Hume Cronyn

The elder Cronyn was a grandson of both Benjamin Cronyn, first bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Huron (1802-1871) and politician William Hume Blake (1809-1870), first Chancellor of Upper Canada. Cronyn's mother was Frances Amelia Labatt, heiress of the Labatt Brewing Company. Labatt remains the largest brewing company of Canada.

Frances' father was businessman John Labatt (1838-1915), and her grandfather was company founder John Kinder Labatt (1803-1866). The Labatts were a prominent Irish-Canadian family, claiming descent from a French Huguenot family which settled in Ireland.

His father was politician Hume Blake Cronyn (1864-1933), Member of Parliament for London, Ontario (term 1917-1921).

He then enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied under theatrical director Max Reinhardt (1873-1943).

While Cronyn's role was well-received, the award was instead won by rival actor Barry Fitzgerald (1888-1961).

Cronyn was sent to a boarding school in Ottawa, where he studied from 1917 to 1921. The school was at the time called "Rockliffe Preparatory School", but has since been renamed to Elmwood School. Elmwood has become a school for girls. Cronyn attended first Ridley College in St. Catharines, and then McGill University in Montreal. During his university years, Cronyn was a featherweight boxer.

He was nominated for Canada's Olympic Boxing team for the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Cronyn was studying pre-law in the University, but switched his major to acting.

Cronyn made his Broadway debut in 1934, in the play "Hipper's Holiday". He had the minor role of a janitor.

He met wife Jessica Tandy in 1940 and they married in 1942.

Cronyn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Paul Roeder in the concentration camp themed film "The Seventh Cross" (1942). Roeder is a common factory worker in Nazi Germany, who risks his life and family to assist his old friend George Heisler (played by Spencer Tracy) to flee the country.

In 1942, Cronyn married actress Jessica Tandy, and for many years they appeared together in theatre, film and television.

After a decade as a theatrical actor, Cronyn made his film debut in the psychological thriller "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943). He played crime fiction buff Herbie Hawkins. This was Cronyn's first collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock.

Hume Cronyn was a Canadian actor with a lengthy career. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "The Seventh Cross" (1944). Cronyn was born to a prominent family.

Cronyn later acted in "Lifeboat" (1944), and served as a screenwriter for both "Rope" (1948) and "Under Capricorn" (1949).

In 1946 Elia Kazan, looking for an actress to play Blanche Dubois in his upcoming Broadway production of "Streetcar Named Desire", saw a Los Angeles production of Tennessee Williams' earlier play "Portrait of a Madonna" in which Cronyn directed his wife Jessica Tandy. He was so impressed by her performance that he offered her the role.

The duo headlined the radio series "The Marriage" (1953-1954), depicting the difficulties of a professional woman in transitioning to the roles of housewife and mother. The duo also appeared in a television adaptation of the radio series, but it only lasted for 8 episodes. Cronyn acting career mostly included supporting roles, but he found himself in the spotlight for the role of Joe Finley in the science fiction film "Cocoon". It became a surprise box office hit, and Cronyn was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor. The award was instead won by a much younger actor, Michael J.

The award was won by Tom Hanks (1956-).

Fox (1961-).

Appeared as Sosigenes in Cleopatra (1963), One film critic's witty appraisal of this mammoth, megastar, megabuck, four-hour production was, "I never miss a Hume Cronyn movie."

Won a Tony Award in 1964 for his performance as Polonius in the Richard Burton Broadway production of "Hamlet", which was recorded live on stage in a process known as Electronovision, and shown in movie theaters the same year (Hamlet (1964)).

During the shooting of There Was a Crooked Man... (1970) Cronyn was diagnosed with optic cancer which required the removal of an eye. Although this news upset director Joseph L. Mankiewicz very much, Cronyn was more than willing to work longer hours to complete his scenes and make him available for the necessary surgery.

He was awarded the 1971 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance for his performance in the play, "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

1972: Won an 1972-1973 Obie for Distinguished Performance for "Krapp's Last Tape".

He was nominated for a 1978 Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Actor in a Play for "The Gin Game" on Broadway in New York City.

He was awarded the 1985 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance in Leading Role for the play, "Foxfire" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Cronyn returned to the role of Joe Finley in the sequel "Cocoon: The Return" (1988). While less successful than its predecessor, Cronyn's role was well-received. He was again nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor, but again lost to a younger actor.

1990: He and wife Jessica Tandy were both honored with the American National Medal of the Arts from the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington DC.

Jessica Tandy died in 1994, and the widowed Cronyn married writer Susan Cooper in 1996.

Cronyn had one of his last prominent roles in the film "Marvin's Room" (1996). He played the incapacitated and bed-ridden Marvin Wakefield, who has to be taken care of by his adult daughters. The cast of the film was collectively nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Cronyn's last film role was the role of con-artist Sam Clausner in the television film "Off Season" (2001).

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 112-114. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.