(written from a Production point of view)
Dame Judith Anderson (10 February 1897 – 3 January 1992; age 94), born Frances Margaret Anderson-Anderson, was an Australian actress who played the Vulcan High Priestess T'Lar in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Along with Morgan Farley, Richard Hale, Anthony Jochim, Felix Locher, Celia Lovsky, Leonard Mudie, Charles Seel, Abraham Sofaer, and Ian Wolfe, she is one of only ten credited Star Trek guest stars born in the 19th century to appear in any episode or film, addended with the three credited Star Trek production staffers Franz Bachelin, Ernest Haller and Byron Haskin. Of the ten performers, she is the only one who did not appear on Star Trek: The Original Series.
Although primarily a stage actress, Anderson earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as the sinister housekeeper Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 thriller, Rebecca. She is also well known for her three-year stint on the 1980s soap opera, Santa Barbara (1984-87). Her co-stars on this series included fellow Star Trek alumni Ian Abercrombie, Jim Fitzpatrick, Rosemary Forsyth, Ellen Geer, Gregory Itzin, Lenore Kasdorf, Janet MacLachlan, and Ray Walston.
Anderson later appeared in Otto Preminger's Laura (1944). She was also a part of the large ensemble cast of the 1956 Biblical epic, The Ten Commandments. Star Trek guest actor Michael Ansara (Kang) was also a part of the cast, as was Arthur Batanides, although their roles were minor and uncredited. Lawrence Dobkin had a larger role in this film.
Her credits also include major supporting roles in the critically-acclaimed films Kings Row (1942), And Then There Were None (1945), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). She also starred in 1947's Pursued, which featured Ian Wolfe in an uncredited role.
In 1960, she was appointed a Dame of the British Empire in honor of her services as an actor of stage and screen.
Dame Judith died of pneumonia in Santa Barbara, California on January 3rd, 1992. She would have turned 95 years old the following month.