Claire Bloom | |
|---|---|
 Bloom in 1958 | |
| Born | Patricia Claire Blume 15 February 1931 |
| Education | Guildhall School of Music and Drama Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1946–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Anna Steiger |
| Relatives | John Bloom (brother) |
Patricia Claire Bloom CBE (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and a Tony Award. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
After a childhood spent in various places in England and Florida, Bloom studied drama in London. She debuted on the London stage when she was sixteen and took roles in various Shakespeare plays. They included Hamlet, in which she played Ophelia alongside Richard Burton. She rose to prominence playing leading roles in stage productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll's House, and Long Day's Journey into Night. She made her Broadway debut in the play Richard II (1956). She received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination for her role in Electra (1999).
Bloom made her film debut in The Blind Goddess (1948). Her breakthrough came with a leading role acting opposite Charlie Chaplin in Limelight (1952) where she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She went on to act in films such as Richard III (1955), Alexander the Great (1956), The Brothers Karamazov (1958), The Haunting (1963), The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965), Charly (1968), A Doll's House (1973), Clash of the Titans (1981), and Shadowlands (1985). She later acted in the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995), and portrayed Queen Mary in historical drama The King's Speech (2010).
During her film career, she has starred alongside numerous major actors, including Richard Burton, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Paul Scofield, Ralph Richardson, Yul Brynner, George C. Scott, James Mason, Paul Newman, Julie Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Rod Steiger and Jerry Lewis.