Actress, born in London, UK. She was educated in Bristol and made her debut at the Oxford Repertory Theatre (1946). A distinguished Shakespearean actress on stage and television, she has acted major roles in other classic and modern plays, including A Street Car Named Desire (1974) and The Cherry Orchard (1981). Her many films include Limelight (1952), Look Back in Anger (1959), The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1966), Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanours (1990), and Kalamazoo? (2006). Among her roles in television drama are Brideshead Revisited (1981), Shadowlands (1985, BAFTA), Shadow on the Sun (1988), Family Money (1997), and Imogen's Face (1998).
| Claire Bloom | |
|---|---|
| Born |
15 February 1931 London, England, UK |
Claire Bloom (born Patricia Claire Blume on February 15, 1931) is a British film and stage actress.
She was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, to Edward Blume (the son of Jewish immigrants, originally named Blumenthal, from Russia and Latvia) and Elizabeth Grew (a descendant of Jewish immigrants from Poland originally named Griewski).
Career
After training at the Guildhall School and the Central School of Speech and Drama, Bloom made her debut on BBC radio programmes.
Stage roles
Her London stage debut was in 1947 in the Christopher Fry play The Lady's Not For Burning;
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.
Film roles
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 memberable roles.
She was subsequently featured in a number of "costume" roles in films sych as Alexander The Great, The Brothers Karamazov, The Buccaneer, and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Bloom also appeared in Laurence Olivier's Richard III, Ibsen's A Doll's House, 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 psychiatrist in the Oscar winning film Charly, and a lesbian in The Haunting.
Television
Bloom has appeared in several films, series and miniseries for television, including playing First Lady Edith Wilson in Backstairs at the White House.
Personal life and memoirs
Bloom was married three times.
In that same year, Bloom married producer Hillard Elkins.
Bloom's third marriage was to writer Philip Roth in 1990;
Bloom wrote two memoirs about her life and career.
The book created a stir when Bloom detailed the highly complicated relationship between her and Philip Roth during their marriage.
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