30 Facts About Claire Bloom

Patricia Claire Bloom was born on 15 February 1931 and is an English actress.

Claire Bloom 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.

Claire Bloom was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

Claire Bloom debuted on the London stage when she was sixteen and took roles in various Shakespeare plays.

Claire Bloom 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.

Claire Bloom made her Broadway debut in the play Richard II.

Claire Bloom received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination for her role in Electra.

Claire Bloom made her film debut in The Blind Goddess.

Claire Bloom's breakthrough came with a leading role acting opposite Charlie Chaplin in Limelight for which she won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

Claire Bloom went on to act in films such as Richard III, Alexander the Great, The Brothers Karamazov, The Haunting, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Charly, A Doll's House, Clash of the Titans, and Shadowlands.

Claire Bloom later acted in the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors and Mighty Aphrodite, and portrayed Queen Mary in historical drama The King's Speech.

Claire Bloom's education was "somewhat haphazard"; she was sent to the independent Badminton School in Bristol, but when her father encountered financial difficulties the family relocated to Cornwall, where she attended the local village school.

Claire Bloom later studied stage acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and continued her studies under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Claire Bloom made her stage debut in 1946 when she was 15 with the Oxford Repertory Theatre.

Claire Bloom debuted aged 16 at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre as Ophelia to Paul Scofield's Hamlet; Robert Helpmann alternated playing the prince.

Claire Bloom has written that during the production she had a crush on Scofield.

Claire Bloom trained at the Rank Organisation's charm school but did not stay with that company for long.

The film had personal meaning for Chaplin as it contained numerous references to his life and family: the theatre where he and Claire Bloom performed in the film was the same theatre where his mother gave her last performance; Claire Bloom was directed by Chaplin to wear dresses similar to those his mother used to wear; Chaplin's sons and his half-brother all had parts.

Claire Bloom was 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.

Claire Bloom has appeared in a number of plays and theatrical works in both London and New York.

Claire Bloom starred in the 1976 Broadway revival of The Innocents.

Claire Bloom played Hera in Clash of the Titans, reuniting her with Olivier who played Zeus.

Claire Bloom appeared in the Woody Allen films Crimes and Misdemeanors and Mighty Aphrodite.

Claire Bloom appeared in the Sylvester Stallone film Daylight.

Claire Bloom had major roles in several of the BBC Television Shakespeare presentations and has led workshops on Shakespearean performance practices.

In 2003, Claire 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 2013, Claire Bloom appeared in the sixth series of ITV's Doc Martin as the estranged mother of the title character.

Claire Bloom has written two memoirs about her life and career.

The book created a stir when Claire Bloom described her former marriage to Roth.

Claire Bloom was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.