Brenda Blethyn

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Brenda Blethyn
OBE
Blethyn in 2014
Born
Brenda Bottle

(1946-02-20) 20 February 1946 (age 78)
Ramsgate, Kent, England
Alma materGuildford School of Acting
OccupationActress
Years active1976–present
Spouses
Alan Blethyn
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1973)​
Michael Mayhew
​
​
(m. 2010)​
AwardsFull list

Brenda Blethyn

OBE (née Bottle; born 20 February 1946) is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility,[1][2] she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmys. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in 2003.[3]

Blethyn pursued an administrative career before enrolling at the Guildford School of Acting in her late 20s. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre, gaining attention for her performances in plays such as Benefactors, for which she received an Olivier nomination in 1984. Blethyn made her screen debut in the Mike Leigh television film Grown-Ups (1980), and later won leading roles on the short-run sitcoms Chance in a Million (1984–1986) and The Labours of Erica (1989–1990). She made her feature film debut with a small part in Nicolas Roeg's The Witches (1990), followed by a supporting role in Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It (1992).

Blethyn experienced a career breakthrough with her portrayal of Cynthia Purley in the 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, for which she earned multiple awards, including Best Actress at Cannes, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She received a second Oscar nomination two years later, this time for Best Supporting Actress, for her portrayal of Mari Hoff in Little Voice (1998). Blethyn has since appeared in a range of mainstream and independent features, such as Girls' Night (1998), Saving Grace (2000), Lovely & Amazing (2001), Pumpkin (2002), Beyond the Sea, A Way of Life (both 2004), Pride & Prejudice (2005), and Atonement (2007).

Blethyn played Miriam Dervish on the

season ten of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2008). She starred as Kate Abbott on the ITV sitcom Kate & Koji
from 2020 to 2022.

Blethyn has played the title role, Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope, in the long-running ITV crime drama series Vera since 2011. In 2017, she was named Performer of the Year by the Royal Television Society for this role.

Early life

Born in

car factory in Luton, Bedfordshire.[4]

The family lived in poor circumstances at their maternal grandmother's home. It was, however, not until 1944, after an engagement of 20 years and the births of eight children, that the couple wed and moved into a small rented house in Ramsgate.[4] By the time Blethyn was born in 1946, her three eldest siblings, Pam, Ted and Bernard, had already left home.[4] Her parents were the first to introduce Blethyn to the cinema, taking her to the cinema weekly.[6]

Blethyn originally trained at

The Passion and Strife.[7]

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

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 15 years of working in theatre and television, Blethyn made her big screen debut with a small role in 1990s dark

All Media Guide considered as a "valuable support" for her performance of the mother, Mrs Jenkins.[8]

In 1991, after starring in a play in New York City, Blethyn was recommended to

Scottish heritage, Redford required Blethyn to adopt a Western American accent for her performance, prompting her to live in Livingston, Montana, in preparation of her role.[9] 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.[10]

Simultaneously Blethyn continued working on stage and in British television. Between 1990 and 1996, she starred in five different plays, including

Alas Smith & Jones and Maigret
.

Blethyn's breakthrough came with

Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.[12] 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.[13]

1997–1999

The following year, Blethyn appeared in a supporting role in

Golden Berlin Bear nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival for his work.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20] 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."[20] 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

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."[21] The following year, Blethyn received her third Golden Globe nomination for her role in the film, which grossed an unexpected $24 million worldwide.[22] 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

Emmy Award nomination.[24]

Following this, Blethyn starred in the films

direct-to-TV release stateside.[25] In Canadian-Irish comedy On the Nose, Blethyn played the minor role of the all-disapproving wife of Brendan Delaney, played by Robbie Coltrane.[26] Her appearance was commented as "underused" by Harry Guerin, writer for RTÉ Entertainment.[26] 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.[27] The film became Blethyn's biggest box-office success of the year with a worldwide gross of $5 million only,[28] and earned the actress mixed reviews from professional critics.[27][29] She also did the UK voice of Dr. Florence Mountfitchet in the Bob the Builder
special, "The Knights of Can-A-Lot".

In 2002, Blethyn appeared with

dark comedy Plots with a View. Starring alongside Alfred Molina, the pair was praised for their "genuine chemistry."[33]

A year after, Blethyn co-starred with

Christmas movie in which Blethyn played the eccentric character of Aunt Millie, the narrator of the film's story.[35] 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.[36]

2004–2007

Blethyn co-starred as

At the Movies said that her casting was "a bit mystifying".[38] 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.[39] Blethyn received a Golden FIPA Award and a BAFTA nomination for the latter role.[39]

In early 2005, Blethyn appeared in the indie-drama

BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Film and Screenplay.[42]

Blethyn at 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

A major hit for Blethyn came with

Mr. Bennet dies, all the money goes down the male line; she has to save her daughters from penury."[44] With both a worldwide gross of over US$121 million and several Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations,[45] the film became a critical and commercial success,[43] spawning Blethyn another BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.[45]

In 2007, she appeared in the independent Australian coming-of-age comedy

Australian Film Institute Award and an Inside Film Award for her performance.[45]

Also in 2007, Blethyn reunited with Joe Wright on

War and Peace by RAI, filmed in Russia and Lithuania.[53]

2008–2010

In 2008, Blethyn made her American

Disney direct-to-video animated sequel Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
(2009).

Blethyn's first film in two years,

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".[60]

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".[61] 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."[62] 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 criminal 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".[63]

2011–present

In May 2011, Blethyn began playing the title role in ITV's crime drama series, Vera as the North of England character Vera Stanhope, a nearly retired detective chief inspector obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons, based on the novels of Ann Cleeves. Initially broadcast to mixed reviews, it has since received favourable reviews, with Chitra Ramaswamy from The Guardian writing in 2016: "Blethyn is the best thing about Vera [...] She has the loveliest voice, at once girlish and gruff. Her face is kind but means business. Not many actors can pull off shambolic but effective but Blethyn can do it with a single, penetrating glance from beneath that hat."[64] Averaging 7.8 million people per episode in the United Kingdom, Vera became one of the most watched British dramas of the 2010s.[64] Blethyn received the 2017 RTS North East & Border Television Award for her performance and has continued to portray Vera as of 2024 in 13 series of the show.[65]

Blethyn's 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 and screenplay, plus best actor and actress for Blethyn and Spall at the Monaco International Film Festival.[66] In 2012 Blethyn starred opposite singer Tom Jones and actress Alison Steadman in the short film King of the Teds, directed by Jim Cartwright, as part of Sky Arts Playhouse Presents series. She played an old flame who gets in touch with a former boyfriend by Facebook, introducing tensions and doubts from 40 years before.[67]

Blethyn along with her cast and crew of Two Men in Town (2014) at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival.

In March 2013 Blethyn costarred with

The New York Post writing 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."[69] Also in 2013 Blethyn began voicing the supporting character of Ernestine Enormomonster in two seasons of the children's animated television series Henry Hugglemonster, based on the 2005 book I'm a Happy Hugglewug by Niamh Sharkey.[70]

In 2014 Blethyn reteamed with filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb for the French-American drama film Two Men in Town (2014), a remake of the 1973 film. Shot in New Mexico along with Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel, Blethyn portrays a parole officer in the Western film.[71] Whilst critical reception towards the film as a whole was lukewarm, Sherilyn Connelly from The Village Voice remarked that Blethyn "is wonderful as an all-too-rare character, a middle-aged woman who holds her own in a position of authority over violent men."[67] In January 2015, Blethyn was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Capri Hollywood International Film Festival.[72]

In 2016 Blethyn lent her voice to the British animated biographical film Ethel & Ernest, based on the graphic memoir of the same name that follows Raymond Briggs' parents through their period of marriage from the 1920s to their deaths in the 1970s.[73] The film earned favorable reviews from critics, who called it "gentle, poignant, and vividly animated" as well as "a warm character study with an evocative sense of time and place."[74] Blethyn received a nomination in the Best Voice Performance category at the British Animation Awards 2018.[75]

From 2020 to 2022, she went on to play Kate Abbott, the cafe-owner in

Kate and Koji who developed strong friendships with two asylum-seeking doctors Jimmy Akingbola
in Series 1 and Okorie Chukwu in Series 2.

Personal life

Blethyn married Alan James Blethyn, a graphic designer she met while working for British Rail, in 1964. The marriage ended in 1973.[76][77] Blethyn kept her husband's surname as her professional name. British art director Michael Mayhew has been her partner since 1975,[78] and the couple married in June 2010.[79]

Blethyn was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2003 New Year Honours.[3]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1980 Bedroom Farce Kate TV film
Grown-Ups Gloria Television film
1981 Say No to Strangers Teresa's Mum (uncredited) Short film
1982 King Lear Cordelia Television film
1983 The First Part of Henry the Sixth Joan la Pucelle Television film
1987 Poor Little Rich Girl Ticki Tocquet Television film
1990 The Witches Mrs. Jenkins
1992 A River Runs Through It Mrs. Maclean
1996 Secrets & Lies Cynthia Rose Purley
1997 Remember Me? Shirley
1998 Girls' Night Dawn Wilkinson
Music from Another Room Grace Swan
Night Train Alice Mooney
In the Winter Dark Ida Stubbs
Little Voice Mari Hoff
2000 Saving Grace Grace Trevethyn
2001 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
The Wild Thornberrys Movie Mrs. Alice June Fairgood (voice)
2003 The Sleeping Dictionary Aggie Bullard
Blizzard Aunt Millie
2004 Piccadilly Jim Nina Banks
Beyond the Sea Polly Cassotto
A Way of Life Annette
Belonging Jess Copple
2005 Pooh's Heffalump Movie Mama Heffalump (voice)
On a Clear Day Joan Redmond
Pride & Prejudice Mrs. Bennet
2006 Mysterious Creatures Wendy Ainscow
2007 Clubland Jean Dwight
Atonement Grace Turner
2009 London River Elisabeth Sommers
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too Mama Heffalump (voice)
The Calling Sister Ignatious
Dead Man Running Mrs. Kane
2011 My Angel Headmistress
2014 Two Men in Town Emily Smith
2016 Ethel & Ernest Ethel Briggs (voice)
2020 Strawberry Fields Forever Gran Short film

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1980 Can We Get on Now, Please? Miranda Plumley Episode: "Variations in Two Flats"
Play for Today Mary Episode: "The Imitation Game"
1981 Yes Minister Joan Littler Episode: "The Greasy Pole"
1983 Tales of the Unexpected Carol Hutchins Episode: "Hit and Run"
Death of an Expert Witness Angela Foley Television miniseries; 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 Main role; 18 episodes
1985 That Uncertain Feeling Mrs. Lewis Television miniseries; 4 episodes
1987 Sunday Premiere Sylvia Episode: "Claws"
Poor Little Rich Girl Ticki Tocquet Television 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 Main role; 12 episodes
1991 All Good Things Shirley Frame Television miniseries; 6 episodes
1993 The Buddha of Suburbia Margaret Amir Television miniseries; 4 episodes
1994 –1996 Outside Edge Miriam Dervish
2001 Anne Frank: The Whole Story Auguste van Pels
2003 Between the Sheets Hazel Delany Television miniseries; 6 episodes
2007 War and Peace Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
2008 The New Adventures of Old Christine Angela Kimble
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Linnie Malcolm/Caroline Cresswell
2011 - 2025 Vera DCI Vera Stanhope Main role; 56 episodes
2012 Playhouse Presents: King of the Teds Nina
2020 - 2022 Kate & Koji Kate

Selected theatre credits

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External links

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