Shakespeare to Winehouse open 9:00am–7:00pm on Thu, Fri, Sat from 7 July
Dame Judith Anderson AC DBE (1897–1992) was an Adelaide-born stage and film actress well known for her role as the sinister Mrs Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940). She made her stage debut in Sydney in A Royal Divorce (1915) and two years later migrated to America. Roles on Broadway in plays such as Cobra (1924), Strange Interlude (1928–1929), Mourning Becomes Electra (1932) and Hamlet (1936) contributed to her growing reputation, but it was her performance in Medea (1948) that saw her acclaimed as America's leading stage performer and won her a Tony Award. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in Rebecca and went on to appear in many films including Laura (1944), And Then There Were None (1945) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). She won an Emmy Award for her role as Lady Macbeth in the television production of Macbeth (1960). A style icon, Anderson regularly appeared in the pages of Vogue. In her late eighties Anderson was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance as Minx Lockridge in the soap opera, Santa Barbara (1984–1987).
Artist Don Bachardy recorded many of the celebrities and artists working in Los Angeles, encouraging his sitters to autograph his portraits, as in this work.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 1999
© Don Bachardy
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Christopher Chapman absorbs the gentle touch of Don Bachardy’s portraiture.
Although perceived to be a recent phenomenon, the 'Aussie invasion' of Hollywood can actually be traced as far back as the early 1900s