Born Frances Margaret Anderson in Adelaide, Australia, she became a leading Broadway star of the 1920s through the 50s, perhaps most famous for her savage, award-winning performance in 1947 as Medea; as a formidable Lady Macbeth (opposite Laurence Olivier in London in 1937 and Maurice Evans on Broadway in 1941); and as an interpreter of the neurotic heroines of Eugene O'Neill (Nina in Strange Interlude in 1928 and Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra in 1932). Anderson made her screen debut in 1933 and played the sinister Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's REBECCA seven years later. It was the first, and most memorable, in a series of malevolent character roles that exploited her severe features and commanding presence. Cast against type, Anderson made an effective Big Mama in Richard Brooks's film adaptation of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958). Late in her career she gained a new following as campy grand dame Minx Lockridge on the TV soap opera, "Santa Barbara."    Nominated for Supporting Actress 1940: REBECCA 1 nomination