Cronyn, Hume Blake

▪ 2004

      Canadian-born actor (b. July 18, 1911, London, Ont.—d. June 15, 2003, Fairfield, Conn.), had a versatility that enabled him to be convincing in stage and screen character portrayals that ranged all the way from quiet and bookish to curmudgeonly to sinister. He was especially noted for his acting partnership with his wife, Jessica Tandy, during much of their almost 52-year marriage, which ended with her death in 1994. He also directed, wrote screenplays, and produced television shows. Cronyn studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and in 1934 made his Broadway debut in Hipper's Holiday. In 1943 he went to Hollywood for his first film role, in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. Among the numerous films that followed were Lifeboat (1944), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), and People Will Talk (1951). During that time he also appeared with Tandy in such films as The Seventh Cross (1944) and The Green Years (1946). Cronyn and Tandy first performed together onstage in 1951 in The Fourposter, and they went on to star in regional theatres and on Broadway in such notable stage productions as A Delicate Balance (1966), The Gin Game (1977), Foxfire (1982), and The Petition (1986). Later films together included Cocoon (1985) and its sequel, Cocoon: The Return (1988), Batteries Not Included (1987), and the television feature To Dance with the White Dog (1994), for which Cronyn won his third Emmy Award—his first having been for Age-Old Friends (1989) and his second for Neil Simon's Broadway Bound (1992). Cronyn and Tandy were elected to the Theater Hall of Fame in 1979 and in 1986 were presented with the Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Medal. In addition, in 1994—many years after Cronyn had won a Tony Award for his performance in Sir John Gielgud's 1964 production of Hamlet—he and Tandy were jointly honoured with the first Tony for lifetime achievement.

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