---
name: "Judith Anderson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/judith-anderson"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "10 February 1897"
died: "3 January 1992"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 86
updated: "2026-09-16T12:06:36.166012+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Judith Anderson

Actor. Born 10 February 1897 in Adélaïde, Australie. Died 3 January 1992.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 10 February 1897, Adélaïde, Australie
- **Died:** 3 January 1992
- **Active:** 1940–1944
- **Also known as:** Frances Margaret Anderson, Dame Judith Anderson, Frances Margaret Anderson Anderson, Джудит Андерсон, Francee Anderson, Frances Anderson

## Fi1m on Judith Anderson

> Judith Anderson makes menace personal: her Mrs. Danvers is frightening because the attachment matters to her. We value the unsentimental directness, too, which gives *Laura* welcome relief from its characters’ longing.

In *Rebecca* (1940), Judith Anderson’s Mrs. Danvers makes the new marriage feel like an intrusion. Her attachment to Rebecca has an intimacy that Alfred Hitchcock allows to remain troubling, without reducing it to a neat explanation. We found her frightening because she never offers the relief of playing an amusing villain. Beside Joan Fontaine’s painfully insecure character, Anderson makes the danger of being diminished feel immediate. It is an absorbing performance, and a strong reason to stay with a film whose closing stretch is less assured.

She began working in films in 1933, and *Rebecca* was her screen breakthrough. Her reputation as a stage tragedian included Lady Macbeth and the title role in *Medea* (1947), work that matters when considering a film career largely made up of supporting parts. The angular features and velvety voice were well suited to the intense, often sinister women she played. That pattern can encourage a narrow reading of her, as though making people uneasy were all she had to offer.

*Laura* (1944) gives us a useful reason to resist that reading. Anderson’s Ann Treadwell has an unsentimental directness that prevents the romantic longing around her from becoming solemn. Vincent Price makes Shelby Carpenter enjoyably accommodating without making him reassuring, while Anderson supplies a welcome bluntness. Otto Preminger gives each personality enough time to register, then lets another freshen the scene without making the previous encounter feel unfinished. Louis R. Loeffler’s editing keeps the changing impressions clear; Anderson belongs to this carefully timed ensemble, and the film does not need to exaggerate her contribution.

Later film parts included Big Mama in *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1958), but our strongest recommendations remain these two earlier performances. Hitchcock finds the danger in her intensity, and Preminger finds a use for her bluntness that is almost a relief. Start with *Rebecca*, then watch *Laura* before deciding she was only good at frightening people.

## Biography

Dame Judith Anderson (born Frances Margaret Anderson, 10 February 1897 – 3 January 1992) was an Australian actress whose career spanned stage, film and television. Born in Adelaide, she made her professional stage debut in Sydney in 1915 and moved to New York in 1918. She became a leading performer on Broadway from the 1920s onward.

Anderson was acclaimed for classical stage roles including Lady Macbeth (first played in the 1920s) and the title role in a 1948 production of Medea, for which she received a Tony Award. She won two Emmy Awards, including for a 1960 television production of Macbeth. She was appointed DBE in 1960 and AC in 1991.

Her film work included the role of Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's *Rebecca* (1940), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Other screen credits include *Laura* (1944), *And Then There Were None* (1945), *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1958) and *Star Trek III: The Search for Spock* (1984).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Laura* (1944), Fi1m 86, as Ann Treadwell — [page](https://film.one/film/laura.md)
- *Rebecca* (1940), Fi1m 85, as Mrs. Danvers — [page](https://film.one/film/rebecca.md)

## Also known for

- *The Ten Commandments* (1956), Memnet
- *Star Trek III: The Search for Spock* (1984), Vulcan High Priestess
- *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1958), Ida 'Big Mama' Pollitt
- *And Then There Were None* (1945), Emily Brent
- *A Man Called Horse* (1970), Buffalo Cow Head
- *The Strange Love of Martha Ivers* (1946), Mrs. Ivers
- *Cinderfella* (1960), Wicked Stepmother
- *Pursued* (1947), Mrs. Callum

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/judith-anderson