DRIVING MISS DAISY

Though Jessica Tandy made her film debut in the 1930s, she spent the better part of six decades conquering the New York stage. The conquest of Hollywood took less than one. After such stage roles as the original Blanche DuBois (opposite the original Stanley, Marlon Brando) in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” this fine-boned English import worked steadily in film from the 1980s onward, as Garp's grandmother in “The World According to Garp” (1982), a rejuvenated senior in “Cocoon” (1985), and Ninny Threadgoode in “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991). It was DRIVING MISS DAISY that brought Tandy her Academy Award as Miss Daisy Werthan, regal Atlanta matriarch whose unblemished manners and dignity are not matched by a spotless driving record. At her son's insistence she hires Hoke (Morgan Freeman), a sensible black chauffeur. Their more than 25-year relationship, spanning 1945 to 1973, evolves from mistress and servant to best friends, transcending the barriers of race, class, and historical upheaval. If Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer-Prize winning play was “can't miss” material, Tandy's casting makes it an unforgettable film. Her commanding presence as a sheltered, often naive grande dame is the touchstone for a humane comedy-drama that won not only a statuette for Tandy, but an Oscar for Best Picture as well.