Dame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897, in Adelaide, South Australia. Young Anderson began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatre actresses and was a major star on Broadway throughout the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Her notable stage works included the role of Lady Macbeth, which she played first in the 1920s, and gave a definitive performance in Macbeth (1960 TV movie), for which she won an Emmy. Anderson's long association with Medea by Euripides began with her acclaimed stage performance in the title role of Medea, for which she won a Tony Award in 1948. In 1983 she would appear in a TV movie Medea as the supporting character of the "Nurse".

Judith Anderson made her Hollywood film debut under director Rowland Brown in a supporting role in Blood Money (1933). Her striking, not conventionally attractive features were complemented with her powerful presence, mastery of timing, and an effortless style. Anderson made a film career as a supporting character actress in several significant films, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940), for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She worked with director Otto Preminger in Laura (1944), then with René Clair in And Then There Were None (1945). Her remarkable performance in a supporting role in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) fit in a stellar acting ensemble under director Richard Brooks

Anderson was living in Santa Barbara in her later years. She had a successful stint in Santa Barbara TV series, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Ammy Award in 1984. In the same year she appeared in Star Treck III: The Search for Spock as the High Priestess (at the age of 87), and was nominated for Saturn Award for that work. Judith Anderson died of pneumonia on January 3, 1992, in Santa Barbara, California.
She was made a British Dame in 1959. Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1986. Made her TV soap opera debut in 1984 as the grande dame, Minx Lockridge, in Santa Barbara (which happens to be her home town). Won the 1948 Tony award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Play for her performance as "Medea". In 1959, she played the role on television, and in a 1983 telecast of the play, she played the supporting role of the Nurse. It is said that conductor Arturo Toscanini was so carried away by her performance in the title role of "Medea" on Broadway that he nearly fell out of his stage box while applauding. Won Broadway's 1948 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for playing the title role in "Medea" -- an award shared with Katharine Cornell for "Antony and Cleopatra" and Jessica Tandy for "A Streetcar Named Desire." In 1959, she played the same role on television. In 1982, she received a Tony nomination as Best Actress (Featured Role--Play) for playing the supporting role of the Nurse in "Medea," repeating that performance in a 1983 telecast of the play. The first, and perhaps the only, actress to win two Emmy Awards for playing the same role (Lady Macbeth) in two separate television productions of the same play, the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth", staged and broadcast in 1954 and 1960, with the same leading actor (Maurice Evans).