Jessie Royce Landis...

[JackFavell]

Paula, that is sad news about the state of the newspaper world today, but lucky for collectors. My sister worked in the morgue of a major newspaper when she started her journalism career, then later wrote celebrity obits.

Larry, the stories just keep coming! All fascinating and lively. So I take it that Jessie Royce Landis was a great friend of Princess Grace? Did this stem from the beginning of their working relationship, or did it develop after they had appeared in a couple of movies together?

[moira finnie]

Thanks for filling me in on Jessie's hobnobbing. Newspaper accounts about the General's marriage to Jessie in 1956 mention that they were headed for Tehran right after the ceremony where he would take up his duties. Too bad that she never wrote about her adventures on and off the stage and screen in a memoir. It might have sold well, though i suppose one reason the actress had so many friends was probably her discretion.

One more question for you about Jessie, please: You mentioned that she was friendly with Alfred Hitchcock--but did she like working with the meticulous director as well as socializing with him? Was she friendly with Alma Reville and Pat Hitchcock too after making It Takes a Thief and North by Northwest? Thanks again, Larry.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Moira & Wendy,

I think Jesse and the Hithcocks go back before the war in England. She was more a stage star (and a big one, I gather) until after WWII. Her movie career didn't really start until the late 40's..
A lot of her success was in London - that's when I first knew her and she was starring in a big production in the West End.

My guessing about Hitch and directing her is that she may have sent him into purgatory with her ad-libbing (not always his forte, so I've read) but Alma was a great judge of language and wit and may have overruled Alfred if a good line came up.

As I've mentioned somewhere:
Her "Avez vous BOURBON?" line in "To Catch a Thief" was hers (I'd heard that one lots) and Alma kept it in as wit to equal the suspense. Good judgement!!
Also, doesn't she go on & on earlier about bourbon and something like, "You can keep your champagn"?? I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't her and not Hitchcock also(???????).....
Just guessing.....

I never heard her mention Pat Hitchcock, but she must have known her too...

I think Grace Kelly and Jesse would have known each other before they worked together, but can't say positively. I never knew Grace Kelly nor even saw her, except in the movies.
But. they did like and enjoy each other so I'm lead to believe.
I've seen many pictures of them at Monaco; but the media just played up Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Ava Gardner visiting. Poor Jessie wasn't really very well known in America by everyone by & large.
It's just us Classic Nutters, who know all the Character Stars. Pity.

Larry

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Oh, Larry. What can I say? Thanks for more...keep'em coming.

I adore Jesse's sense of humor, and her line about "Avez vous bourbon" is one of my faves. She was just so coy and cute, and when she bats her eyes, and bubbles up that innocent look, it tickles me. It reminds me so much of my mother and my crazy aunties....

When she would laugh if someone told a funny story, would it be more of a giggle, a snicker, or a guffaw?

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Well, it could be all of those.

She wasn't always "ON" as some actresses, like Bette Davis.... And, she had very good manners. In Rome, I sat beside her at a Yugoslavian Embassy dinner and she and I had the only good table manners there.
We had the best time guffawing at some of the so-called hoi-polloi diplomatic bunch and their eating habits. But she never embarrassed anyone, just made out that we were having a private fun time....
We nearly came to grief though when Madame Tito got stuck in her chair because she was so "large a la derriere", as Jesse put it; and then we nearly peed ourselves when I whispered to her, "you mean she has a big fat ass?"....
For years after that, I'd greet her with, "How's your ass?".. And, she'd retort, "My donkey is parked out back!!".... And then we'd howl; nobody ever got the joke....

Sometimes I'd hear - "Are we having fun yet?" at a party...

I just thought of the movie she made with Fred MacMurray - "Bon Voyage"; and she played a French Countess and told Nell, "I modelled her on you!!"....
Never knew if Nell saw the film or not, nor if she was pleased....
Jane Wyman was in that too and they were friends....

Larry

[Sue Sue Applegate]

That is hysterical! From your description, it sounds like she was the life of the party.

Ha! "My donkey is parked out back!" Love it!

I went to the Jesse Royce Landis memorial page, and I can't believe how many remembrances are left for her. (171 in the last several years.) She is still so beloved, mainly for her character in To Catch a Thief, it seems. I guess that would be her most universally known work, but would you have any particular favorites? Any comments on her later stage career?

I saw that she played Queen Elizabeth in Richard III in 1953 with Jose Ferrer, Richard Lansing, Maureen Stapleton, Vincent Price, and a young Tom Tryon, with a total of 15 performances. I would have loved to be at that cast party!

One of her longest Broadway runs was in Dame Nature, with a young Montgomery Clift.

She was even in a few Broadway plays with Frances Bavier, "Aunt Bee" on The Andy Griffith Show! I know "Aunt Bee" would approve of such refined table manners at the Yugoslavian Embassy.

Are we having fun yet, Larry?

[moira finnie]

Hey, I spoke too soon...Jessie Royce Landis did write an autobiography in 1954, though I am going to have to hunt for a copy that's affordable (it's over $75 on Amazon). Library, here I come...:


I also found this very lively interview with the actress from 1956--in which an echo of another discussion on these boards this week--Jessie talks about learning lines by speaking them aloud:
http://tinyurl.com/7urjyl5

Perhaps best of all, I stumbled on some great pics of Jessie Royce Landis on the New York Public Library's Billy Rose Collection.

The first images are from an ambitious play called Young Alexander (1929), a play in three acts by Hardwick Nevin. Produced at the Biltmore Theatre, New York, March 12, 1929. This play looks like quite a project, but only lasted for 7 performances. If only it had been a comedy. The Poor Players--I hope they at least had fun!

Below is Henry Hull as Young Alexander the Great (Hull was pushing 40 at the time. Wasn't' he one of those actors who was born middle-aged?). Jessie is playing "Statira," the daughter of the Persian king, Darius. Could they be overwhelmed with the play's reviews?:


Below: Charles Dalton (a noted Broadway fixture between 1900-1940 who only appeared in three silents) playing Darius III and JRL as the apple of his eye, Statira. Love the flower details on that ensemble, Jessie! :


Below: Henry Hull appears to be an unconscious Alexander being examined by A.E. Anson (who was in the 1931 John Ford movie Arrowsmith as a researcher) as Aristandos while JRL looks both guilty and pleased with herself:


Below: Henry Hull (still out-of-it) and Charles Dalton as Darius apparently confronting JRL. It looks as though the decor and costumes for this must have been pretty impressive:


This image is from a comedy called Dame Nature, a 1936 play in which Landis appeared with a juvenile Montgomery Clift, mentioned earlier in this thread and actor Wilton Graff (at left), who played a suitor of the discontented JRL. The story concerned an unhappily married, self-absorbed couple (Onslow Stevens & Landis) and their neglect of their son (Clift). Interestingly, the play was adapted from the French by that wonderful character actress, Patricia Collinge. This show ran for 48 performances.:


A lovely portrait of a young Jessie, dressed very fashionably, perhaps from the early '20s?:


A snapshot of the actress that looks as though it was taken in the '30s or early '40s.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Dear Moira, thanks for the archival jaunt. Love the photos of Jesse in her theatrical element, and tickled you found a photo of her with a young Monty Clift in Dame Nature.

Great that Patricia Collinge adapted that play from the French.

Lovely!

[Vecchiolarry]

Dear Moira,

Fantastic pictures - and I do mean fantastic...... The costumes for "Young Alexander" are a hoot...
In the one costume with the knot over her 'unmentionable', she looks (from the side) like she's chanelling Pola Negri...

The publicity shot from the early 20's - I can see Norma Talmadge in the eyes and hair; and a bit of Mae Murray in the lips.

I'm not sure but:
I think I recall that one of her "gentleman callers" was George Jessel. Amusing that she may have once been influenced by Norma, and now here was Norma's ex-husband at her door!!!
I also seem to recall that it was George Jessel that told the story around town that Norma buried her pet monkey in the backyard.
$10.00 to whomever can guess who used that in a movie?? Hint: Norma is associated with the film!!!

Larry

[JackFavell]

Those are absolutely thrilling photos, Moira! Fantastic find!

I especially like the 1920's one, it IS very like Norma Talmadge, but I am sure she was an influence on every woman in America at that time.

The title of her book is a RIOT!

[charliechaplinfan]

I'm enjoying your memories of Jessie such a lot Larry and enjoying all the pictures that are being posted. I never knew she was that much of a beauty.

[Rita Hayworth]

I have been reading this thread for 3-5 times and I'm racking my head ... how come I never, ever been introduced to her. She is a fascinating woman that happen to be an elegant actress judging by the numerous photos that been posted on this thread. I watched hundreds and hundreds of movies in my lifetime and I never, ever came across an actress by the name of Jessie Royce Landis.

I keep learning something new each day at the Oasis!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Erik,

Dear boy - you must watch "To Catch a Thief" and "North by Northwest", both starring Cary Grant.
"TCaT" also has Grace Kelly and she is in "The Swan" with Jesse as her mother in both!!
Also, she has a small role near the beginning of "Airport", where she plays an overbearing 'grand dame' smuggler - she gives Lloyd Nolan a very bad time...

I don't think she ever played opposite Rita Hayworth, but she may have known her on the Riviera. She would have known the old Aga Khan, and I'm sure Aly Khan - everybody knew him!!! She certainly knew Somerset Maugham and he lived next door to Rita and Aly; so she may have known Rita (??)......

Larry

[Rita Hayworth]

Hi Erik,

Dear boy - you must watch "To Catch a Thief" and "North by Northwest", both starring Cary Grant.
"TCaT" also has Grace Kelly and she is in "The Swan" with Jesse as her mother in both!!
Also, she has a small role near the beginning of "Airport", where she plays an overbearing 'grand dame' smuggler - she gives Lloyd Nolan a very bad time...

I don't think she ever played opposite Rita Hayworth, but she may have known her on the Riviera. She would have known the old Aga Khan, and I'm sure Aly Khan - everybody knew him!!! She certainly knew Somerset Maugham and he lived next door to Rita and Aly; so she may have known Rita (??)......

Larry

I seen "To Catch a Thief", "North by Northwest", and "Airport" (twice this year) and fiddlesticks her name never ever came into consideration ... How I miss that ... thanks for bring that to my attention ... Larry.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Dearest Larry, I never knew the Jessel story about Norma Talmadge's monkey. Gee, who would steal that story?
Surely not Brackett and Wilder...

I am loving all these Jesse stories. O.K. What kind of perfume did she wear? I always feel like she would have one of those ruffly hankies with lace somewhere close by.

From the way you describe her, it seems her funnier moments were more as reactions to comments, or as an instigator of group antics more than a humorous storyteller. Do tell us more when you have a moment.