Trivia

She was 87 years old when she appeared as the High Priestess in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). She had come out of retirement after being away from motion pictures for 14 years. She was encouraged by her nephew to take the role and received a Saturn Award nomination for that role.

Made her soap opera debut as the grande dame, Minx Lockridge, on the NBC serial Santa Barbara (1984) (which happens to be her hometown). When asked why, she replied "Why not? It's practically the same as doing a play.".

She was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1960 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to the performing arts.

It is said that conductor Arturo Toscanini was so carried away by her performance in the title role of "Medea" on Broadway that he nearly fell out of his stage box applauding.

She was the first and possibly the only actress to win two Emmy Awards for playing the same role (Lady Macbeth) in two separate television productions of the same play, the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" on Macbeth (1954) and Macbeth (1960), with the same leading actor, Maurice Evans.

Attended Norwood Morialta High School in Adelaide, South Australia, where her education ended before graduation. She moved to California, but without success for four months, then she moved to New York, with an equal lack of success.

After a 14 year absence from the screen, she played the Vulcan High Priestess T'Lar in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Leonard Nimoy wanted Judith for the role of the Vulcan High Priestess T'Lar. Judith had no knowledge of Star Trek, never having previously watched the series on television. Leonard gave her some episodes to watch including "Amok Time" (1967). After watching, Judith was excited about the story, and to be part of the film.

She was friends with poet Robinson Jeffers, who wrote the translation of "Medea" which she starred in with great success. She was a frequent visitor to his home, Tor House, in Carmel, California.

Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award (1986).

She was awarded the AC (Companion of the Order of Australia) in the 1991 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to the performing arts.

Won Broadway's 1948 Tony Award as best actress - dramatic for playing the title role in "Medea" -- an award shared with Katharine Cornell for "Antony and Cleopatra", and Jessica Tandy for "A Streetcar Named Desire". In 1959, she repeated the same role in a television production. In 1982, she received a Tony Award nomination as best actress - featured role - play for playing the supporting role of the Nurse in "Medea". A year later, she repeated the same role in a television production.

Along with Felix Locher, Morgan Farley, Richard Hale, Anthony Jochim, Celia Lovsky, Leonard Mudie, Charles Seel, Bill Borzage, Abraham Sofaer and Ian Wolfe, she is one of only eleven "Star Trek" actors to have been born in the 19th Century. She played the Vulcan High Priestess T'Lar in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Of the eleven actors in question, she is the only one who did not appear in Star Trek (1966).

Dame Judith Anderson passed away on January 3, 1992, 38 days from what would have been her 95th birthday on February 10; her body was cremated.

She has appeared in four films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award: Rebecca (1940), Kings Row (1942), The Ten Commandments (1956) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), with only the first being a winner in the category.

She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's mystery thriller Rebecca (1940).

Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen.

She has appeared in three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant": Rebecca (1940), Laura (1944) and The Ten Commandments (1956).

A top classical actress, her Broadway appearances include "The Dove", "Stange Interlude", "As You Desire Me", "Hamlet" (with John Gielgud and Lillian Gish) and "Macbeth", which she repeated twice on television wining an Emmy Award both times.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 17-19. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (2001).