Jessie Royce Landis...

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Our own dear Christy (SueSue Applegate) has requested that I start a thread on Jessie Royce Landis, a character actress in the movies, a star on stage on Broadway and London for many years and a dear & wonderful friend....

In the coming days, I will ply my brain and try to remember some more things about her, but for now here is a repeat of a post I made for Joe's (Mongo) "Candid thread" some time ago:

. She certainly was a character in real life too. She was married to a General, who ran the Pentagon or was close to running it…..
He only allowed her to make 1 movie a year after their marriage and only for about 3 weeks absence. Jessie was a good friend of Mamie Eisenhower and when she complained to Ike that ‘one of your generals is holding me hostage’, and ‘can’t you send him off to a tiny war somewhere’, President Eisenhower said, “But Jessie, we need you here in Washington to keep our parties from getting dull”…….
. Once I escorted her to a banquet at the Yugoslavian Embassy in Rome for Madame Tito. All the food was dished up by waiters and waitresses out of large bowls and sort of slopped on our plates. When I asked her what she thought of the ‘service’, she whispered, “Well, . I’ve seen worse but I didn’t think much of the hair in the mashed potatoes!!”……
. In 1967, Canada’s centennial year, the Governor General and his wife (the Vaniers) gave a ball at Rideau Hall in Ottawa for the diplomatic corps and my parents and their friends were invited. Jesse and her general were across the room with the Americans.
General Georges Vanier and Madame Vanier were announced and my mother’s friend asked her what Madame Vanier’s first name was; my mother drew a blank and said she didn’t know that it had ever been publicized.
Just then, as Madame Vanier was passing Jessie Royce Landis, Jessie greeted her with, “Pauline, darling!”…. My mother said, “Well, now we know”…….

. Also, one of Jessie’s dear cohorts was Moyna MacGill, another hoot…… Interesting that she died the same day as Jessie’s birthday.

. One of my fondest memories was sitting in the lobby of the Dorchester Hotel in London, waiting for Pola Negri to descend from her suite and being surrounded by Jessie Royce Landis, Moyna MacGill, Betty Blythe and Moira Lister all chatting away about what a wonderful, young gentleman I was to escort Pola to the set of “The Moonspinners” on her first day’s shooting…. I miss those old dolls!


Please feel free to ask whatever you like about her and I will try to remember and answer what I can.

Enjoy!!!!

Larry

[Vecchiolarry]

HI Again,

Her's some more that I remembered tonight:

. I met her in London on my grandmother’s birthday in 1950 or 1951. She was starring in a hit play there and was a big star – very well known in Britain.
Ironically, Nell’s birthday, February 2nd, is the day Jessie died several years later!!
. She wasn’t married then and was courted and escorted by several “swells” in both Britain and France. There were a couple of Earls and a Duke and one Bonaparte Prince that I recall.
. Jessie was a very witty woman, very intelligent and could turn a phrase easily and swiftly. I was often dumbstruck at the repartee between and among her pals. Nell was a pal and I was the tag-along kid, as in many of my grandmother’s friends.
. Jessie was born in Chicago and loved that city, singing it’s praises over & over.
Chicago back then was the changing point between railways from LA to NYC and reverse – the Twentieth Century and the AT&SF railways.
. She wanted the role of the Dowager Empress in “Anastasia” (the Helen Hayes part) but Litvak told her that she was too vivacious to portray an old woman who was sorrowing for her lost relatives. My grandmother too backed Litvak in his decision, as the old Empress was now past her party days. Jessie was just too cheerful, I guess!!
. She also campaigned for the Agnes Moorehead role of ‘Countess De Lave’ in “The Opposite Sex”. And, she may have gotten it if she hadn’t run off and gotten married and then honeymooned in France.
. Jessie had many friends, really more than most people I know. Clifton Webb and his mother, Maybelle, and Hitchcock and his wife, Alma, and Cary Grant, whom she adored. Also, Jane Wyman and Lucille Ball. She also loved Diana Dors, and thought she was a good actress and should have gone farther…
. Two she didn’t care for were Judith Anderson (“dreary drawers, takes acting too seriously” & “she’s always ‘ON’ “)……. And, Fred MacMurray (she couldn’t make him laugh or even smile)… She once asked him for his salary on a film they did “as you have enough money already” - and then she laughed & laughed, and he didn’t… She told everybody that her part was cut nearly out of the film….

. Jessie’s great fault was that she lied constantly about her age, so much so that I don’t think even she knew her birthdate.
Mary Astor once told me that the scene of Geraldine Page having a fit in “Pete and Tillie” over telling her age was pure Jessie Royce Landis…
When the media made a big thing about her playing Cary Grant’s mother in “North By Northwest”, she even said she was a year or so younger than him…
. I love her best as the pompous & piqued smuggler in “Airport” and as the befuddled Princess in “The Swan” – hysterical in both…
She complained to Agnes Moorehead that she had trouble curtseying in “this awful corset set” and Agnes, just to be ornery kept telling the director that she didn’t think Jessie was doing it right…. After 3 tries, Agnes couldn’t keep a straight face any more and burst out laughing!! And, Jessie got the joke…

. Nell was coaching her in a Russian accent and language for a TV role, but then Nell died suddenly. It was for “A Man Called Uncle” with Robert Vaughn, I think..
. One of her English friends was Lord Brabourne, who made “Murder on the Orient Express”; and he was considering her for the Russian Princess in that; but unfortunately, Jessie died……. Wendy Hiller played that role.

. Finally, my last is my favourite:
She had always had dark brown hair, even in her early movies, but when she got the role in “To Catch a Thief” she suddenly turned up with red hair – and most becoming too!
She announced quite casually and believably, “Most people’s hair turns grey when they get older; well darlings, would you believe that mine turned red!!!!!

And, that’s our Jessie….

Larry

[mongoII]

Good stuff, Larry. Always a pleasure to read about the exploits of Jessie Royce Landis (she was a peach).

[knitwit45]

Larry, these stories are almost as good as those of Nell...wish you'd resurrect the "Reminiscences" thread from TCM. I still promise to be your publicist if ever you decide to write them all down...

JRL is a favorite, love her "Avez-vous BOURBON?" line...

[JackFavell]

Fantastic reminiscences of JRL, Larry! Oh I can't even IMAGINE what trouble Moyna McGill and Jessie got themselves into - both such pistols. They must have been a hoot and very very naughty.

My favorite Jessie Royce Landis performance is whichever movie she happens to turn up in next! She's just great in ALL of them. It makes my day when I hear her voice, and turn around to see her on the screen.

Here are some photos of Jessie Royce Landis, but if you really want to see some delectable, stunning photos of her, go to ebay. Unfortunately, someone has stamped CHICAGO TRIBUNE across every single one of them.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Thank you Wendy for the marvellous pictures...

Larry

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Oh, Larry! Thank you so much for sharing your treasures with us. They are wonderful!
I will post some questions tomorrow if you'll be online.

And Jackie, I appreciate all the wonderful photos you found. Lovely!

[mongoII]

Yes, Wendy, those images of Ms. Landis are terrific!

[mongoII]

Errol Flynn confides in friend Olivia de Havilland

Oops! This belongs in CANDIDS.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Oh, Joe. Errol and Olivia look like they are sitting extremely close togther, and this doesn't seem like the usual glossy photo op. Looks like someone captured an unguarded moment, especially with the doggie lying comfortably in the foreground.

Larry, it looks like Jessie had that lovely black onyx ring surrounded by a sparkly rim of diamonds for quite a while. It's in a very early photograph and one of the much later ones. Any comments?

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Christy,

Yes, I noticed the ring in both photos and was going to tell everyone that it was hers....
She wore it often and it was quite impressive. I believe it was an anniversary present from her first husband. He was the 'Landis' in her name; her real maiden name was Medcafe, I think (?).......

The 'Royce' was her mother's maiden name. She was a musician with the Chicago Orchestra at the turn of the century (quite a novelty for the time)....
Jesse also sang and played piano and harp quite well. She once regalled Prince Rainier with a wild piano 'hagtime' session in the Monaco Palace. I'd have loved to have seen that!!

Larry

[pvitari]

Unfortunately, someone has stamped CHICAGO TRIBUNE across every single one of them.

The unfortunate part actually is that many newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, are selling off their photo morgues. :( (The actual seller is an outfit called TribunePhotos.) With the downsizing/elimination of newspapers -- and the need for cash for those that remain -- the morgues are being sold off piecemeal. The only good part of that is that sometimes the pictures end up in the hands of dedicated fans who share them with the world. A lot of these photos are unique items that no one has seen since they were sent out to the newspapers and published decades ago. Quite a few of my Ben Johnson pics originated from those newspaper morgue ebay sales.

[moira finnie]

Hi Larry,
This thread is great and Jessie sounds as though she was a rollicking presence wherever she went. I was wondering if you know anything about the actress and her husband General John Seitz going to Iran in the '50s shortly after their marriage when (we have since learned) the CIA helped to place the Shah on the throne there? Since Gen. Seitz was the head of the military mission in Tehran then, it would be interesting to know how this free spirit felt about being in that country in such a turbulent period. Thanks for posting your lively memories of this and other talented people here.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Paula, that is such an interesting comment about our times from one of our favorite archivists.

Moira, great question!

Larry, some of the most interesting and entertaining people play the piano!

Jesse Royce Landis' lovely performance for Prince Rainier must have been such an entertaining moment at the palace. Larry, I just enjoy your memories so much. All the times I've spent wondering "what the king is doing tonight," and you're here to remind us all about the wonders of the "Camelots" we weren't privileged enough to experience.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi Moira & Christy,

Thanks for the compliments.

Moira:
Love your avatar - Is that Ella Raines? She looks like Juliana Marguiles and I am a big fan of JM and love "The Good Wife" - one of the only TV shows I watch....
Don't know much about Ella though!!

Interesting that you bring up Iran and the Pahlavi's:
Jesse didn't marry "The General" (that's what she called him {affectionately & sometimes sarcastically} and that's why I couldn't remember his name) - until the later 50's, so his being in Iran after the War and in the early 50's wouldn't have concerned her.

However, she did know Princess Shams (and so did I) through Ann Miller, who was her (Shams) best friend.

Jesse and The General also attended the Rainier/Grace wedding and there met Queen Soraya, the Shah's then wife.
Also, The General and Jesse attended the Shah's marriage to Farah Diba (1960?) and their Coronation in 1967... So, she would have met the Shah.

Also, I knew Princess Ashraf through Nell and mentioned that to Jesse once and she commented that Ashraf was very pro-American and that's what kept Iran an American ally, as Ashraf was the only Pahlavi "with balls" and as the Shah's twin sister, she controlled the old boy.

BTW, Jesse also met the Shah's mother, Taj Ol' Malouk, and pronounced her the "last word in the word 'B-I-T-C-H'.....

Ashraf is still alive and lives on the East Side of Manhattan in the same building that Madame Chiang Kai-Shek once lived in. I'll bet the staff there were kept hopping, as 'The Madame' lived like the last Empress of China.

Larry