Buying Options

Kindle Price:	$10.88
	includes tax, if applicable

Redeem a promotion code or gift card

Share <Embed>

Judith Anderson: Australian Star, First Lady of the American Stage by [Desley Deacon]

Follow the Author

Desley Deacon

Judith Anderson: Australian Star, First Lady of the American Stage Kindle Edition

by Desley Deacon (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

5 ratings

See all formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$10.88

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$59.99

$58.86

—

Everyone knows Mrs Danvers as a byword for menace in Hitchcock's Rebecca and as a poster girl for lesbians in the movies. But only dedicated fans know her brilliant creator.

This book tells Judith Anderson's life story for the first time. It recovers her career as one of the great stars of stage and television and an important character actress in film. Born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1897, brought up by a determined single mother, she parlayed her rich, velvety voice and ability to give reality to strong emotional roles into stardom on Broadway in the 1920s. Not a conventional beauty, she was alluring, with her beautiful body, perfect dress sense, and striking, volatile personality. After playing glamorous roles, she was recognised as a Leading Lady of the American Stage under the direction of Guthrie McClintic in Hamlet and co-starring with Laurence Olivier and Maurice Evans in Macbeth. Her reputation as a great actress was confirmed by her landmark performance in 1947 in the ancient Greek Medea, adapted for her by her friend, poet Robinson Jeffers. In a long career, she appeared in Medea again in 1982 at the age of 85, playing the Nurse to fellow-Australian Zoe Caldwell's Medea.

Ambitious and driven, Anderson toured extensively, made numerous highly praised appearances on television, and, after her unforgettable role as Mrs Danvers, was a sought-after character actress in film, playing her last role as Vulcan High Priestess in Star Trek III at the age of 87. She won many awards and was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1960 and Companion of the Order of Australia just before her death in 1992. She had a stormy private life and two short marriages, which, she remarked, were 'much too long.'

Print length

512 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Kerr Publishing
Publication date

1 November 2019
File size

6730 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0814ZZ88H
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kerr Publishing (1 November 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6730 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 512 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 463,021 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 1,463 in Actor & Actress Biographies
- 1,465 in Biographies & Memoirs of Entertainers
- 1,890 in Biographies & Memoirs of Women

Customer Reviews:
5 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Desley Deacon

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more

Customer reviews

5 star		76%
4 star		24%
3 star 0% (0%)		0%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Anne Whitehead

A superb biography of a great actress and a terrific read! Highly recommended.

Reviewed in Australia on 25 March 2020

Verified Purchase

This erudite beautifully written biography restores Judith Anderson to her rightful significant place in the annals of Western drama. Although she was born in Australia she left as a young woman, 'sprinkled with stardust', and her stellar career was mostly enacted in the US. She dazzled on the American stage in some of the great roles from Shakespeare, Euripides, Chekhov and O'Neill and she was renowned for intriguing roles in Hollywood's early heyday, perhaps most notably the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Hitchcock's 'Rebecca' (1940). Desley Deacon's account of Anderson's life and career also recreates the American theatrical and screen worlds from the 1930s right up to the 1980s. A major achievement. Highly recommended.

Helpful

AnnC

Excellent biography of a great actor

Reviewed in Australia on 24 November 2019

Verified Purchase

This is a truly major study of a Judith Anderson, one of the leading actors of the twentieth century. I learnt from it a huge amount of theatre history, film history, and Anderson’s own individual life story. I was struck by how much research went it to, so much detail effortlessly put together into a continuous narrative, which drew me in more and more as it went on. Anderson seems to have been tireless, acting in an incredible number of stage shows and films and endless tours, year after year after year, from her teens to her 80s. The images are great too, it all works together seamlessly. Recommended especially for theatre and film fans, and lovers of biography.

Helpful

Lynette

A wonderful biography, beautifully written

Reviewed in Australia on 7 February 2020

Verified Purchase

I bought this book for pure pleasure, and I was right to do so. Stunning, I high recommend it.