Biography
Jessie Royce Landis was an American actress. Born Jessie Medbury in Chicago, Illinois, she trained at the Hinshaw Dramatic School and began her stage career in the 1920s with the Evanston Stock Company, later appearing in over forty-five Broadway and London productions.
She made her film debut in the late 1940s and became known in the 1950s for character roles, often as aristocratic mothers. Her notable screen credits include Jessie Stevens in To Catch a Thief (1955), Princess Beatrix in The Swan (1956), Clara Thornhill in North by Northwest (1959), and Harriet DuBarry Mossman in Airport (1970). She also appeared in television series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Columbo. Landis published her autobiography, You Won't Be So Pretty, in 1954.
