ACTOR
Hume Cronyn
- Known for
- *batteries not included (1987), Marvin's Room (1996), The World According to Garp (1982), The Parallax View (1974)
26 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Hume Cronyn is an actor best known for *batteries not included, Marvin's Room and The World According to Garp.
All facts (26)
- #001
Although not widely known, Hume Cronyn had a glass eye because he lost his real eye to cancer.
- #002
He met his wife Jessica Tandy in 1940, and they married in 1942.
- #003
During the filming of There Was a Crooked Man… (1970), Cronyn was diagnosed with optical cancer that required the removal of one eye. The news deeply upset director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, but Cronyn was more than willing to work longer hours to complete his scenes and get himself ready for the necessary surgery.
- #004
He was a boxer who was once nominated for the Canadian Olympic boxing team.
- #005
In 1990, he and his wife Jessica Tandy were honored with the National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC.
- #006
At the time of his death, he had eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
- #007
Appearing as Sosigenes in Cleopatra (1963), this massive, megastar, megabuck, four-hour production drew this witty assessment from a film critic: "I never miss a Hume Cronyn movie."
- #008
His father, Hume Blake Cronyn, has an observatory at the University of Western Ontario dedicated to him. The refracting telescope was the largest ever built in the Western Hemisphere at the time.
- #009
Late in his life, he became a US citizen.
- #010
7/11/88: O. C. (Officer of the Order of Canada) for services to drama.
- #011
His mother was an heiress to the Labatt Brewing Company. Hume's maternal great-grandfather, John Kinder Labatt, founded it, and Hume's maternal grandfather, John Labatt, later took over control of the company.
- #012
His son was Christopher Cronyn and his daughter was Tandy Cronyn. His granddaughter was Katherine Cronyn.
- #013
In 1999, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
- #014
He played Ben Marriott on NBC Radio's "The Marriage" (1953-1954), alongside his wife Jessica Tandy.
- #015
1932: He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society at McGill University.
- #016
At the age of 85, he married his third wife, Susan Cooper, who had served as a writer on Foxfire (1987), in which he had starred alongside his late previous wife, Jessica Tandy.
- #017
1972: He won an Obie Award for Distinguished Performance in 1972-1973 for "Krapp's Last Tape."
- #018
He was educated at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario.
- #019
While still a student at McGill, he acted with the Montreal Repertory Company.
- #020
Hume Cronyn's stepchildren were Jonathan Grant and Kate Glennon.
- #021
Hume Cronyn and his wife Jessica Tandy were among the few married couples to win Tony Awards. Cronyn was nominated 7 times and won in 1964 for "Hamlet" (Featured Actor in a Play). Tandy was nominated 5 times and won 3 times: in 1948 for "A Streetcar Named Desire"; in 1978 for "The Gin Game"; and in 1983 for "Foxfire". All of her wins were in the Leading Actress in a Play category. Cronyn and Tandy were both nominated in their respective categories for the same production twice: "Foxfire" and "The Petition" (1986).
- #022
Hume Cronyn received the 1985 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Performance in a Leading Role for the play "Foxfire" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
- #023
Hume Cronyn was a once-removed first cousin of the actor Graham Jarvis. Their common ancestors were John Labatt and Catherine Matilda Biddulph, Cronyn's maternal grandparents and Jarvis's maternal great-grandparents.
- #024
Hume Cronyn was a cousin of the producer Robert Whitehead.
- #025
Hume Cronyn was a graduate of AADA (American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Class of 1934.
- #026
Hume Cronyn's body was cremated and his ashes were given to family or a friend.
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