Hume Cronyn
Encyclopedia
Hume Blake Cronyn, OC
(July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian
actor
of stage
and screen, who enjoyed a long career, often appearing professionally alongside his second wife, Jessica Tandy
.
, Ontario
, Canada
, the son of Hume Blake Cronyn, Sr., a businessman and a Member of Parliament
for London
(after whom the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory and asteroid (12050) Humecronyn are named) and Frances Amelia (née Labatt), an heiress of the brewing company of the same name
. His paternal grandfather, Verschoyle Cronyn, was the son of the Right Reverend Benjamin Cronyn
, an Anglican cleric of the Anglo-Irish
Protestant Ascendancy
, who served as first bishop of the Anglican diocese of Huron, and founder of Huron College
, from which grew the University of Western Ontario
. His great-uncle, Benjamin, Jr., was both a prominent citizen and early mayor of London, Ontario, but was later indicted for fraud and fled to Vermont
; during his tenure in London he built a mansion called Oakwood, which currently serves as the head office of the Info-Tech Research Group. Cronyn was also a cousin of Canadian-born theater producer
, Robert Whitehead
, and a first cousin of the Canadian-British artist Hugh Verschoyle Cronyn GM
(1905–1996).
Hume Cronyn was the first Elmwood School
boarder (at the time Elmwood was called Rockliffe Preparatory School) and boarded at Elmwood between 1917 and 1921. After leaving Elmwood, Cronyn went to Ridley College
in St. Catharines, and McGill University
in Montreal, where he became a member of The Kappa Alpha Society
.
Early in life, Cronyn was an amateur
featherweight
boxer
, having the skills to be nominated for the 1932 Canadian Olympic Boxing Team.
, Cronyn switched majors, from pre-law to drama, while attending McGill University
, and continued his acting studies thereafter, under Max Reinhardt
and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
. In 1934, he made his Broadway
debut as a janitor in Hipper's Holiday and became known for his versatility, playing a number of different roles on stage. He won a Drama Desk Special Award
in 1986. In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
.
His first Hollywood film was Alfred Hitchcock
's Shadow of a Doubt
(1943). He later appeared in Hitchcock's Lifeboat
(1944) and worked on the screenplays of Rope
(1948) and Under Capricorn
(1949). He was nominated for an Academy Award
for best supporting actor
for his performance in The Seventh Cross
(1944) and won a Tony Award
for his performance as Polonius
opposite Richard Burton
's Hamlet
(1964). Cronyn bought the screenplay What Nancy Wanted from Norma Barzman — later blacklisted with her husband Ben Barzman
— with the idea of producing the film and starring Tandy. However, he sold the screenplay to RKO which later filmed it as The Locket
(1946). Cronyn also made appearances in television, The Barbara Stanwyck Show
, the Alfred Hitchcock Presents
episode "Kill With Kindness" (1956) and Hawaii Five-O
episodes "Over Fifty, Steal" (1970) and "Odd Man In" (1971).
In 1990 he won an Emmy award for his role in the TV Movie Age Old Friends
in 1942, and appeared with her in many of their more memorable dramatic stage, film and TV outings, including The Green Years
, The Seventh Cross, The Gin Game
, Foxfire
, *batteries not included
, Cocoon
and Cocoon: The Return
.
The couple starred in a short-lived (1953–1954) radio series, The Marriage (based on their earlier Broadway play, The Fourposter
), playing New York attorney Ben Marriott and his wife, former fashion buyer Liz, struggling with her switch to domestic life and their raising an awkward teenage daughter (future soap opera
star Denise Alexander
). The show was scheduled to move from radio to television, with Cronyn producing as well as acting in the show. However, Tandy - according to the Internet Accuracy Project - suffered a miscarriage and the project had to be shelved.
The couple had a daughter, Tandy, and a son, Christopher. Cronyn and Tandy lived on Children's Bay Cay in the Bahamas, then at a lakeside estate in Pound Ridge, New York
, and, finally, in Easton, Connecticut
, in a two-story Dutch colonial house on five acres. Jessica died in 1994.
for a time - not because of his own political activity (Cronyn was long believed to shy away from political activism) - but because he had hired, often without caring about their politics, staff members who had already been blacklisted.
After he was widowed, Cronyn married author Susan Cooper
in July 1996. His 1991 autobiography was titled A Terrible Liar (ISBN 0-688-12844-0).
In 1988, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
. Cronyn was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame
in 1999. He died in 2003 of prostate cancer
, aged 91.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
of stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
and screen, who enjoyed a long career, often appearing professionally alongside his second wife, Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
.
Early life
Hume Cronyn, one of five children, was born in LondonLondon, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the son of Hume Blake Cronyn, Sr., a businessman and a Member of Parliament
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
for London
London (electoral district)
London was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario.It consisted initially of the City of London, Ontario....
(after whom the Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory and asteroid (12050) Humecronyn are named) and Frances Amelia (née Labatt), an heiress of the brewing company of the same name
Labatt Brewing Company
Labatt Brewing Company Ltd. is a Canadian beer company founded by John Kinder Labatt in 1847 in London, Ontario. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew; it is now part of Anheuser-Busch InBev...
. His paternal grandfather, Verschoyle Cronyn, was the son of the Right Reverend Benjamin Cronyn
Benjamin Cronyn
Benjamin Cronyn was the first bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Huron. A noted Low Church cleric, he distrusted what he considered to be the romanizing tendencies of Toronto's Trinity College, in 1863, he founded Huron University College which in 1908 grew into the secularised University of...
, an Anglican cleric of the Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
Protestant Ascendancy
Protestant Ascendancy
The Protestant Ascendancy, usually known in Ireland simply as the Ascendancy, is a phrase used when referring to the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland by a minority of great landowners, Protestant clergy, and professionals, all members of the Established Church during the 17th...
, who served as first bishop of the Anglican diocese of Huron, and founder of Huron College
Huron University College
Huron University College, referred to locally as Huron College is one of the affiliated colleges of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario....
, from which grew the University of Western Ontario
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...
. His great-uncle, Benjamin, Jr., was both a prominent citizen and early mayor of London, Ontario, but was later indicted for fraud and fled to Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
; during his tenure in London he built a mansion called Oakwood, which currently serves as the head office of the Info-Tech Research Group. Cronyn was also a cousin of Canadian-born theater producer
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
, Robert Whitehead
Robert Whitehead
Robert Whitehead was an English engineer. He developed the first effective self-propelled naval torpedo. His company, located in the Austrian naval centre in Fiume, was the world leader in torpedo development and production up to the First World War.- Early life:He was born the son of a...
, and a first cousin of the Canadian-British artist Hugh Verschoyle Cronyn GM
George Medal
The George Medal is the second level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.The GM was instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI. At this time, during the height of The Blitz, there was a strong desire to reward the many acts of civilian courage...
(1905–1996).
Hume Cronyn was the first Elmwood School
Elmwood School (Ottawa)
Elmwood School is an independent day school for girls located in Rockcliffe Park in the city of Ottawa, Canada. It was founded in 1915 and is an International Baccalaureate World School...
boarder (at the time Elmwood was called Rockliffe Preparatory School) and boarded at Elmwood between 1917 and 1921. After leaving Elmwood, Cronyn went to Ridley College
Ridley College
Ridley College is a co-educational boarding and day university-preparatory school located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 20 miles from Niagara Falls...
in St. Catharines, and McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in Montreal, where he became a member of The Kappa Alpha Society
Kappa Alpha Society
The Kappa Alpha Society , founded in 1825, was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It was the first of the fraternities which would eventually become known as the Union Triad...
.
Early in life, Cronyn was an amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
featherweight
Featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...
boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, having the skills to be nominated for the 1932 Canadian Olympic Boxing Team.
Career
His family had hoped he would pursue a law career, but subsequent to graduating from Ridley CollegeRidley College
Ridley College is a co-educational boarding and day university-preparatory school located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 20 miles from Niagara Falls...
, Cronyn switched majors, from pre-law to drama, while attending McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, and continued his acting studies thereafter, under Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (theatre director)
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
and at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is a fully accredited two-year conservatory with facilities located in Manhattan, New York City – at 120 Madison Avenue, in a landmark building designed by noted architect Stanford White as the original Colony Club – and in Hollywood, California...
. In 1934, he made his Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut as a janitor in Hipper's Holiday and became known for his versatility, playing a number of different roles on stage. He won a Drama Desk Special Award
Drama Desk Special Award
The Drama Desk Special Award is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprising New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors. It is a non-competitive award that honors an individual or an organization that has made a significant contribution to Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway,...
in 1986. In 1990, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
.
His first Hollywood film was Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
(1943). He later appeared in Hitchcock's Lifeboat
Lifeboat (film)
Lifeboat is an American war film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story written by John Steinbeck. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn and Canada Lee, and is set entirely on a lifeboat.The film is...
(1944) and worked on the screenplays of Rope
Rope (film)
Rope is a 1948 American thriller film based on the play Rope by Patrick Hamilton and adapted by Hume Cronyn and Arthur Laurents, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Sidney Bernstein and Hitchcock as the first of their Transatlantic Pictures productions...
(1948) and Under Capricorn
Under Capricorn
Under Capricorn is an Alfred Hitchcock historical feature film.-Production:The film is based on the novel Under Capricorn by Helen Simpson, with screenplay by James Bridie, and adaptation by Hume Cronyn. The movie was co-produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for their short-lived production...
(1949). He was nominated for an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for best supporting actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for his performance in The Seventh Cross
The Seventh Cross
Anna Seghers' novel The Seventh Cross , is one of the better-known examples of German literature circa World War II. It was published first in America, in an abridged version, in September 1942 by Little, Brown and Company...
(1944) and won a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for his performance as Polonius
Polonius
Polonius is a character in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is King Claudius's chief counsellor, and the father of Ophelia and Laertes. Polonius connives with Claudius to spy on Hamlet...
opposite Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(1964). Cronyn bought the screenplay What Nancy Wanted from Norma Barzman — later blacklisted with her husband Ben Barzman
Ben Barzman
Ben Barzman was a Canadian journalist, screenwriter, and novelist. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, and died in Santa Monica, California, USA. He is best known as a writer or co-writer of more than 20 films, from You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith to The Head of Normande St...
— with the idea of producing the film and starring Tandy. However, he sold the screenplay to RKO which later filmed it as The Locket
The Locket
The Locket is a suspense film directed by John Brahm, starring Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Raymond, and released by RKO Radio Pictures...
(1946). Cronyn also made appearances in television, The Barbara Stanwyck Show
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
The Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential...
, the Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
episode "Kill With Kindness" (1956) and Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for twelve seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. The show featured a fictional state police unit run by Detective Steve McGarrett,...
episodes "Over Fifty, Steal" (1970) and "Odd Man In" (1971).
In 1990 he won an Emmy award for his role in the TV Movie Age Old Friends
Cronyn and Tandy
Cronyn married the actress Jessica TandyJessica Tandy
Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy was an English-American stage and film actress.She first appeared on the London stage in 1926 at the age of 16, playing, among others, Katherine opposite Laurence Olivier's Henry V, and Cordelia opposite John Gielgud's King Lear. She also worked in British films...
in 1942, and appeared with her in many of their more memorable dramatic stage, film and TV outings, including The Green Years
The Green Years (film)
The Green Years is a 1946 American comedy-drama film featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, and Jessica Tandy, based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title...
, The Seventh Cross, The Gin Game
The Gin Game
The Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
, Foxfire
Foxfire (play)
Foxfire is a play by Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn based on the Foxfire books, about Appalachian culture and traditions in north Georgia. The 1982 Broadway production starred Jessica Tandy, who won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play...
, *batteries not included
*batteries not included
*batteries not included is a 1987 family-science fiction film directed by Matthew Robbins about small extraterrestrial living machines that save an apartment block under threat from property development....
, Cocoon
Cocoon (film)
The score for Cocoon was composed and conducted by James Horner. The soundtrack was released twice, through Polydor Records in 1985 and a reprint through P.E.G. in 1997 and features eleven tracks of score and a vocal track performed by Michael Sembello...
and Cocoon: The Return
Cocoon: The Return
Cocoon: The Return is a 1988 science fiction film that is the sequel to the 1985 film Cocoon. All of the starring actors from the first film reprised their roles in this film, although Brian Dennehy only appears in one scene at the end of the film...
.
The couple starred in a short-lived (1953–1954) radio series, The Marriage (based on their earlier Broadway play, The Fourposter
The Fourposter
The Fourposter is a 1951 play written by Jan de Hartog. The two-character story spans thirty-five years, from 1890 to 1925, as it focuses on the trials and tribulations, laughters and sorrows, and hopes and disappointments experienced by Agnes and Michael throughout their marriage...
), playing New York attorney Ben Marriott and his wife, former fashion buyer Liz, struggling with her switch to domestic life and their raising an awkward teenage daughter (future soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
star Denise Alexander
Denise Alexander
Denise Alexander is a well-known American soap opera actress, most known for her role as Lesley Webber on General Hospital, a role she originally played from 1973 to 1984 and 1996 to present....
). The show was scheduled to move from radio to television, with Cronyn producing as well as acting in the show. However, Tandy - according to the Internet Accuracy Project - suffered a miscarriage and the project had to be shelved.
The couple had a daughter, Tandy, and a son, Christopher. Cronyn and Tandy lived on Children's Bay Cay in the Bahamas, then at a lakeside estate in Pound Ridge, New York
Pound Ridge, New York
Pound Ridge is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,104 at the 2010 census.The town is located in the eastern corner of the county, bordered by New Canaan, Connecticut, to the east, Stamford, Connecticut, to the south, Bedford, New York, to the west and...
, and, finally, in Easton, Connecticut
Easton, Connecticut
Easton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,490 at the 2010 census. Easton contains the historic district of Aspetuck....
, in a two-story Dutch colonial house on five acres. Jessica died in 1994.
Personal life
Cronyn appeared on the infamous Hollywood blacklistHollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
for a time - not because of his own political activity (Cronyn was long believed to shy away from political activism) - but because he had hired, often without caring about their politics, staff members who had already been blacklisted.
After he was widowed, Cronyn married author Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper
Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
in July 1996. His 1991 autobiography was titled A Terrible Liar (ISBN 0-688-12844-0).
In 1988, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
. Cronyn was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame
Canada's Walk of Fame , located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians...
in 1999. He died in 2003 of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
, aged 91.
Stage
- Hipper's Holiday - 1934
- High Tor - 1937
- There's Always a Breeze - 1938
- Escape This Night - 1938
- Off to Buffalo - 1939
- Three Sisters - 1939
- The Weak Link - 1940
- Retreat to Pleasure - 1940
- Mr. Big - 1941
- Portrait of a Madonna - 1946 (Director)
- The Survivors - 1948
- Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep - 1950
- Hilda Crane - 1950
- The Little Blue Light - 1951
- The FourposterThe FourposterThe Fourposter is a 1951 play written by Jan de Hartog. The two-character story spans thirty-five years, from 1890 to 1925, as it focuses on the trials and tribulations, laughters and sorrows, and hopes and disappointments experienced by Agnes and Michael throughout their marriage...
- 1951 - The HoneysThe Honeys (play)The Honeys is a play written by Roald Dahl. It toured Boston, Philadelphia and New Haven before opening on Broadway on 28 April 1955. It starred Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, and Dorothy Stickney. Although it received some good notices, it ran for only 36 performances...
- 1955 - A Day By The Sea - 1955
- The Egghead - 1957
- The Man in the Dog Suit - 1958
- Triple Play - 1959
- Big Fish, Little Fish - 1961
- Hamlet - 1964 (Tony AwardTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for role of Polonius) - The Physicists - 1964
- Slow Dance on the Killing Ground - 1964
- A Delicate Balance - 1966
- Promenade, All! - 1972
- Noël Coward in Two Keys - 1974
- The Gin Game - 1977 (performed, produced)
- Foxfire - 1982 (performed, wrote play and lyrics)
- The Petition - 1986
Filmography
- Shadow of a DoubtShadow of a DoubtShadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
(1943) - Phantom of the OperaPhantom of the Opera (1943 film)Phantom of the Opera is a 1943 Universal horror film starring Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Claude Rains, directed by Arthur Lubin, and filmed in Technicolor. The original music score was composed by Edward Ward....
(1943) - The Cross of LorraineThe Cross of LorraineThe Cross of Lorraine is a 1943 war film about French prisoners of war held by the Germans in World War II. It stars Jean-Pierre Aumont and Gene Kelly and was adapted from Hans Habe's novel A Thousand Shall Fall.-Cast:*Jean-Pierre Aumont as Paul...
(1943) - LifeboatLifeboat (film)Lifeboat is an American war film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story written by John Steinbeck. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn and Canada Lee, and is set entirely on a lifeboat.The film is...
(1944) - The Seventh CrossThe Seventh Cross (1944 film)The Seventh Cross is a 1944 film starring Spencer Tracy, Hume Cronyn, Ray Collins and Jessica Tandy. Cronyn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor...
(1944) - Main Street After Dark (1945)
- The Sailor Takes a Wife (1945)
- A Letter for EvieA Letter for Evie-Plot:This film is a Cyrano type love story with a wartime setting. A soldier , answers a letter intended for his more handsome and wolfish buddy .-Cast:* Marsha Hunt - Evie O'Connor* John Carroll - Edgar 'Wolf' Larson...
(1945) - Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld FolliesThe Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
(1946) - The Postman Always Rings TwiceThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 film)The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 drama-film noir based on the 1934 novel of the same name by James M. Cain. This adaptation of the novel is the best known, featuring Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames, and Audrey Totter...
(1946) - The Green YearsThe Green Years (film)The Green Years is a 1946 American comedy-drama film featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, and Jessica Tandy, based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title...
(1946) - The Beginning or the EndThe Beginning or the EndThe Beginning or the End is a 1947 film about the development of the atomic bomb in World War II.It was directed by Norman Taurog and starred Brian Donlevy and Hume Cronyn...
(1947) - Brute ForceBrute Force (1947 film)Brute Force is a brooding, brutal film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn and Charles Bickford. It was directed by Jules Dassin, with a screenplay by Richard Brooks and the cinematography by William H. Daniels....
(1947) - The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
- Top o' the Morning (1949)
- People Will TalkPeople Will TalkPeople Will Talk is a romantic comedy/drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck from a screenplay by Mankiewicz, based on the German play by Curt Goetz, which had been made into a movie in Germany...
(1951) - Crowded ParadiseCrowded ParadiseCrowded Paradise is a 1956 film starring Hume Cronyn and Nancy Kelly. The movie was directed by Fred Pressburger.-Cast:*Hume Cronyn .... George Heath*Nancy Kelly .... Louise Heath*Frank Silvera .... Papa Diaz*Enid Rudd .... Felicia Diaz...
(1956) - The Moon and Sixpence (1959) (television)
- A Doll's HouseA Doll's House (1959 film)A Doll's House is a 1959 made for television movie, directed by George Schaefer. It is based on Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House.-Cast:* Julie Harris — Nora Helmer* Christopher Plummer — Torvald Helmer* Hume Cronyn — Nils Krogstad...
(1959) (television) - Juno and the Paycock (1960) (television)
- Sunrise at CampobelloSunrise at CampobelloSunrise at Campobello is a 1960 American biographical film made by Dore Schary Productions and Warner Bros. It tells the story of the initial struggle by future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when he was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 in August...
(1960) - CleopatraCleopatra (1963 film)Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
(1963) - HamletRichard Burton's HamletRichard Burton’s Hamlet is a common name for both the Broadway production of William Shakespeare's tragedy that played from April 9 through August 8 of 1964 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and for the filmed record of it that has been released theatrically and on home video.-Background:The production...
(1964) - The Arrangement (1969)
- Gaily, GailyGaily, GailyGaily, Gaily is a 1969 comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It is based on the Autobiographical novel by Ben Hecht and stars Beau Bridges, Melina Mercouri, Brian Keith, and George Kennedy....
(1969) - There Was a Crooked Man...There Was a Crooked Man...There Was a Crooked Man... is a 1970 western comedy starring Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film follows Paris Pitman , a charismatic criminal who ends up in jail, and his attempts to escape the prison of warden Lopeman...
(1970) - The Parallax ViewThe Parallax ViewThe Parallax View is a 1974 American thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, Hume Cronyn and William Daniels. The film was adapted by David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr and an uncredited Robert Towne from the 1970 novel by Loren Singer...
(1974) - ConrackConrack (1974 film)Conrack is a 1974 film based on the 1972 autobiographical book The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy, directed by Martin Ritt and starring Jon Voight in the title role, alongside Paul Winfield, Madge Sinclair, Hume Cronyn and Antonio Fargas...
(1974) - RolloverRollover (film)Rollover is a 1981 political and financial thriller directed by Alan J. Pakula and starring Jane Fonda and Kris Kristofferson.-Plot summary:...
(1981) - Honky Tonk FreewayHonky Tonk FreewayHonky Tonk Freeway is a UK comedy film directed by John Schlesinger. It was released in August 1981 by Universal Studios. The film, conceived and co-produced by Don Boyd, was one of the most expensive box office flops in history, losing its British backers Thorn-EMI an estimated $11,000,000 and...
(1981) - The Gin GameThe Gin GameThe Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
(1981) (television) - The World According to GarpThe World According to Garp (film)The World According to Garp is 1982 American comedy drama film directed by George Roy Hill, based on the novel of the same title by John Irving, who also wrote the script together with Steve Tesich...
(1982) - ImpulseImpulse (1984 film)Impulse is a 1984 science fiction thriller film about the residents of a small rural town, that after a small earthquake ruptures the seal on a toxic waste burial site, start to exhibit strange and violent behavior. The film was directed by Graham Baker, and stars Tim Matheson, Meg Tilly, and Hume...
(1984) - Brewster's MillionsBrewster's Millions (1985 film)Brewster's Millions is a 1985 comedy film starring Richard Pryor and John Candy based on the 1902 novel of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon. It is the seventh film based on the story, with a screenplay by Herschel Weingrod & Timothy Harris...
(1985) - CocoonCocoon (film)The score for Cocoon was composed and conducted by James Horner. The soundtrack was released twice, through Polydor Records in 1985 and a reprint through P.E.G. in 1997 and features eleven tracks of score and a vocal track performed by Michael Sembello...
(1985) - *batteries not included*batteries not included*batteries not included is a 1987 family-science fiction film directed by Matthew Robbins about small extraterrestrial living machines that save an apartment block under threat from property development....
(1987) - FoxfireFoxfire (1987 film)Foxfire is a 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie starring Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and John Denver, based on the play of the same name. The movie aired on CBS on December 13, 1987. Tandy won an Emmy Award for her performance.-External links:*...
(1987) (television) - Cocoon: The ReturnCocoon: The ReturnCocoon: The Return is a 1988 science fiction film that is the sequel to the 1985 film Cocoon. All of the starring actors from the first film reprised their roles in this film, although Brian Dennehy only appears in one scene at the end of the film...
(1988) - Day One (1989) (television)
- Age-Old Friends (1989) (television)
- Christmas on Division Street (1991) (television)
- Broadway Bound (1992) (television)
- To Dance with the White DogTo Dance with the White DogTo Dance with the White Dog is a 1990 novel by Georgia author Terry Kay, based on the experiences of his father.-Plot summary:Sam Peek happily resides in Hart County, Georgia as a pecan farmer and local celebrity featured in many gardening/horticultural magazines. He and his wife Cora are both in...
(1993) (television) - The Pelican BriefThe Pelican Brief (film)The Pelican Brief is a 1993 legal crime thriller based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film stars Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham...
(1993) - Camilla (1994)
- Marvin's Room (1996)
- 12 Angry Men12 Angry Men (1997 film)12 Angry Men is a 1997 television film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the Reginald Rose teleplay of the same title.-Plot:After the final closing arguments have been presented to the judge, she gives her instructions to the jury. In the United States , the verdict in criminal cases must...
(1997) (television) - Alone (1997) (television)
- Seasons of Love (1998) (television)
- Sea People (1999) (television)
- Santa and Pete (1999) (television)
- Yesterday's Children (2000) (television)
- Off SeasonOff SeasonOff Season is a 2001 TV movie directed by Bruce Davison, and starring Sherilyn Fenn, Rory Culkin, Hume Cronyn, Adam Arkin, and Bruce Davison...
(2001) (television)