<< Too bad we can't see Jessica Tandy! >>
I think there are some clips, somewhere, of Tandy doing one or two of the monologues for some early television show. I've never seen them, however.
Interestingly, Malon Brando (who wasn't just being bitchy) said in his autobiography that he didn't think Tandy was well cast as Blanche. He wrote, "Jessica is a very good actress, but I never thought she was believable as Blanche. I didn't think she had the finesse or cultivated femininity that the part required, nor the fragility that Tennessee envisioned....I think Jessica could have made Blanche a truly pathetic person, but she was too shrill to elicit the sympathy and pity that the woman deserved. This threw the play out of balance because the audience was not able to realize the potential of her character, and as a result my character got a more sympathetic reaction than Tennessee intended."
Incidentally, he thought Leigh was perfect. (I personally like Jessica Lange best, though. She has the most eloquent, haunted eyes.)
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