Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Blethyn
OBE

Blethyn at 43rd KVIFF, 2008
Born Brenda Anne Bottle
(1946-02-20) 20 February 1946
Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK
Occupation Actress
Years active 1980–present
Spouse(s) Alan Blethyn
(m. 1964–1973, divorced)
Michael Mayhew
(m. 2010–present)

Brenda Anne Blethyn, OBE (née Bottle; 20 February 1946) is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film, best known for her role in Mike Leigh's 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, and, from 2011, for the title role in the TV detective series Vera.

Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one. In addition, she has won a BAFTA, an Empire Award and has earned a Theatre World Award and both a Critics' Circle Theatre Award and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her theatrical work.

Born into a working class home, Blethyn pursued an administrative career until her early 30s before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting after the dissolution of her marriage in 1973. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre and received credits for her performances in Troilus and Cressida (1976) and Mysteries (1979). In 1981, Blethyn earned her first critical acclaim for Steaming.

In 1980, Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh's film Grown-Ups. After a modest number of guest spots in several productions, in the mid-1980s she garnered leading roles in the short-run sitcoms Chance in a Million and The Labours of Erica. Having followed her big screen debut with smaller supporting roles in films such as The Witches (1990) and A River Runs Through It (1992), she made a major cinema breakthrough with her role in the 1996 dramedy Secrets & Lies, for which she received rave reviews.

Blethyn has since appeared in an eclectic range of films, including independent comedies such as Saving Grace (2000), Plots with a View (2002) and Clubland (2007), music-themed films like Little Voice (1998) and Beyond the Sea (2004) and big-budget dramas such as Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007), the latter of which rank among the biggest commercial successes of her career. In addition, Blethyn has appeared in television productions including The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), Belonging (2004) and War and Peace (2007). Her most recent leading role in TV drama is the title role in Vera (2011), playing Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.

Early life

Born in Ramsgate, Kent, Blethyn was the youngest of the nine children in a Roman Catholic, working-class family. Her mother, Louisa Kathleen (née Supple; born 10 May 1904 – died 1992), was a housewife and former maid, who met Blethyn's father, William Charles Bottle (born 5 March 1894 – died c. 1984) around 1922 while working for the same household in Broadstairs, Kent.[1][2] Bottle had previously worked as a shepherd, and spent six years in British India with the Royal Field Artillery immediately prior to returning home to Broadstairs to become the family's chauffeur.[1] Before WWII, he found work as a mechanic at the Vauxhall car factory in Luton, Bedfordshire.[1]

The family lived in poor circumstances at their maternal grandmother's home. It was, however, not until 1944, after an engagement of twenty years, that the couple wed and moved into a small rented house in Ramsgate.[1] By the time Blethyn was born in 1946, her three eldest siblings, Pam, Ted and Bernard, had already left home.[1] Her parents were the first to introduce Blethyn to the cinema, taking her to the cinema weekly.[3]

Blethyn originally trained at technical college and worked as a stenographer and bookkeeper for a bank. At the end of a marriage, she opted to turn her hobby of amateur dramatics to her professional advantage. After studying at the Guildford School of Acting, she went onto the London stage in 1976, performing several seasons at the Royal National Theatre. The shows she participated in during the following three years, included Troilus and Cressida, Tamburlaine the Great, The Fruits of Enlightenment opposite Sir Ralph Richardson, Bedroom Farce, The Passion and Strife.[4]

Career

1980s

After winning the London Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress (for Steaming) in 1980, Blethyn made her screen debut, starring in the play Grown Ups as part of the BBC's Playhouse strand. Directed by Mike Leigh, their first collaboration marked the start of a professional relationship which would later earn both of them huge acclaim. Blethyn followed this with roles in Shakespearean adaptations for the BBC, playing Cordelia in King Lear and Joan of Arc in Henry VI, Part 1. She also appeared with Robert Bathurst and others in the popular BBC Radio 4 comedy series Dial M For Pizza.

In the following years Blethyn expanded her status as a professional stage actress, appearing in productions including A Midsummer's Night Dream, Dalliance, The Beaux' Stratagem and Born Yesterday. She was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance as Sheila in Benefactors. Meanwhile, she continued with roles on British television, playing opposite Simon Callow as Tom Chance's frustrated fiancée Alison Little in three series of the sitcom Chance in a Million. She also had roles in comedies such as Yes Minister (1981), Who Dares Wins and a variety of roles in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Delve Special alongside Stephen Fry and a role in the school comedy/drama King Street Junior.

In 1989, she starred in The Labours of Erica, a sitcom written for her by Chance in a Million writers Richard Fegen and Andrew Norriss. Blethyn played Erica Parsons, a single mother approaching her fortieth birthday who realises that life is passing her by. Finding her teenage diary and discovering a list of twelve tasks and ambitions which she had set for herself, Erica sets out to complete them before reaching the milestone.

1990–1996

After fifteen years of working in theatre and television Blethyn made her big screen debut with a small role in 1990s dark fantasy film The Witches. The film, based on the same-titled book by Roald Dahl, co-starred actresses Anjelica Huston and Jane Horrocks. Witches received generally positive reviews – as did Blethyn, who Craig Butler of All Media Guide considered as a "valuable support" for her performance of the mother, Mrs. Jenkins.[5]

In 1991, after starring in a play in New York, Blethyn was recommended to Robert Redford to audition for the soft-spoken mother role in his next project A River Runs Through It (1992). A period drama based on the same-titled 1976 novel by Norman Maclean, also starring Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt, the film revolves around two sons of a Presbyterian minister—one studious and the other rebellious—as they grow up and come of age during the Prohibition era in the United States. Portraying a second generation immigrant of Scottish heritage, Redford required Blethyn to adapt a Western American accent for her performance, prompting her to live in Livingston, Montana in preparation of her role.[6] Upon its release, the film, budgeted at US$19 million, became a financial and critical success, resulting in a US box office total of US$43.3 million.[7]

Simultaneously Blethyn continued working on stage and in British television. Between 1990 and 1996 she starred in five different plays, including An Ideal Husband at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Tales from the Vienna Woods and Wildest Dreams with the Royal Shakespeare Company and her American stage debut Absent Friends, for which eventually received a Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent. Besides she played character parts in the BBC adaptation of Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia and the ITV cricketing comedy-drama series Outside Edge, based on the play by television writer Richard Harris. Blethyn also performed in a variety of episodes of Alas Smith & Jones and Maigret.

Blethyn's breakthrough came with Mike Leigh's 1996 drama Secrets & Lies. Starring alongside Marianne Jean-Baptiste, she portrayed a lower-class box factory worker, who after years once again comes in contact with her illegitimate grown-up black daughter, whom she gave up for adoption thirty years earlier. For her improvised performance, Blethyn was praised with a variety of awards, including the Best Actress Award at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival,[8] the British Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.[9] Upon its success, Blethyn later stated: "I knew it was a great film, but I didn't expect it to get the attention it did because none of his other films had and I thought they were just as good. Of course, I didn't know what it was about until I saw it in the cinema because of the way that he works — but I knew it was good. That it reached a wider audience surprised me." Besides critical acclaim Secrets & Lies also became a financial success; budgeted at an estimated $4.5 million, the film grossed an unexpected $13.5 million in its limited theatrical run in North America.[10]

1997–1999

The following year, Blethyn appeared in a supporting role in Nick Hurran's debut feature Remember Me? (1997), a middle class suburban farce revolving around a family whose life is thrown into chaos upon the arrival of an old university crush.[11] Forging another collaboration with the director, the actress was cast alongside Julie Walters for Hurran's next project, 1998's Girls' Night, a drama film about two sisters-in-law, one dying of cancer, who fulfill a lifelong dream of going to Las Vegas, Nevada after an unexpected jackpot win on the bingo. Loosely based upon the real experiences by writer Kay Melior, the production was originally destined for television until Granada Productions found backing from Showtime.[11] Premiered to a mixed response by critics at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, who noted it a "rather formulaic tearjerker [with] two powerhouse Brit actresses,"[12] Hurran won a Silver Spire at the San Francisco International Film Festival and received a Golden Berlin Bear nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival for his work.[13]

In John Lynch's Night Train (1998), Blethyn played a timid spinster who strikes up a friendship with John Hurt's character, an ex-prisoner, who rents a room in her house while on the run from some nasty gangsters. A romantic drama with comedic and thrilling elements, the film was shot at several locations in Ireland, England and Italy in 1997, and received a limited release the following year.[14] The film received a mixed reception from critics. Adrian Wootton of The Guardian called it "an impressive directorial debut [that] mainly succeeds because [of] the talents of its lead actors". The film was nominated for a Crystal Star at the Brussels International Film Festival.[15] In the same year, Blethyn also starred in James Bogle's film adaption of Tim Winton's 1988 novel In the Winter Dark (1998).

Blethyn's last film of 1998 was Little Voice opposite Jane Horrocks and Michael Caine.[16] Cast against type, she played a domineering yet needy fish factory worker who has nothing but contempt for her shy daughter and lusts after a local showbiz agent.[17] A breakaway from the kind at heart roles Blethyn had previously played, it was the character's antipathy that attracted the actress to accept the role of Mari: "I have to understand why she is the way she is. She is a desperate woman, but she also has an optimistic take on life which I find enviable. Whilst I don't approve of her behaviour, there is a reason for it and it was my job to work that out."[17] Both Blethyn's performance and the film received rave reviews, and the following year, she was again Oscar nominated, this time for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

2000–2003

Blethyn's first film of 2000 was the indie comedy Saving Grace with Craig Ferguson. Blethyn played a middle-aged newly widowed woman who is faced with the prospect of financial ruin and turns to growing marijuana under the tutelage of her gardener to save her home. Her performance in the film received favourable reviews; Peter Travers wrote for Rolling Stone: "It's Blethyn's solid-gold charm [that] turns Saving Grace into a comic high."[18] The following year, Blethyn received her third Golden Globe nomination for her role in the film, which grossed an unexpected $24 million worldwide.[19] That same year, she also had a smaller role in the short comedy Yes You Can.

In 2001 Blethyn signed on to star in her own CBS sitcom, The Seven Roses, in which she was to play the role of a widowed innkeeper and matriarch of an eccentric family. Originally slated to be produced by two former executive producers of Frasier, plans for a pilot eventually went nowhere due to early casting conflicts.[20] Afterwards, Blethyn accepted a supporting role as Auguste van Pels in the ABC mini series Anne Frank: The Whole Story based on the book by Melissa Müller, for which she garnered her first Emmy Award nomination.[21]

Following this, Blethyn starred in the films Daddy and Them, On the Nose, and Lovely & Amazing. In Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them, she portrayed an English neurotic psychologist, who feels excluded by the American clan she married into due to her nationality. The film scored a generally positive reception but was financially unsuccessful, leading to a direct-to-TV release stateside.[22] In Canadian-Irish comedy On the Nose, Blethyn played the minor role of the all-disapproving wife of Brendan Delaney, played by Robbie Coltrane.[23] Her appearance was commented as "underused" by Harry Guerin, writer for RTÉ Entertainment.[23] Blethyn depicted an affluent but desperate and distracted matriarch of three daughters in Nicole Holofcener's independent drama Lovely & Amazing, featuring Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer and Jake Gyllenhaal.[24] The film became Blethyn's biggest box-office success of the year with a worldwide gross of $5 million only,[25] and earned the actress mixed reviews from professional critics.[24][26]

In 2002, Blethyn appeared with Christina Ricci in the dark comedy Pumpkin, a financial disaster.[27] The film opened to little notice and grossed less than $300,000 during its North American theatrical run.[28] Her performance as the overprotective wine-soaked mother of a disabled teenage boy generated Blethyn mostly critical reviews. Entertainment Weekly writer Lisa Schwarzbaum called her "challenged, unsure [... and] miscast."[29] Her following film, limitedly-released Nicolas Cage's Sonny, saw similar success. While the production was panned in general,[30] the actress earned mixed reviews for her performance of an eccentric ex-prostitute and mother, as some critics such as Kevin Thomas considered her casting as "problematic [due to] caricatured acting."[31] Blethyn eventually received more acclaim when she accepted the lead role in the dark comedy Plots with a View. Starring alongside Alfred Molina, the pair was praised for their "genuine chemistry."[30]

A year after Blethyn co-starred with Bob Hoskins and Jessica Alba in historical direct-to-video drama The Sleeping Dictionary. The film earned her a DVDX Award but received mixed critics – as did Blizzard, a Christmas movie in which Blethyn played the eccentric character of Aunt Millie, the narrator of the film's story.[32] 2003 ended with the mini series Between the Sheets, in which Blethyn starred as a woman struggling with her own ambivalent feelings towards her husband and sex.[33]

2004–2007

Blethyn co-starred as Bobby Darin's mother Polly Cassotto in Beyond the Sea, a 2004 biographical film about the singer. The film was a financial disappointment: budgeted at an estimated US$25 million, it opened to little notice and grossed only $6 million in its North American theatrical run.[34] Margaret Pomeranz of At the Movies said that her casting was "a bit mystifying".[35] Afterwards, Blethyn starred in A Way of Life, playing a bossy and censorious mother-in-law of a struggling young woman, played by Stephanie James, and in the television film Belonging, starring as a middle-aged childless woman, who is left to look after the elderly relatives of her husband and to make a new life for herself, after he leaves her for a younger woman.[36] Blethyn received a Golden FIPA Award and a BAFTA nomination for the latter role.[36]

In early 2005, Blethyn appeared in the indie-drama On a Clear Day alongside Peter Mullan. In the film, she played the character of Joan, a Glasgow housewife, who secretly enrolls in bus-driving classes after her husband's dismissal. Her performance in the film received positive reviews; ABC writer MaryAnn Johanson wrote: "It's Blethyn, who wraps the movie in a cosy, comfortable, maternal hug that reassures you that it will weather its risk-taking with aplomb [...]."[37] The film became a minor success at the international box-office chart, barely grossing $1 million worldwide,[38] but was awarded a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Film and Screenplay.[39]

A major hit for Blethyn came with Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, a 2005 adaptation of the same-titled novel by Jane Austen.[40] Starring alongside Keira Knightley and Donald Sutherland, Blethyn played Mrs. Bennet, a fluttery mother of five sisters who desperately schemes to marry her daughters off to men of means. During promotion of the film, she noted of her portrayal of the character: "I've always thought she had a real problem and shouldn't be made fun of. She's pushy with a reason. As soon as Mr. Bennet dies, all the money goes down the male line; she has to save her daughters from penury."[41] With both a worldwide gross of over US$121 million and several Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations,[42] the film became a critical and commercial success,[40] spawning Blethyn another BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.[42]

In 2007, she appeared in the independent Australian coming-of-age comedy Clubland. Playing a character that was created specifically with her in mind, Blethyn portrayed a bawdy comedian with a sinking career faced with the romantic life of her young son, played by Khan Chittenden.[43] The film was released in Australia in June 2007, and selected for screening at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival where it was picked up by Warner Independent Pictures for a $4 million deal and gained glowing reviews.[44] Los Angeles Times film critic Carina Chocano wrote, "the movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside."[45] The following year, she was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award and an Inside Film Award for her performance.[42]

Also in 2007, Blethyn reunited with Joe Wright on Atonement, an adaptation from Ian McEwan's critically acclaimed novel of the same name. On her role of a housekeeper in a cast that also features Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy, Blethyn commented: "It's a tiny, tiny part. If you blink you'll miss me."[46] The film garnered generally positive reviews from film critics and received a Best Picture nomination at the 2008 Academy Awards.[47][48] A box-office success around the globe, it went on to gross a total of $129 million worldwide.[49] Blethyn also appeared as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa in a supporting role in the internationally produced 2007 miniseries War and Peace by RAI, filmed in Russia and Lithuania.[50]

2008–present

In 2008, Blethyn made her American small screen debut with a guest role 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".[51] The same year, she appeared in a single season ten episode of the NBC legal drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The following year, Blethyn was nominated for another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series for her portrayal of a sympathetic fugitive who has been living under a pseudonym.<ref name="emmy" /[52] Blethyn again provided the voice of Mama Heffalump in the animated Disney sequel Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too (2009).

Blethyn's first film in two years, Rachid Bouchareb's London River opened at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009 where it won a Special Mention by the Ecumenical Jury.[53][54] In the film, for which Blethyn had to learn French, she portrays a mother waiting for news of her missing child after the London bombings of July 2005, striking up a friendship with a Muslim man, whose child has also disappeared.[54] Blethyn, who had initially felt sceptical and reticent about the film due to its background, was originally not available for filming but Bouchareb decided to delay filming to work with her.[55] Upon release, the film received favourable reviews, particularly for its "dynamite acting".[56] Mike Scott from The Times-Picayune commented "that Blethyn's performance is nuanced [...] it's that performance – at turns sweet, funny and heartbreaking – that ultimately draws viewers in and defies them to stop watching".[57]

Blethyn at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival.

Also in 2009, Blethyn played a Benedictine nun in Jan Dunn's film The Calling, also starring Joanna Scanlan and Pauline McLynn. Dunn's third feature film, it tells the story of Joanna, played by Emily Beecham, who after graduating from university, goes against her family and friends when she decides to join a closed order of nuns. Released to film festivals in 2009, the independent drama was not released to UK cinemas until 2010, when it was met with mixed to negative reviews by critics, some of which declared it "half Doubt, half Hollyoaks".[58] Blethyn however, earned positive reviews for her performance; The Guardian writer Catherine Shoard wrote that "only she, really, manages to ride the rollercoaster jumps in plot and tone."[59] Her last film of 2009 was Alex De Rakoff's crime film Dead Man Running alongside Tamer Hassan, Danny Dyer, and 50 Cent, in which she portrayed the wheelchair-using mother of a crimcial who is taken hostage. The film received universally negative reviews from film critics, who deemed it to be full of "poor performances, stiff dialogue, [and] flat characters".[60]

In May 2011, Blethyn made her debut in the title role in ITV1's detective series, Vera as the North of England character Vera Stanhope based on the novels of Ann Cleeves. She has continued to portray Vera and as of 2016 has starred in 6 series of the show.[61] Her only film of 2011 was the Christmas drama My Angel, written, directed and produced by Stephen Cookson. Also starring Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie, and Mel Smith, it tells the story of a boy, played by Joseph Phillips, looking for an angel to save his mother after an accident. Shot in Northwood for less than £2 million, My Angel scooped best film, newcomer, director, screenplay, plus best actor and actress for Blethyn and Spall at the Monaco International Film Festival.[62]

In March 2013, Blethyn co-starred with Hilary Swank in the BBC movie Mary and Martha, written by Richard Curtis and directed by Phillip Noyce.[63] Based on a screenplay by Richard Curtis and directed by Phillip Noyce, it revolves two very different women, who both lose their sons to malaria. Upon its broadcast, the film received mixed reviews from critics. The New York Post remarked that "while Swank and Blethyn make everything they’re in more remarkable for their presence, the movie plays more like a based-on-fact Lifetime flick than an HBO work of fiction."[64] The same year, Blethyn reteamed with Rachid Bouchareb to work on the French-American drama film Two Men in Town, a remake of the José Giovanni film Deux hommes dans la ville. Shot in New Mexico along with Forest Whitaker and Robert Duvall, Blethyn portrays a parole officer in the Western film.[65]

Personal life

Blethyn married Alan James Blethyn, a graphic designer she met while working for British Rail, in 1964. The marriage ended in 1973.[66][67] Blethyn kept her husband's surname as her professional name. British art director Michael Mayhew has been her partner for the past three decades. The couple married in June 2010.[68]

Blethyn divides her time between her home in south London and by the sea in Kent. She also has an apartment in North East England that she uses for up to five months every year whilst filming Vera. She likes old black-and-white classic films, such as Brief Encounter.[69] She also likes watching DVD box sets and names Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad as two of her favourite television shows. She is also passionate about cooking and solving crosswords.[70]

Blethyn was awarded the OBE for services to drama in the 2003 New Year Honours List.[71] She is currently the chairwoman of the Kent Film and Television Board.[72]

Filmography

Film and television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Can We Get on Now, Please? N/A Episode: "Variations in Two Flats"
Bedroom Farce Kate TV film
Play for Today Mary Episode: "The Imitation Game"
Grown-Ups Gloria TV film
1981 Say No to Strangers N/A Short film
Yes Minister Joan Littler Episode: "The Greasy Pole"
1982 King Lear Cordelia TV film
1983 The First Part of Henry the Sixth Joan la Pucelle TV film
Tales of the Unexpected Carol Hutchins Episode: "Hit and Run"
Death of an Expert Witness Angela Foley TV mini-series (6 episodes)
Play for Today Janice Episode: "Floating Off"
Rumpole of the Bailey Pauline Episode: "Rumpole and the Genuine Article"
1984 Weekend Playhouse Jean Saunders Episode: "Singles Weekend"
1984—1986 Chance in a Million Alison Little 18 episodes
1985 That Uncertain Feeling Mrs. Lewis TV mini-series
1987 Sunday Premiere Sylvia Episode: "Claws"
Poor Little Rich Girl Ticki Tocquet TV film
1988 The Storyteller Storyteller's Wife Episode: "A Story Short"
1989 The Play on One Miss A. Episode: "The Shawl"
1989—1990 The Labours of Erica Erica Parsons 12 episodes
1990 Witches, TheThe Witches Mrs. Jenkins
1992 River Runs Through It, AA River Runs Through It Mrs. Maclean
1993 Outside Edge Miriam Dervish
1996 Secrets & Lies Cynthia Rose Purley BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Cannes Film Festival – Best Actress Award
Empire Award for Best British Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Sant Jordi Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated—Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
1997 Remember Me? Shirley
1998 Girls' Night Dawn Wilkinson
Night Train Alice Mooney
In the Winter Dark Ida Stubbs
Little Voice Mari Hoff Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Music from Another Room Grace Swan
2000 Saving Grace Grace Trevethyn Nominated—British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Empire Award for Best British Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2001 Anne Frank: The Whole Story Auguste van Pels Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
Daddy and Them July Montgomery
Lovely & Amazing Jane Marks
On the Nose Mrs. Delaney
2002 Pumpkin Judy Romanoff
Sonny Jewel Phillips
Plots with a View Betty Rhys-Jones
Wild Thornberrys Movie, TheThe Wild Thornberrys Movie Mrs. Fairgood
2003 Sleeping Dictionary, TheThe Sleeping Dictionary Aggie DVDX Award for Best Supporting Actress in a DVD Premiere Movie
Blizzard Aunt Millie
2004 Piccadilly Jim Nina Banks
Beyond the Sea Polly Cassotto
Way of Life, AA Way of Life Annette
Belonging Jess Copple Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels – Fiction: Actress
Nominated—British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
2005 Pooh's Heffalump Movie Mama Heffalump
On a Clear Day Joan
Pride & Prejudice Mrs. Bennet Character and Morality in Entertainment Award
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year
Nominated—Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
2006 Mysterious Creatures Wendy Ainscow
2007 Clubland Jean Nominated—AFI Award for Best Lead Actress
Nominated—Inside Film Award for Best Actress
Atonement Grace Turner
War and Peace Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
2008 The New Adventures of Old Christine Angela Kimble
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Linnie Malcolm/Caroline Cresswell Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
2009 London River Elisabeth Sommers Nominated—Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Golden Nymph for Best Performance by an Actress in Television Films
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too Mama Heffalump
The Calling Sister Ignatious
Dead Man Running Mother
2011 My Angel Headmistress Angel Film Award for Best Actress
2011—present Vera Vera Stanhope
2012 Playhouse Presents: King of the Teds Nina
2013 Mary and Martha Martha
2014 Two Men in Town Emily Smith

Selected theatre performances

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Blethyn, Brenda. "Mixed Fancies – Chapter One: Life On The Plains (excerpt)". Simon & Schuster Australia. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  2. ↑ Famous family trees: Brenda Blethyn | News | findmypast.co.uk Archived 2 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ New High For Brenda. Toronto Sun. 8 August 2000 Archived 14 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Profile at Broadway.com. Retrieved December 2005
  5. ↑ Craig Butler Allmovie: The Witches review. Retrieved 2003.
  6. ↑ Collins, Michael (31 December 1996). "Brenda Blethyn". BOMB. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  7. ↑ "A Rivers Runs Through It (1992)". The-Numbers.com. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  8. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Secrets & Lies". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
  9. ↑ "Awards for Brenda Blethyn". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
  10. ↑ Box Office — Secrets & Lies. The Numbers.
  11. 1 2 Contemporary British And Irish Film Directors. Google Books. 1 January 2001. ISBN 978-1-903364-21-5. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  12. ↑ Harvey, Dennis (22 January 1998). "Girls Night Review". Variety. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  13. ↑ "Awards for Nick Hurran". IMDb. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  14. ↑ "Filming locations for Night Train". IMDb. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  15. ↑ "Awards for Night Train". IMDb. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
  16. ↑ Wolf, Matt (6 January 1999). "Appealingly appalling". Star-News. Google News Archive. Associated Press. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  17. 1 2 "Brenda Blethyn Interview". BBC News. BBC.co.uk. 15 October 2002. Archived from the original on 9 July 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  18. ↑ Travers, Peter (11 December 2000). "Saving Grace review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  19. ↑ "Saving Grace". The Numbers. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  20. ↑ "Oscar-winner Signs Up for Sitcom". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  21. ↑ "Awards for Brenda Blethyn". iMDb. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  22. ↑ "Daddy and Them". Rotten Tomatoes. rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  23. 1 2 Guerin, Harry (25 October 2001). "On the Nose review". RTÉ.ie Entertainment. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  24. 1 2 Turan, Kenneth. "Lovely & Amazing review". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  25. ↑ "Lovely & Amazing". The Numbers. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  26. ↑ Travers, Peters. "Lovely & Amazing review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  27. ↑ "Pumpkin". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
  28. ↑ "Pumpkin". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 20 September 2009. Retrieved 28 May 2006.
  29. ↑ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (2 July 2002). "Pumpkin review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 24 March 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2008.
  30. 1 2 "Undertaking Betty review". Reelfilms. Retrieved 30 June 2006.
  31. ↑ "Sonny". Metacritic. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
  32. ↑ "Blizzard". Rotten Tomaotes. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
  33. ↑ Oglethorpe, Tim (7 December 2003). "Oscar Nominee Brenda Bares All About Her Raunchy New TV Role". People. Findarticles.com. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
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  35. ↑ Pomeranz, Margaret. "Beyond The Sea". At the Movies. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
  36. 1 2 Westbrook, Caroline (13 April 2005). "Blethyn looks forward to Baftas". BBC News. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
  37. ↑ Maragret, Pomeranz. "On a Clear Day review". ABC. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  38. ↑ "On a Clear Day (2005)". The Numbers. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  39. ↑ "Awards for On a Clear Day (2005)". International Movie Database. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  40. 1 2 "Pride & Prejudice (2005)". The Numbers. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  41. ↑ Jardine, Cassandra (5 October 2006). "'Ambition? I'd rather retire'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  42. 1 2 3 "Awards for Brenda Blethyn". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  43. ↑ Markin, Sacha. "Interview: Brenda Blethyn". My Cultural Life London. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  44. ↑ Markin, Sacha. "More Sundance Deals: Teeth, Clubland". Cinematical. Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  45. ↑ Chocano, Carina (4 July 2007). "Introducing the Dwights review". Calendar Live. Archived from the original on 5 February 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
  46. ↑ Partridge, Des (22 June 2007). "Late Bloomer a Conqueror". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  47. ↑ "Atonement – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  48. ↑ "Atonement (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
  49. ↑ "Atonement (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  50. ↑ Hale, Natalie (5 October 2006). "Fancy that!". Western Daily Press. AccessMyLibrary.com. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  51. ↑ Mitovich, Matt (21 October 2008). "Exclusive: Old Christine´s Mum Is Brenda Blethyn". TV Guide. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  52. ↑ "About the Show". CTV. http://shows.ctv.ca/LawAndOrderSVU/About.aspx. 5 October 2006. Retrieved 15 February 2010. External link in |publisher= (help)
  53. ↑ "Prizes of the Independent Juries 2009". Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  54. 1 2 Brown, Mark (10 February 2009). "London River, a film set during aftermath of 7 July bombings, premieres at Berlin film festival". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2009.
  55. ↑ Mears, Olwen (25 September 2009). "Brenda Blethyn 'learned French in two months' for latest film". e!tb.com. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  56. ↑ "London River (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  57. ↑ Scott, Mike (19 January 2012). "'London River' review: Strong performance lifts week's 'other' post-9/11 drama". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  58. ↑ Parkinson, David (10 April 2010). "The Calling". Empire. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  59. ↑ Shoard, Catherine (10 April 2010). "The Calling". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  60. ↑ "Dead Man Running (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  61. ↑ ""Vera" Starring Brenda Blethyn OBE, "Hidden Depths"". The Global Herald. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  62. ↑ Bryant, Miranda (15 December 2011). "Six awards for Blethyn and Spall film". Evening Standard. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  63. ↑ BBC - Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn to star in new film for BBC One - Media Centre
  64. ↑ Stasi, Linda (15 September 2014). "Mother courage". New York Post. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  65. ↑ Comerford, Mary; Martin, Tricia (15 September 2014). "Mother courage". TV Choice. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  66. ↑ Ed Potton (12 April 2008). "Brenda Blethyn: from Secrets & Lies to Pride and Prejudice". London: The Times. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  67. ↑ Keating, Sara (15 October 2006). "A Bundle of Trouble". London: The Post. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  68. ↑ Gilbert, Gerard (23 April 2011). "Brenda Blethyn turns TV detective in Vera". The Independent. London.
  69. ↑ Jackson, Alan (22 April 2012). "Brenda Blethyn: Secrets, highs and a return to me". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  70. ↑ Brenda Blethyn: 'I'm nearly 70 but I still want to be a sexy siren' - Mirror Online
  71. ↑ 2003 New Years Honours List
  72. ↑ Archived 22 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine.

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