Brenda Blethyn

At 78 years old, Brenda Blethyn has this physical status:

Brenda Anne Blethyn (née Bottle; 20 February 1946) is an English actress.

She is known for her portrayals of working class women with eccentric characteristics.

She has received numerous awards, including one Golden Globe, one BAFTA, one Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and two Academy Award nominations. Blethyn began working in administrative roles before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting in her late twenties.

She later joined the Royal National Theatre and gained notoriety for her appearances in Troilus and Cressida (1978), Steaming (1981), and Benefactors (1984), both of which received an Olivier nomination. Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh's Grown-Ups in 1980.

Chance in a Million (1984–86) and The Labours of Erica (1989–90) were both later actresses in leading roles on the short-run sitcoms.

She made her big-screen debut in Nicolas Roeg's 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches.

She had a major career breakthrough when she appeared in Mike Leigh's 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, winning multiple awards, including Best Actress at Cannes, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award nomination.

She received her second Academy Award nomination two years later for her role in Little Voice (1998). Blethyn has since appeared in a variety of big-budget and independent films, including Girls' Night, Music from Another Room, and Night Train (both 2002), The Sea, A Way of Life (both 2004), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Clubland, and Atonement (both 2007).

In addition, she has continued to appear on television in series including Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001) and War and Peace (2007).

Since 2011, she has appeared in the British crime drama series Vera as DCI Vera Stanhope.

Early life

Blethyn was the youngest of nine children in a Roman Catholic, working-class family born in Ramsgate, Kent. Louisa Kathleen (née Supple; 10 May 1904–92), a housewife and former maid, who met Blethyn's father, William Charles Bottle (5 March 1894–c), met her mother, Louisa Kathleen (née Supple; 10 May 1904–c. In about 1922, he was working for the same family in Broadstairs, Kent, and was born in 1984. Bottle had previously served as a shepherd and spent six years with the Royal Field Artillery in British India right before returning home to Broadstairs to become the family's chauffeur. He began working as a mechanic at the Vauxhall auto plant in Luton, Bedfordshire, before WWII.

At their maternal grandmother's house, the family lived in miserable conditions. However, the couple did not marry in Ramsgate until 1944, not until 20 years and the births of eight children. Pam, Ted, and Bernard, the three eldest siblings who were born in 1946, had all left home by the time Blethyn was born. Blethyn's parents were the first to bring Blethyn to the theater, taking her weekly to the cinema.

Blethyn earned a degree in engineering and spent time at a bank as a stenographer and bookkeeper. She turned her passion for amateur dramatics to her professional advantage at the end of a marriage. She went to the Royal National Theatre in 1976 after attending the Guildford School of Acting. Troilus and Cressida, Tamburlaine the Great, The Fruits of Enlightenment opposite Sir Ralph Richardson, Bedroom Farce, The Passion, and Strife were among the exhibitions she appeared in over the three years.

Personal life

Alan James Blethyn, a graphic designer she encountered while working for British Rail in 1964, married Blethyn. In 1973, the marriage was ended. Blethyn kept her husband's surname as her work name. Michael Mayhew, a British artist, has been her partner since 1975, and the pair married in June 2010. She has no children.

In the 2003 New Year Honours, Blethyn was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama.

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Career

Blethyn made her debut on television in 1980, winning the Best Supporting Actress (for Steaming) award, appearing in the BBC's Playhouse production. Their first collaboration, led by Mike Leigh, began a professional relationship that would later earn both of them major recognition. Blethyn continued his role in Shakespearean adaptations for the BBC, including Cordelia in King Lear and Joan of Arc in Henry VI, Part 1. In the well-known BBC Radio 4 comedy series Dial M For Pizza, she appeared alongside Robert Bathurst and others.

Blethyn's career as a professional stage actress continued to grow in the years to include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dalliance, The Beaux' Stratagem, and Born Yesterday. For her role as Sheila in Benefactors, she was nominated for an Olivier Award. In comparison, Alison Little, Tom Chance's annoyance fiancée, performed on British television, copping Simon Callow in three series of the comedy Chance in a Million. She appeared in comedies including Yes Minister (1981), Who Dares Wins (1981), and a variety of roles in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Delve Special alongside Stephen Fry and a small part in King Street Junior's school comedy/drama.

She appeared in The Labours of Erica, a sitcom written for her by Chance in a Million writers Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss in 1989. Erica Parsons, a single mother approaching her fortieth birthday who knows that life is going to pass her by, is passing her by. Erica starts planning to finish them before reaching the milestone by finding her teen diary and discovering a list of twelve tasks and aspirations she had set for herself.

Blethyn made her big screen debut in 1990s dark fantasy film The Witches after 15 years of acting in theatre and television. The film, which is based on Roald Dahl's book "Under the Sun", co-starred actresses Anjelica Huston and Jane Horrocks, is based on the same-titled book. The witches received largely glowing feedback, as did Blethyn, who All Media Guide's Craig Butler described as a "valuable resource" for her mother's success, Mrs Jenkins.

Blethyn was invited by Robert Redford to audition for the soft-spoken mother role in his forthcoming project A River Runs Through It (1992). Two sons of a Presbyterian minister, one studious and the other rebellious, are central characters of the film, as they grow up and come of age in the United States during the Prohibition period. Redford, a second generation immigrant of Scottish descent, required Blethyn to have a Western American accent for her appearance, causing her to live in Livingston, Montana, in anticipation of her role. Following its release, the film, which had been budgeted at US$19 million, became a critical and commercial success, resulting in a US box office total of US$43.3 million.

Blethyn also appeared on stage and on British television. She appeared in five plays between 1990 and 1996, including An Ideal Husband at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, Tales from the Vienna Woods and Wildest Dreams with the Royal Shakespeare Company and her American stage debut Absent Friends, which later received the Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent. She appeared in The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi's biography, and the ITV cricketing comedy drama series Outside Edge, based on the play by television writer Richard Harris. Blethyn also appeared in a number of episodes of Alas Smith & Jones and Maigret.

Blethyn's breakthrough came with Mike Leigh's 1996 drama Secrets & Lies. Marianne Jean-Baptiste portrayed a lower-class box factory worker who would have reconnected with her illegitimate black daughter, who was refused for adoption 30 years ago. Blethyn received a number of accolades, including Best Actress Award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Award, a BAFTA Fellowship, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, among other things. Blethyn continued: "I knew it was a good film but I didn't expect it to get the same buzz it did because none of his other films had and I assumed they were just as good." Of course, I didn't know what it was about before I saw it in the theater because of the way he works, but I knew it was good. It's surprising that it attracted a larger audience." Besides critical acclaim, Secrets & Lies became a financial success, with the film's budgeted at $4.5 million, the film's limited theatrical run in North America grossing an unexpected $13.5 million.

Blethyn appeared in a supporting role in Nick Hurran's debut film Remember Me? (1997), a middle-class suburban farce revolving around a family whose life is put into turmoil after the arrival of an old university crush. The actress appeared in another film collaboration with Hurran, 1998's Girls' Night, a drama film about two sisters-in-law, one dying of cancer, and two others who are going to Las Vegas, Nevada, following an unexpected jackpot win on the bingo. The film, which was loosely based on author Kay Mellor's real life, was not intended for television until Granada Productions discovered support from Showtime. Hurran received a Golden Berlin Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for his 1998 debuts, according to a mixed reaction by critics at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, who described it as a "rather formulaic tearjerker [with] two powerhouse British actresses."

Blethyn played a timid spinster who has a keen interest in John Hurt's character, an ex-prisoner who rents a room in her house when being on the run from some violent criminals in Night Train (1998). The film, which was shot at many locations in Ireland, England, and Italy in 1997, received a limited release the following year. It was a romantic drama with comedic and thrilling elements. Critics generally gave the film a mixed reception. "Most notably succeeds because [of] the lead actors' talents," Adrian Wootton of The Guardian said. At the Brussels International Film Festival, the film was selected for a Crystal Star. Blethyn appeared in James Bogle's film adaptation of Tim Winton's 1988 book In the Winter Dark (1998).

Little Voice, Jane Horrocks and Michael Caine appeared in Blethyn's last film of 1998. After a local showbiz agent, she played a domineering yet needy fish factory worker who has nothing but contempt for her stumbling daughter and lust for her lust. It was the actress' antipathy that attracted her to take the role of Mari: "I must know why she is the way she is." She is a battered woman, but she also has an optimistic outlook on life that I find enviable. Although I don't approve of her behaviour, there is a reason for it, and it was my job to do it out." Both Blethyn's performance and film received rave reviews, and the following year, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, this time for her role.

Craig Ferguson was indie comedy Saving Grace, Blethyn's first film of 2000. Blethyn played a middle-aged widowed woman who is facing financial ruin and turning to growing marijuana under her gardener's tutelage to save her house. Her role in the film earned rave reviews; Peter Travers wrote for Rolling Stone: "It's Blethyn's solid-gold charm [that] turns Saving Grace [that] turns Saving Grace into a comedic high." Blethyn received her third Golden Globe nomination for her role in the film, which grossed an astonishing $24 million worldwide. She appeared in the short film Yes You Can earlier this year.

Blethyn appeared in her own CBS sitcom The Seven Roses, in which she would play the role of a widowed innkeeper and matriarch of an eccentric family. Plans for a pilot were supposed to be produced by two former Frasier executive producers but were canceled due to early casting controversies. Blethyn then accepted a supporting role as Auguste van Pels in Anne Frank's ABC mini series Anne Frank: The Whole Story, which was based on Melissa Müller's book for which she received her first Emmy Award nomination.

Blethyn appeared in the films Daddy and Them, On the Nose, and Lovely & Wonderful. She portrayed an English neurotic psychologist who feels excluded by the American clan she married into due to her nationality in Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them. The film received largely favorable reception but was financially poor, leading to a direct-to-TV launch stateside. Blethyn played Brendan Delaney, the all-disapproving wife of Brendan Delaney, a Canadian-Irish comedy on the Nose, portrayed by Robbie Coltrane. Harry Guerin, a writer for RTÉ Entertainment, had her appearance described as "underused" at her appearance. In Nicole Holofcener's independent drama Lovely & Amazing, featuring Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer, and Jake Gyllenhaal, Blethyn depicted an affluent, yet distracted matriarch of three daughters. Blethyn's biggest box-office success of the year came with a worldwide gross of $5 million only, and earned the actor mixed critiques from professional writers. In the Bob the Builder's special, "The Knights of Can-A-Lot," she also served as the UK voice of Dr. Florence Mountfitchet.

Blethyn appeared with Christina Ricci in the 2002 film Pumpkin, a financial disaster. During the film's North American theatrical run, the film attracted little notice and earned less than $30,000. Blethyn's most favourable reviews were given after her appearance as the overprotective wine-soaked mother of a disabled teenage boy. "Uncertain, unsure [... and] miscast," Entertainment Weekly writer Lisa Schwarzbaum characterized her as "challenged, confused [... and] miscast." Sonny's Sonny, a limitedly released film by Nicolas Cage, had similar success. Although the production was panned in general, the actress received mixed praise for her portrayal of an eccentric ex-protestute and mother, as some commentators, such as Kevin Thomas, characterized her role as "problematic [due to] caricatured acting." Blethyn was given more clout when she accepted the lead role in Plots with a View. The pair, who performed alongside Alfred Molina, was praised for their "genuine chemistry."

Blethyn co-starred with Bob Hoskins and Jessica Alba in the classic direct-to-video drama The Sleeping Dictionary, a year ago. The film received a DVDX Award from the Department of Film and Television, but mixed reviews were given, as well as Blizzard, a Christmas film in which Blethyn played Aunt Millie, the film's narrator. Blethyn appeared in the miniserie Between the Sheets, a woman struggling with her own ambivalent feelings towards her husband and sex.

In Beyond the Sea, Bobby Darin's mother Polly Cassotto's 2004 biographical film about the singer, Blethyn co-starred. The film was a financial disappointment: it was budgeted at US$25 million, it opened with no warning, and it raised only $6 million in its North American theatrical run. Margaret Pomeranz of At the Movies said that her role was "a bit perplexing." Blethyn appeared in A Way of Life, a middle-aged woman played by Stephanie James and starring a struggling young woman who is left to look after her husband's elderly relatives and make a new life for herself after he left her for a younger woman. For the second role, Blethyn received a Golden FIPA Award and a BAFTA nomination.

Blethyn appeared in the comedy On a Clear Day with Peter Mullan in early 2005. Joan, a Glasgow housewife who secretly enrolls in bus-driving lessons after her husband's dismissal, was the subject of the film. "It's Blethyn, who wraps the film in a cosy, cozy, maternal hug that assures you that it will weather its risk-taking with aplomb," ABC writer MaryAnn Johanson wrote. The film was a modest success on the international box-office charts, with just over $1 million worldwide, but a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Film and Screenplay was given to it.

Pride & Prejudice, Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's same-titled book, was a big hit for Blethyn. Blethyn played Mrs. Bennet, a fluttery mother of five sisters who frantically aims to marry her daughters off to men of means, star Keira Knightley and Donald Sutherland. "I've always had a real problem and shouldn't be mocked," the actress confessed during her film preview: "I've always felt she had a real one and shouldn't be mocked." She's stubborn for a reason. As Mr. Bennet's death, all the money goes down the male line; she has to save her daughters from penury. With both a worldwide income of over US$121 million and many Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, the film earned Blethyn another BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

She appeared in the independent Australian coming-of-age comedy Clubland in 2007. Blethyn played a character that was specifically created with her in mind, portrayed by Khan Chittenden as a bawdy comedian with a sinking career struggling with her teenage son's intimate life. The film was released in Australia in June 2007 and was selected for screening at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, where Warner Independent Pictures picked it up for a $4 million contract and received glowing reviews. "The film belongs to Blethyn, a difficult, easily misunderstood character who plays a difficult, misunderstood role in a way that gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside," Los Angeles Times film critic Carina Chocano said. For her appearance in the following year, she was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award and an Inside Film Award.

Blethyn reunited with Joe Wright on Atonement, an adaptation of Ian McEwan's critically acclaimed book of the same name. Blethyn reflected on her role as a housekeeper in a film cast that also stars Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, and James McAvoy. You'll forget me if you blink." Film critics generally approved the film, and the 2008 Academy Awards gave it a Best Picture nomination. It was a box office hit around the world, raising $129 million worldwide. Blethyn also appeared as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosmowa in a supporting role in RAI's internationally distributed 2007 miniseries War and Peace, shot in Russia and Lithuania.

Blethyn made her American small screen debut in 2008 with a guest appearance on CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, playing the neurotic mother to Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character in the fourth season episode "Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner." She appeared in a single season ten episode of the NBC legal drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the same year. Blethyn received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series for her role as a sympathetic fugitive of domestic violence and rape that killed her first husband in self-defense. Mama Heffalump appeared in the animated Disney direct-to-video animated sequel Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too (2009), Blethyn sang of Mama Heffalump.

Rachid Bouchareb's London River opened at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2009, winning a Special Mention by the Ecumenical Jury for its first film in two years. Blethyn had to learn French in the film, portrayed a mother and her child after the London bombings of July 2005, establishing a relationship with a Muslim man whose child has also disappeared. Blethyn, who had initially been skeptical and reticent about the film's history, was not available for filming, but Bouchareb had to postpone filming to work with her. The film received lauded reviews on its debut, particularly for its "dynamite performances." "Blethyn's appearance is nuanced," The Times-Picayune's Mike Scott said, "it's that spectacle—both sweet, funny, and heartbreaking—that draws viewers in and discourages them from watching."

Blethyn appeared in Jan Dunn's film The Calling, as well as Joanna Scanlan and Pauline McLynn. It's Dunn's third feature film that tells the tale of Joanna, played by Emily Beecham, who after graduating from college, goes against her family and friends as she joins a closed order of nuns. The independent drama, which premiered in 2009, was not released in UK cinemas until 2010, when it was met with mixed to critical feedback by critics, one of which claimed it was "half Doubt, half Hollyoaks." Blethyn, on the other hand, received accolades for her appearance; Catherine Shoard, a writer for the Guardian, said, "only she, really, survives to ride the rollercoaster rises in plot and tone." Alex De Rakoff's last film of 2009 was Dead Man Running, Danny Dyer, and 50 Cent. In which she played the wheelchair-using mother of a criminal who has been taken hostage, she appeared in Tamer Hassan's crime film Dead Man Running. Film critics generally dismissed the film as full of "poor performances, snaky dialogue, [and] flat characters."

Blethyn took center stage in ITV's crime drama series Vera as the North of England Chief Inspector, who was devoted to her work and fueled by her own demons based on Ann Cleeves' book. It has since been broadcast to mixed reviews, with Chitra Ramaswamy of The Guardian writing in 2016: "Blethyn is the best thing about Vera [...] She has the loveliest voice, both girlish and gruff." Her appearance is reminiscent of company, but it does not mean company. Not many actors can pull off a shambolic but effective job, but Blethyn can do it with a single, penetrating glance from under the hat." Vera, the UK's top-selling British drama of the 2010s, at 7.8 million people per episode. Blethyn was named in the 2017 RTS North East & Border Television Award for her appearance, and she has since portrayed Vera as the 2021 ambassador in the 11 series.

The Christmas drama My Angel, written, directed, and produced by Stephen Cookson, was Blethyn's only film of 2011. It also stars Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Mel Smith, narrating a child's struggle for an angel to rescue his mother after an accident. My Angel shot in Northwood for less than £2 million, The best film, newcomer, producer, and screenplay, as well as the best actor and actress for Blethyn and Spall at the Monaco International Film Festival was shot in Northwood. In the short film King of the Teds, directed by Jim Cartwright, Blethyn starred opposite singer Tom Jones and actress Alison Steadman as part of the Sky Arts Playhouse Presents collection. She played an old flame who keeps in touch with a former boyfriend on Facebook, sparking tensions and doubts that were not present 40 years ago.

In the BBC film Mary and Martha, Blethyn costarred Hilary Swank in March 2013. It's based on a screenplay by Richard Curtis and directed by Phillip Noyce. Two very different women play malaria, and both lose their sons. Critics mixed on the film, with Linda Stasi of The New York Post writing that "while Swank and Blethyn make it more apparent for their presence," the film more resembles a based-on-fact Lifetime film than an HBO work of fiction." Ernestine Enormomonster's supporting character was introduced in two seasons of the children's animated television series Henry Hugglemonster, based on Niamh Sharkey's 2005 book I'm a Happy Hugglewug.

Blethyn teamed up with filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb in 2014 for The French-American drama film Two Men in Town, a recreation of the 1973 film. In the Western film, Blethyn portrays a parole officer alongside Forest Whitaker and Robert Duvall. Although critical reaction towards the film as a whole was lukewarm, Sherilyn Connelly of The Village Voice commented that Blethyn "is stunning as an all-too-rare woman, a middle-aged woman who holds her own in a position of authority over violent males." Blethyn received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Capri International Film Festival in January 2015.

Blethyn lent her voice to the British animated biographical film Ethel & Ernest, based on Raymond Briggs' parents' journey from the 1920s to their deaths in the 1970s. Critics also praised the film as "gentle, poignant, and vividly animated," as well as "a warm character study with an evocative sense of time and place." Blethyn was nominated in the Best Voice Performance category at the British Animation Awards 2018.

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