- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJessie Royce Medbery
- Height5′ 6½″ (1.69 m)
- Jessie Royce Landis was called "an international star" in her New York Times obituary. She was 20 when she made her stage debut at the Playhouse in Chicago as the young countess in "The Highwayman". Soon she was on Broadway. In 1950 she went to London for "Larger Than Life", a dramatization of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, "Theatre". There she received an award for the best performance of the year. The following year in London she had the prima donna role (a singing part) in "And So To Bed". In 1954, she published her autobiography, "You Won't Be So Pretty". Then in the mid-1950s her film career took off after she was Grace Kelly's mother in To Catch a Thief (1955) and Cary Grant's mother in North by Northwest (1959). Although she claimed to have been born the same year as Grant, she was actually more than seven years older.
- IMDb mini biography by: Dale O'Connor <daleoc@worldnet.att.net>
- SpousesMajor General John Francis Regis Seitz(November 2, 1956 - February 2, 1972) (her death)Rex Smith(April 3, 1937 - March 14, 1944) (divorced)Perry Lester Landis(June 7, 1915 - 1925) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenMedbury Perry Landis
- ParentsPaul Bernard MedberyElla A. Gill
- She often stole the show with her blue-bloods and usually played older than she was. She appeared as Cary Grant's mother in North by Northwest (1959), despite the fact she was only seven years older than Grant. She also played Grace Kelly's mother in The Swan (1956).
- She played Grace Kelly's Mother twice. Once in The Swan and again in To Catch a Thief.
- Biography in Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties by Axel Nissen.
- Her son, Medbury Perry Landis, was born with Down syndrome in 1916 and died in 1928.
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