Claire Bloom, English actress
Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles in plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire, A Doll's House, and Long Day's Journey into Night, and has starred in nearly sixty films. She is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
After a childhood spent in England (and in the US for two-and-a-half years during the Second World War), 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. For her Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, critic Kenneth Tynan stated it was "the best Juliet I've ever seen". After she starred as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, its playwright, Tennessee Williams, stated, "I declare myself absolutely wild about Claire Bloom".
In 1952, Bloom was discovered by Hollywood film star Charlie Chaplin to co-star alongside him in Limelight. 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, Cliff Robertson, Anthony Hopkins and Rod Steiger.
In 2010, Bloom played the role of Queen Mary in the British film The King's Speech. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.