Claire Bloom

Patricia Claire Blume –her real name– was born on February 15, 1931 in Finchley, a northern suburb of the British capital. She is the daughter of two salesmen, she became a presenter for the BBC radio station from a very young age, and she made her theater debut at the age of 15 with the Oxford Repertory Theatre. In 1947 she was already in London interpreting the work “The Lady’s Not For Burning” together with two greats, Richard Burton and John Gielgud .

She made her film debut with The Blind Goodness , “a ridiculous English project that I’d rather not remember, because it didn’t mean anything,” recalls the actress.

But then he returned to the theater, and a friend of Charlie Chaplin who attended the show was enthusiastic about his work. Since he knew that the filmmaker was desperate, looking for a young actress, and had even placed an ad in the newspaper, he decided to tell him about the girl. “As soon as Chaplin called me, I knew that the project was going to change my life,” recalls Bloom, who was finally chosen to star in Footlights ., where she was a desperate aspiring dancer on the verge of committing suicide, saved at the last moment by Calvero (Charles Chaplin), a veteran comedian. At the time of her, the success of the tape gave the actress enormous popularity. “Chaplin was very picky, specific, detailed… and a bit of a dictator,” he recalls, with whom he became a great friend until the end of his days.

Since then, he has not lacked roles in quality titles, such as Richard III , directed by Laurence Olivier , where he was Lady Ann, the wife of the central character. She almost always shone as a secondary, as in the role of Katya, fiancée of the mythical Yul Brynner , in The Brothers Karamazov , wife of Wilhelm Grimm ( Laurence Harvey ), in The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm , the woman who falls in love with Richard Burton in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , the goddess Hera in Clash of the Titans (1981). One of her most memorable roles was that of the domineering mother and devout Catholic Lady Marchmain, in the unforgettable television series Brideshead Revisited (1981) .

Married to the actor Rob Steiger , whom she met playing the stage version of “Rashomon”, Bloom gave birth to their only daughter, Anna Steiger, a renowned opera singer. After divorcing Steiger in 1969, Claire Bloom has been linked to producer Hillard Elkins and renowned writer Philip Roth .

In recent years, Claire Bloom has not stopped working. She put herself under the orders of Woody Allen, in Crimes and Misdemeanors , but her experience did not excite her. “I didn’t learn much from Woody Allen . He doesn’t even give you a script, which is insulting enough to me. He was always very self-absorbed, giving hardly any instructions. When he said something, he helped you, but his personality doesn’t help you learn.” She even worked with Sylvester Stallone , in Tunnel Fright . Of the last stage, the most praised work of hers is undoubtedly Queen Mary, mother of George VI ( Colin Firth ) in The King’s Speech .

The actress is still at the foot of the canyon. “In movies it’s very difficult to get good roles. Most of what they offer me is an insult to intelligence. But sometimes intelligent and adult films come out.” She also continues on the tables. “In theater I only do the things that I feel with all my heart, because there is no financial reward,” explains the actress.