Claire Bloom
Encyclopedia
Claire Bloom is an English film and stage
actress.
suburb of Finchley
, the daughter of Elizabeth (née
Grew) and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales. Her paternal grandparents, originally named Blumenthal, as well as her maternal grandparents, originally named Griewski, were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe
. Bloom attended secondary school
at the independent Badminton School
in Bristol.
, Bloom made her debut on BBC
radio programmes. She made her stage debut in 1946, when she was 15, with the Oxford Repertory Theatre. Her London stage debut was in 1947 in the hit Christopher Fry
play The Lady's Not For Burning
, which also featured the young Richard Burton
, starred John Gielgud
and Pamela Brown and which, subsequently, was produced, with the aforementioned four, on Broadway in New York. The following year, she received great acclaim for her portrayal of Ophelia in Hamlet
, the first of many works by William Shakespeare
in which Bloom would appear.
Bloom has appeared in a number of plays and theatrical works in both London and New York. Those works include Look Back in Anger
, Rashomon
, and Bloom's favorite role, that of Blanche in the Tennessee Williams
play A Streetcar Named Desire
. Bloom has also performed in a one woman show that included monologues from several of her stage performances. She also starred in 1976 Broadway revival of The Innocents
.
Bloom's first film role was in 1948, for the film The Blind Goddess
.
She was chosen by Charlie Chaplin
in 1952 to appear in his film Limelight, which catapulted Bloom to stardom, and remains one of her most memorable roles. She was subsequently featured in a number of "costume" roles in films such as Alexander the Great
, The Brothers Karamazov
, The Buccaneer
, and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
. Bloom also appeared in Laurence Olivier
's film version of Richard III
, where she played Lady Anne, Ibsen's A Doll's House
, The Outrage
with Paul Newman
and Laurence Harvey
, as well as the films The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
and Look Back in Anger
, both with Richard Burton
.
In the 1960s she began to play more contemporary roles, including an unhinged housewife in The Chapman Report
, a psychologist in the Oscar winning film Charly
, and Theodora in The Haunting
. She also appeared in the Woody Allen
films Crimes and Misdemeanors
(1989) and Mighty Aphrodite
(1995). She played Hera in Clash of the Titans
. Laurence Olivier played Zeus her husband, and in Richard III she played the wife of Richard, who he played. Her most recent appearance in a Hollywood film was in the 2010 film The King's Speech
.
Bloom has appeared on television, perhaps the most memorable of which was her portrayal of Lady Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited
(1981). Other roles included two prominent BBC Television
productions for director Rudolph Cartier
; co-starring with Sean Connery
in Anna Karenina
(1961), and playing Cathy
in Wuthering Heights
with Keith Michell
as Heathcliff
(1962). She also appeared as First Lady Edith Wilson in Backstairs at the White House (1979); as Joy Gresham
, the wife of C. S. Lewis
in Shadowlands
(For that performance she received the BAFTA Award as Best Actress. (1985), and as the older Sophy in the 1992 mini-series The Camomile Lawn
on Britain's Channel 4. Her most recent appearance in a mini-series was in the 2006 version of The Ten Commandments
.
On continuing television series, she has appeared on the New York-based Law & Order: Criminal Intent
. From 1991 to 1993, she portrayed villainess Orlena Grimaldi on the daytime drama As the World Turns
. She also had major roles in several of the BBC-Shakespeare Play television presentations and has led workshops on Shakespearean performance practices. In 2003, Bloom did a stage reading of Milton's
Samson Agonistes
along with actor John Neville
at Bryn Mawr College
at the behest of poet Karl Kirchwey
.
In ]anuary 2006, she appeared on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman
's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri
, a two-hander in which she co-starred with Billy Zane
.
In October 2007, she appeared opposite Peter Bowles
in Love Letters at the Théâtre Princesse Grace, Monte Carlo as part of the British Theatre Season, Monaco.
In 2008, she guest starred in New Tricks as actress Helen Brownlow. The story was about the murder of her husband whilst they were in a play together.
In December 2009, she appeared in the BBC
's Doctor Who
alongside David Tennant
in his final story
as the Tenth Doctor
, as a Time Lord
credited only as "The Woman." Series executive producer Russell T Davies revealed in his 2010 book The Writer's Tale that the character is supposed to be the Doctor's mother.
In 2010, she guest starred as Jill Peters in The Bill
in the episode "Taking a Stand".
In 2011 she played Queen Mary in The King's Speech.
, whom she had met when they both performed in the play Rashomon. Their daughter is opera singer Anna Steiger
, Bloom's only child. Steiger and Bloom divorced in 1969. In that same year, Bloom married producer Hillard Elkins
. The marriage lasted three years and the couple divorced in 1972. Bloom's third marriage on April 29, 1990 was to writer Philip Roth
, her longtime companion. The couple divorced in 1995.
Bloom has written two memoirs about her life and career. The first, Limelight and After: The Education of an Actress, was released in 1982 and was an in-depth look at her career and the film and stage roles she had portrayed. Her second book, Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoir
, was published in 1996, and went into greater details about her personal life; she discussed not only her marriages but her romantic relationships with Richard Burton
and Laurence Olivier
. The book created a stir when Bloom detailed the highly complicated relationship between her and Philip Roth
during their marriage. The details Bloom shared were unflattering to Roth, and created a controversy regarding the true nature of their relationship. The character of Eve Frame in Roth's 1998 novel I Married a Communist
is considered by some to be his veiled rebuttal to some of the accusations made against him in her memoir.
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
actress.
Early life
Bloom was born in the North LondonNorth London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
suburb of Finchley
Finchley
Finchley is a district in Barnet in north London, England. Finchley is on high ground, about north of Charing Cross. It formed an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, becoming a municipal borough in 1933, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965...
, the daughter of Elizabeth (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Grew) and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales. Her paternal grandparents, originally named Blumenthal, as well as her maternal grandparents, originally named Griewski, were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Bloom attended secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
at the independent Badminton School
Badminton School
Miriam Badock established a school for girls in 1858 at Badminton House in Clifton. By 1898 it had become known as Miss Bartlett's School for Young Ladies....
in Bristol.
Career
After training at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Central School of Speech and DramaCentral School of Speech and Drama
The Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in London in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students...
, Bloom made her debut on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio programmes. She made her stage debut in 1946, when she was 15, with the Oxford Repertory Theatre. Her London stage debut was in 1947 in the hit Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
play The Lady's Not For Burning
The Lady's Not for Burning
The Lady's Not for Burning is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.A romantic comedy in three acts, set in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages, it reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live...
, which also featured the young Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
, starred John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
and Pamela Brown and which, subsequently, was produced, with the aforementioned four, on Broadway in New York. The following year, she received great acclaim for her portrayal of Ophelia in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, the first of many works by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
in which Bloom would appear.
Bloom has appeared in a number of plays and theatrical works in both London and New York. Those works include Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
, Rashomon
Rashomon (play)
Though Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon is the most famous instance, Akutagawa's stories have also been adapted for the stage.- Source material :...
, and Bloom's favorite role, that of Blanche in the Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
play A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
. Bloom has also performed in a one woman show that included monologues from several of her stage performances. She also starred in 1976 Broadway revival of The Innocents
The Innocents (play)
The Innocents is a 1976 play written by William Archiblad. The show opened at the Morosco Theatre on October 21, 1976 and closed on October 30, 1976 after 12 performances.-Setting:...
.
Bloom's first film role was in 1948, for the film The Blind Goddess
The Blind Goddess (1948 film)
The Blind Goddess is a 1948 British drama film directed by Harold French and starring Eric Portman, Anne Crawford and Hugh Williams. A secretary sets out to his expose his boss, Lord Brasted, for embezzlement...
.
She was chosen by Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
in 1952 to appear in his film Limelight, which catapulted Bloom to stardom, and remains one of her most memorable roles. She was subsequently featured in a number of "costume" roles in films such as Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great (1956 film)
Alexander the Great is a 1956 America sword and sandal epic film written, directed and produced by Robert Rossen with Gordon S. Griffith as executive producer...
, The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky spent nearly two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published as a serial in The Russian Messenger and completed in November 1880...
, The Buccaneer
The Buccaneer (1958 film)
The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose...
, and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 American film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The latter was the producer and also in charge of the stop motion animation. The film was one of the highest grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional...
. Bloom also appeared in Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
's film version of Richard III
Richard III (1955 film)
Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...
, where she played Lady Anne, Ibsen's A Doll's House
A Doll's House (1973 Garland film)
A Doll's House is a 1973 British film, directed by Patrick Garland. It is based on Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House.-Cast:* Claire Bloom - Nora Helmer* Anthony Hopkins - Torvald Helmer* Ralph Richardson - Dr...
, The Outrage
The Outrage
The Outrage is a remake of the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, reformulated as a Western. Like the original Akira Kurosawa film, four people give contradictory accounts of a rape and murder. Kurosawa is credited with the screenplay. It was directed by Martin Ritt and is based on stories by Ryūnosuke...
with Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
and Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
, as well as the films The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (film)
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a 1965 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by John le Carré. It was adapted by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper. The film stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, along with Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Peter van Eyck, Sam Wanamaker, Rupert Davies and Cyril Cusack...
and Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger (film)
Look Back in Anger is a 1959 British film starring Richard Burton, Claire Bloom and Mary Ure and directed by Tony Richardson.It is based on John Osborne's play of the same name about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and...
, both with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
.
In the 1960s she began to play more contemporary roles, including an unhinged housewife in The Chapman Report
The Chapman Report
The Chapman Report is a 1962 film made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Richard D. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Wyatt Cooper and Don Mankiewicz, adapted by Gene Allen and Grant Stuart from Irving...
, a psychologist in the Oscar winning film Charly
Charly
Charly is a 1968 American film directed by Ralph Nelson. The drama stars Cliff Robertson , Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van Patten and tells the story of a mentally retarded bakery worker who is the subject of an experiment to increase human intelligence...
, and Theodora in The Haunting
The Haunting (1963 film)
The Haunting is a 1963 British psychological horror film by American director Robert Wise and adapted by Nelson Gidding from the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. The film centers around the conflict between...
. She also appeared in the Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
films Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 black comedy written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Alan Alda, Sam Waterston and Joanna Gleason....
(1989) and Mighty Aphrodite
Mighty Aphrodite
Mighty Aphrodite is a 1995 romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. The screenplay was inspired by the mythological tale of Pygmalion....
(1995). She played Hera in Clash of the Titans
Clash of the Titans
Clash of the Titans is an American 1981 fantasy–adventure film involving the Greek hero Perseus. It was released on June 12, 1981 and earned a gross profit of $41 million domestically, on a $15 million budget , by which it was the 11th highest grossing film of the year. A novelization of the film...
. Laurence Olivier played Zeus her husband, and in Richard III she played the wife of Richard, who he played. Her most recent appearance in a Hollywood film was in the 2010 film The King's Speech
The King's Speech (film)
The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush...
.
Bloom has appeared on television, perhaps the most memorable of which was her portrayal of Lady Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited (TV serial)
Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...
(1981). Other roles included two prominent BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
productions for director Rudolph Cartier
Rudolph Cartier
Rudolph Cartier was an Austrian television director, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer who worked predominantly in British television, exclusively for the BBC...
; co-starring with Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
in Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger...
(1961), and playing Cathy
Catherine Earnshaw
Catherine Earnshaw, known as Catherine Linton after her marriage, is the main female protagonist of Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights....
in Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë published in 1847. It was her only novel and written between December 1845 and July 1846. It remained unpublished until July 1847 and was not printed until December after the success of her sister Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre...
with Keith Michell
Keith Michell
Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...
as Heathcliff
Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)
Heathcliff is a fictional character in the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Owing to the novel's enduring fame and popularity, he is often regarded as an archetype of the tortured Romantic hero whose all-consuming passions destroy both himself and those around him.Legend has stereotyped...
(1962). She also appeared as First Lady Edith Wilson in Backstairs at the White House (1979); as Joy Gresham
Joy Gresham
Joy Davidman was an American poet and writer, and a radical communist and atheist until her conversion to Christianity in the late 1940s. Her first husband was the writer William Lindsay Gresham. They had two children together: David and Douglas. Her second marriage was to C. S...
, the wife of C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
in Shadowlands
Shadowlands
Shadowlands is a 1985 television film, written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. Its subject is the relationship between Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham....
(For that performance she received the BAFTA Award as Best Actress. (1985), and as the older Sophy in the 1992 mini-series The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
on Britain's Channel 4. Her most recent appearance in a mini-series was in the 2006 version of The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (2006)
The Ten Commandments is a miniseries that dramatizes the biblical story of Moses.-Plot:Moses's mother, Jochebed, saves her baby from the edict of the Pharaoh that all newborn male Hebrew children must die by placing him in a basket on the Nile River...
.
On continuing television series, she has appeared on the New York-based Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
. From 1991 to 1993, she portrayed villainess Orlena Grimaldi on the daytime drama As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
. She also had major roles in several of the BBC-Shakespeare Play television presentations and has led workshops on Shakespearean performance practices. In 2003, Bloom did a stage reading of Milton's
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
Samson Agonistes
Samson Agonistes
Samson Agonistes is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's Paradise Regain'd in 1671, as the title page of that volume states: "Paradise Regained / A Poem / In IV Books / To Which Is Added / Samson Agonistes"...
along with actor John Neville
John Neville
John Neville, OBE, CM was an English theatre and film actor who moved to Canada in 1972. He enjoyed a resurgence of international attention in the 1980s as a result of his starring role in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen .-Early life:Neville was born in Willesden, London, the...
at Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
at the behest of poet Karl Kirchwey
Karl Kirchwey
Karl Kirchwey is a prize–winning American poet who has lived in both Europe and the United States and whose work is strongly influenced by the Greek and Roman past. He often looks to the classical world for inspiration with themes which have included loss, loneliness, nostalgia and modern...
.
In ]anuary 2006, she appeared on the London stage in Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman
Arthur Allan Seidelman is an award-winning American television, film, and theatre director and an occasional writer, producer and actor.Born in New York City, he received his BA from Whittier College and an MA in Theatre from UCLA. He subsequently studied with Sanford Meisner, who became a...
's production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri
Richard Alfieri
Richard Alfieri is a multi-award winning playwright, screenplay writer, novelist, producer and actor.A graduate of Yale University, Mr. Alfieri began his professional career in New York City, where he studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse...
, a two-hander in which she co-starred with Billy Zane
Billy Zane
William George "Billy" Zane, Jr. is an American actor, producer and director. He is probably best known for his roles as Caledon Hockley in Titanic, The Phantom from The Phantom, John Wheeler in Twin Peaks and Mr...
.
In October 2007, she appeared opposite Peter Bowles
Peter Bowles
-Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham...
in Love Letters at the Théâtre Princesse Grace, Monte Carlo as part of the British Theatre Season, Monaco.
In 2008, she guest starred in New Tricks as actress Helen Brownlow. The story was about the murder of her husband whilst they were in a play together.
In December 2009, she appeared in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
alongside David Tennant
David Tennant
David Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
in his final story
The End of Time
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
as the Tenth Doctor
Tenth Doctor
The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the protagonist of the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who appears in three series, as well as eight specials...
, as a Time Lord
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
credited only as "The Woman." Series executive producer Russell T Davies revealed in his 2010 book The Writer's Tale that the character is supposed to be the Doctor's mother.
In 2010, she guest starred as Jill Peters in The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
in the episode "Taking a Stand".
In 2011 she played Queen Mary in The King's Speech.
Personal life
Bloom has married three times. Her first marriage, in 1959, was to actor Rod SteigerRod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
, whom she had met when they both performed in the play Rashomon. Their daughter is opera singer Anna Steiger
Anna Steiger
Anna Steiger is a British opera singer. She is the daughter of Claire Bloom, a British film and stage actress and Rod Steiger, an American Academy Award-winning actor best known for his intense performances in such films as In the Heat of the Night, On the Waterfront and Doctor...
, Bloom's only child. Steiger and Bloom divorced in 1969. In that same year, Bloom married producer Hillard Elkins
Hillard Elkins
Hillard Elkins was an American theatre and film producer.Born in Brooklyn in New York City, Elkins attended Erasmus Hall and Midwood High Schools and Brooklyn College...
. The marriage lasted three years and the couple divorced in 1972. Bloom's third marriage on April 29, 1990 was to writer Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, her longtime companion. The couple divorced in 1995.
Bloom has written two memoirs about her life and career. The first, Limelight and After: The Education of an Actress, was released in 1982 and was an in-depth look at her career and the film and stage roles she had portrayed. Her second book, Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoir
Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoir
Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoir is an autobiography written by British actress Claire Bloom and published in 1996 by Virago Press. The book currently holds a 3-star rating on Amazon, with reviewers praising it for its honest disclosure yet also finding fault in what some viewed as excessive...
, was published in 1996, and went into greater details about her personal life; she discussed not only her marriages but her romantic relationships with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
and Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
. The book created a stir when Bloom detailed the highly complicated relationship between her and Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
during their marriage. The details Bloom shared were unflattering to Roth, and created a controversy regarding the true nature of their relationship. The character of Eve Frame in Roth's 1998 novel I Married a Communist
I Married a Communist
I Married a Communist is a Philip Roth novel concerning the rise and fall of Ira Ringold, known as "Iron Rinn." The story is narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, and is one of a trio of Zuckerman novels Roth wrote in the 1990s depicting the postwar history of Newark, New Jersey and its residents.Ira and...
is considered by some to be his veiled rebuttal to some of the accusations made against him in her memoir.
Filmography
- 1952: Limelight
- 1953: The Man BetweenThe Man BetweenThe Man Between is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Carol Reed and starring James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef and Geoffrey Toone...
- 1953: Innocents in ParisInnocents in ParisInnocents in Paris is a 1953 British French international co-production comedy film produced by Romulus Films, directed by Gordon Parry and starring Alastair Sim, Jimmy Edwards, Claire Bloom, Margaret Rutherford, James Copeland and Ronald Shiner as Dicky Bird...
- 1955: Richard IIIRichard III (1955 film)Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors,...
- 1956: Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great (1956 film)Alexander the Great is a 1956 America sword and sandal epic film written, directed and produced by Robert Rossen with Gordon S. Griffith as executive producer...
- 1957: The Brothers Karamazov
- 1958: The BuccaneerThe Buccaneer (1958 film)The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose...
- 1958: Look Back in AngerLook Back in Anger (film)Look Back in Anger is a 1959 British film starring Richard Burton, Claire Bloom and Mary Ure and directed by Tony Richardson.It is based on John Osborne's play of the same name about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and...
- 1960: BrainwashedBrainwashed (film)Brainwashed is a German film. The 1960 film is based on Stefan Zweig's novella The Royal Game.- Plot :Chess world champion Centowic wants to travel by ship to an important chess tournament...
- 1961: The Chapman ReportThe Chapman ReportThe Chapman Report is a 1962 film made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Richard D. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Wyatt Cooper and Don Mankiewicz, adapted by Gene Allen and Grant Stuart from Irving...
- 1962: The Wonderful World of the Brothers GrimmThe Wonderful World of the Brothers GrimmThe Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm is a 1962 American film directed by Henry Levin and George Pal. The latter was the producer and also in charge of the stop motion animation. The film was one of the highest grossing films of 1962. It won one Oscar and was nominated for three additional...
- 1963: Il maestro di Vigevano, regia di Elio Petri
- 1963: Alta infedeltà (ep. Peccato nel pomeriggio), regia di Elio Petri
- 1963: The HauntingThe Haunting (1963 film)The Haunting is a 1963 British psychological horror film by American director Robert Wise and adapted by Nelson Gidding from the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. The film centers around the conflict between...
- 1963: Eighty Thousand Suspects
- 1964: The OutrageThe OutrageThe Outrage is a remake of the 1950 Japanese film Rashomon, reformulated as a Western. Like the original Akira Kurosawa film, four people give contradictory accounts of a rape and murder. Kurosawa is credited with the screenplay. It was directed by Martin Ritt and is based on stories by Ryūnosuke...
- 1964: High InfidelityHigh InfidelityHigh Infidelity is a 1964 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli, Elio Petri, Franco Rossi and Luciano Salce.-Cast:* Nino Manfredi as Francesco * Fulvia Franco as Raffaella...
- 1965: The Spy Who Came in from the ColdThe Spy Who Came in from the Cold (film)The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a 1965 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by John le Carré. It was adapted by Paul Dehn and Guy Trosper. The film stars Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, along with Claire Bloom, Oskar Werner, Peter van Eyck, Sam Wanamaker, Rupert Davies and Cyril Cusack...
- 1968: CharlyCharlyCharly is a 1968 American film directed by Ralph Nelson. The drama stars Cliff Robertson , Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van Patten and tells the story of a mentally retarded bakery worker who is the subject of an experiment to increase human intelligence...
- 1969: The Illustrated ManThe Illustrated Man (film)The Illustrated Man is a 1969 American science fiction film directed by Jack Smight and starring Rod Steiger. The film is based on three short stories from the 1951 collection The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury: "The Veldt", "The Long Rain", and "The Last Night of the World"...
- 1969: Three Into Two Won't GoThree Into Two Won't GoThree Into Two Won't Go is a British drama film directed by Peter Hall, and starring Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom. The film was entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Rod Steiger - Steve Howard...
- 1970: A Severed HeadA Severed HeadA Severed Head is a satirical, sometimes farcical 1961 novel by Iris Murdoch.Primary themes include marriage, adultery, and incest within a group of civilized and educated people. Set in and around London, it depicts a power struggle between grown-up middle class people who are lucky to be free of...
- 1973: The going up of David Lev
- 1973: A Doll's HouseA Doll's House (1973 Garland film)A Doll's House is a 1973 British film, directed by Patrick Garland. It is based on Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House.-Cast:* Claire Bloom - Nora Helmer* Anthony Hopkins - Torvald Helmer* Ralph Richardson - Dr...
- 1976: Islands in the StreamIslands in the Stream (film)Islands in the Stream is a 1977 American drama film, an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel of the same name. The film was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starred George C...
- 1980: HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
(BBC TV) - 1981: Brideshead RevisitedBrideshead Revisited (TV serial)Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...
- 1981: Clash of the TitansClash of the Titans (1981 film)Clash of the Titans is an American 1981 fantasy–adventure film involving the Greek hero Perseus. It was released on June 12, 1981 and earned a gross profit of $41 million domestically, on a $15 million budget , by which it was the 11th highest grossing film of the year. A novelization of the film...
- 1983: Separate TablesSeparate Tables (film)Separate Tables is a 1958 American drama film based on two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan that were collectively known by this name. It was directed by Delbert Mann, and adapted by Rattigan, John Gay and an uncredited John Michael Hayes. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.The film took the...
- 1984: Ellis Island
- 1985: Ann and Debbie (TV)
- 1985: ShadowlandsShadowlandsShadowlands is a 1985 television film, written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. Its subject is the relationship between Oxford don and author, C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham....
- 1987: Sammy and Rosie Get LaidSammy and Rosie Get LaidSammy and Rosie Get Laid is a film directed by Stephen Frears, with a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi; features Fine Young Cannibals singer Roland Gift in one of his earliest screen appearances.-Plot synopsis:...
- 1987: Queenie
- 1988: The Lady and the HighwaymanThe Lady and the HighwaymanThe Lady and the Highwayman is a 1989 UK TV movie based on Barbara Cartland's Romance Novel Cupid Rides Pillion. The working title of the film was Dangerous Love....
- 1988: Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun
- 1989: Crimes and MisdemeanorsCrimes and MisdemeanorsCrimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 black comedy written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Alan Alda, Sam Waterston and Joanna Gleason....
- 1992: It’s Nothing Personal
- 1992: The Princess and the Goblin (film)The Princess and the Goblin (film)The Princess and the Goblin is a 1992 European animated fantasy film directed by József Gémes. It is an adaptation of 1872 novel of the same name by George MacDonald....
- 1994: Remember
- 1994: A Village AffairA Village AffairA Village Affair is the name of a novel by prolific English romance author Joanna Trollope. The story concerns a housewife and mother who embarks on an affair with a female acquaintance. It was televised by ITV starring Sophie Ward, Kerry Fox and Nathaniel Parker ....
- 1995: Mighty AphroditeMighty AphroditeMighty Aphrodite is a 1995 romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. The screenplay was inspired by the mythological tale of Pygmalion....
- 1996: DaylightDaylight (film)Daylight is a 1996 disaster film, starring Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, Viggo Mortensen, Dan Hedaya, and Danielle Harris. It was directed by Rob Cohen and released in theaters on December 6, 1996.-Plot:...
- 1997: What the Deaf Man HeardWhat the Deaf Man HeardWhat the Deaf Man Heard is a 1997 Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie that aired on CBS television on November 23, 1997. It concerns Sammy, a boy who pretends to be deaf and mute, when in reality he can hear and speak perfectly well. The movie starred Matthew Modine and James Earl Jones.-Plot...
- 2000: Yesterday’s Children
- 2000: Love and Murder: Love and Murder
- 2002: The Book of Eve
- 2003: The Republic of LoveThe Republic of LoveThe Republic of Love is a 2003 Canada/United Kingdom romantic comedy film drama directed by Deepa Mehta. It is based on the novel of the same name by Carol Shields and starring Bruce Greenwood and Emilia Fox. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2003...
- 2009: Doctor Who: The End of TimeThe End of TimeThe End of Time: The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe, also sold with the alternate subtitle The Next Revolution in Physics, is a 1999 science book in which the author Julian Barbour argues that time exists merely as an illusion.-Auto-biography:The book begins by describing how...
- 2010: The BillThe BillThe Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
- 2010: The King's Speech
External links
- http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/27069/i-have-kept-a-sense-of-wonder.thtml
- 2006 Interview with Claire Bloom on Theatre.com
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1181403/Shes-seduced-galaxy-stars-Claire-Bloom-world-role--Doctor-Whos-mum.html