at age 80, she was the oldest winner of an Academy Award until Christopher Plummer won for Beginners (2010) at age 82.
- 1974: Received an honorary law degree from the University of Western Ontario.
- She and husband Hume Cronyn partnered on screen in 13 movies between 1944 and 1994, usually playing a couple: The Seventh Cross (1944), Blonde Fever (1944), The Green Years (1946), The Moon and Sixpence (1959), Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), The World According to Garp (1982), Cocoon (1985), *batteries not included (1987), Foxfire (1987), Cocoon: The Return (1988), The Story Lady (1991), To Dance with the White Dog (1993) and Camilla (1994).
- At age 80, she was the oldest winner of a Best Actress Oscar for her role as Daisy Werthan in Driving Miss Daisy (1989).
- Is one of 17 actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Booth, Liza Minnelli, Rita Moreno, Maureen Stapleton, Audrey Hepburn, Anne Bancroft, Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn, Helen Mirren, Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange, Viola Davis and Glenda Jackson.
- 1990: She and husband Hume Cronyn were both awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C.
- 1990: Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.
- Mother of Susan Hawkins with Jack Hawkins and Tandy Cronyn and Christopher Cronyn with Hume Cronyn. Grandmother of actress Katherine Cronyn.
- She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6284 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
- Broadway producer Lee Shubert persuaded her to change her name from Jessie to Jessica during her early stage years.
- Has won four Tony Awards: in 1948, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "A Streetcar Named Desire", an award shared with Judith Anderson for "Medea" and Katharine Cornell for "Antony and Cleopatra"; as Best Actress (Play) in 1978 for "The Gin Game" and in 1983 for "Foxfire"; and in 1994 a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement shared with her husband, Hume Cronyn. She also received Tony Award nominations in 1971 as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for "Rose" and in 1986 as Best Actress (Play) for "The Petition".
- She co-starred with Tippi Hedren in The Birds (1963), and then with Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith in Nobody's Fool (1994).
- 1990: Diagnosed with cancer.
- She was educated at Dame Alice Owen's School in Potter's Bar, Hertfordshire, England.
- Became pregnant by her husband, Hume Cronyn, in May 1954 but suffered a miscarriage in June 1954, just a week before the premiere of their television series The Marriage (1954).
- She was the 100th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy (1989) at The 62nd Annual Academy Awards (1990) on March 26, 1990.
- 1989: She became the 12th performer to win the Triple Crown of acting. Oscar: Best Actress, Driving Miss Daisy (1989); Tonys: Best Actress-Play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1948) and Best Actress-Play, "The Gin Game" (1978) and Best Actress-Play, "Foxfire" (1983); Emmy: Best Actress-Miniseries/Special, Foxfire (1987).
- Younger sister of Arthur Harry (1903-1964) and Edward James Tandy (1908-1974).
- She was originally cast as Aunt Trina in I Remember Mama (1948) but later dropped out in order to pursue A Woman's Vengeance (1948). As a result Ellen Corby, who went on to receive a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
- Is one of 12 actresses who won the Best Actress Oscar for a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for Driving Miss Daisy (1989)). The others are Claudette Colbert for It Happened One Night (1934), Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind (1939), Greer Garson for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Louise Fletcher for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977), Shirley MacLaine for Terms of Endearment (1983), Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby (2004) and Frances McDormand for Nomadland (2020).
- Shares some similarities with actress Eva Le Gallienne. Both were born in England but made their careers in the United States, and their first Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category came at age 82.
- She starred (with husband Hume Cronyn) as Liz Marriott on NBC Radio's "The Marriage" (1953-1954).
- Grandmother of Heather (born June 12, 1957), Holly (born March 12, 1959), John (born April 11, 1961) and Wendy (born May 10, 1967) through daughter Susan Hawkins and her husband, John Tettemer.
- Daughter of Harry (1867-1922), born in Stepney, London, and Jessie (née Horspool) Tandy (1878-1961), born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
- Her mother, Jessie, was raised by her grandparents John (1829-1895) and Martha (née Colborn) Horspool (1830-1892) in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
- Is one of 24 actresses to have won an Academy Award for their performance in a comedy; hers being for Driving Miss Daisy (1989). The others, in chronological order, are: Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night (1934)), Loretta Young (The Farmer's Daughter (1947)), Josephine Hull (Harvey (1950)), Judy Holliday (Born Yesterday (1950)), Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday (1953)), Goldie Hawn (Cactus Flower (1969)), Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Class (1973)), Lee Grant (Shampoo (1975)), Diane Keaton (Annie Hall (1977)), Maggie Smith (California Suite (1978)), Mary Steenburgen (Melvin and Howard (1980)), Jessica Lange (Tootsie (1982)), Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck (1987)), Cher (Moonstruck (1987)), Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King (1991)), Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway (1994)), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny (1992)), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite (1995)), Frances McDormand (Fargo (1996)), Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets (1997)), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)), and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook (2012)).
- Jessica and husband Hume Cronyn are one of several sets of spouses to both receive Tony Awards. Hume was nominated 7 times, winning in 1964 for "Hamlet"(Featured Actor in a Play). Jessica was nominated 5 times, winning 3: 1948 for "A Streetcar Named Desire"; 1978 for "The Gin Game"; and in 1983 for "Foxfire". All three wins were for Lead Actress in a Play. Jessica and Hume were nominated in their respective categories for the same production twice: for "The Gin Game" and for "The Petition"(1986). It was the last time either would be nominated.
- She created the role of Blanche Dubois opposite Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desiire.
- Is one of 15 actresses to have won both the Best Actress Academy Award and the Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Golden Globe for the same performance, hers being for Driving Miss Daisy (1989). The others, in chronological order, are: Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday (1950), Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins (1964), Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968), Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class (1973), Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977), Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), Cher for Moonstruck (1987), Helen Hunt for As Good as It Gets (1997), Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005), Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose (2007), Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and Emma Stone for La La Land (2016).
- She was awarded the 1985 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance in Leading Role for the play "Foxfire" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
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