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Brenda Blethyn

Birthday: Born in 1946-02-20 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK

Deathday: Alive

Brenda Anne Blethyn is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. 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 a Golden Lion, and has earned a Theater 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 in Ramsgate, Kent, 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; then, after a modest number of guest spots in several productions, in the mid-1980s she garnered leading roles in the short-living 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 her real 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). 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Brenda Blethyn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

TV Credits

The One Show

Character: Self - Guest

A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One....

Tales of the Unexpected

Character: Carol Hutchins

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars....

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Character: Linnie Malcolm

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories....

Chance in a Million

Character: Alison Little

Chance in a Million is a British sitcom broadcast between 1984 and 1986, produced by Thames Television for Channel 4. The series was co-written by Andrew Norriss and Richard Fegen and starred Simon Callow and Brenda Blethyn. The producer and director of the series was Michael Mills....

Rumpole of the Bailey

Character:

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes....

Yes Minister

Character:

Satirical sitcom set in the office of a UK Cabinet minister, Jim Hacker MP, who struggles with Civil Service bureaucracy and political machinations as he tries to get on with government business....

The New Adventures of Old Christine

Character: Angela Kimble

Single working mom Christine Campbell has just learned that her ex is dating a much younger woman with the same first name. To avoid any confusion, the new girlfriend is dubbed New Christine, which leaves her with the unfortunate nickname Old Christine....

Between The Sheets

Character: Hazel Delany

Between the Sheets is a 2003 British television mini-series. This carnal, comedic drama is based around the love life and sexual hangups of several different couples that are all linked in some way. Emotional, touching, and sometimes humorous, the story follows these couples as they are forced to face their demons....

The Storyteller

Character: Storyteller's Wife

The Storyteller aided by his cynical dog, narrates classic folk tales, fables, and legends....

The Buddha of Suburbia

Character: Margaret Amir

Karim is 17 years old and lives in a South London suburb with his English mother and Pakistani father, who has become a kind of spiritual guru to his middle-class neighbours. Karim wants to explore his cultural roots, in the hope that he will achieve sexual and racial self-realisation....

The Frank Skinner Show

Character: Self

The Frank Skinner Show was a television chat show hosted by comedian Frank Skinner, which lasted nine series on British television between 1995 and 2005. As well as celebrity interviews, the shows included an initial stand-up routine, various sketches throughout the episode and usually concluded with a comedic song featuring Frank and the guest stars. The Frank Skinner Show became notorious over the years for the unconventional nature of the interviews, including some shocking revelations from ...

So Graham Norton

Character: Self - Guest

So Graham Norton was a British television programme, hosted by Irish personality Graham Norton. It ran from 3 July 1998 to 1 March 2002....

Maigret

Character:

Based on the novels by Georges Simenon, Michael Gambon plays the eponymous detective from the Sûreté in this 1992 revival of the 1960s BBC drama series. Maigret is an intuitutive detective, who investigates his cases by watching and listening, getting to know everyone on his list of suspects until someone makes a slip or breaks down and confesses....

V Graham Norton

Character: Self

V Graham Norton was an entertainment programme shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom starring Graham Norton, broadcast every weeknight as a successor to the weekly So Graham Norton. It aired from 6 May 2002 to 26 December 2003. It featured celebrities who chatted with Graham and became involved in studio games which were usually laden with sexual innuendo. The studio games were later featured on the clip show Nortonland in 2007 on digital channel Challenge. The show featured a 'webcam', a ro...

The Oscars

Character: Self

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar....

The BBC Television Shakespeare

Character:

The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusivel...

Outside Edge

Character:

Comedy-drama series starring Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Robert Daws, and Josie Lawrence about two couples united only by the fact that they play for a Sunday League cricket team....

GMTV

Character: Self

GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010....

War and Peace

Character: Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa

War and Peace is a 2007 Russian-French-Italian-German miniseries directed by Robert Dornhelm. It was broadcast in Belgium and in France in four parts during October and November 2007. It was inspired by Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, which also is divided into four parts. The actors are of different nationalities....

Vera

Character: DCI Vera Stanhope

A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage....

Downton Abbey

Character: Vera

A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. ...

The Mysteries

Character: Mary Magdalene / Mary

National Theatre Cottesloe production filmed for Channel 4...

All Good Things

Character: Shirley Frame

A marriage and home can be made complete with the arrival of a new baby, but Shirley Frame feels a need to share her good fortune by going out into the world and helping others - driving husband Phil up the wall....

Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story

Character: Ticki Tocquet

The true story of Barbara Hutton, who had inherited $40 million by the age of 6. This insight explores the effects that money can have on one's life, loves, and careers....

Anne Frank: The Whole Story

Character: Auguste Rottgen-van Pels

Anne Frank: The Whole Story is a two-part mini-series based on the book Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Müller. The mini-series aired on ABC on May 20 and 21, 2001. The series starred Ben Kingsley, Brenda Blethyn, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, and Lili Taylor. Controversially, but in keeping with the claim made by Melissa Müller, the series asserts that the anonymous betrayer of the Frank family was the office cleaner, when in fact the betrayer's identity has never been established. A disagreement ...

Dalgliesh

Character: Angela Foley

Centred on the cases of P. D. James' gentleman detective Adam Dalgliesh. In addition to his career as a policeman, Dalgliesh is also a published poet and an intensely private man....

The Graham Norton Show

Character: Self

Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on around the world that week. The guests poke fun and share their opinions on the main news stories. Graham is often joined by a band or artist to play the show out....

Kate & Koji

Character: Kate

Kate runs an old-fashioned café in a seaside town, and develops a strong, if sometimes volatile, friendship with asylum-seeking African doctor Koji. Although from different worlds, Kate and Koji are similar in ways they do not see for themselves....

The Play on One

Character: Miss A

A series of plays specially written for television....

Golden Globe Awards

Character: Self - Nominee

An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....

Golden Globe Awards

Character: Self - Presenter

An annual awards ceremony recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign, bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association....

This Morning

Character: Self

This Morning features a variety of news, as well as show business, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, tech, live phone-ins, and competitions....


Movie Credits

A River Runs Through It

Character: Mrs. Maclean

The Maclean brothers, Paul and Norman, live a relatively idyllic life in rural Montana, spending much of their time fly fishing. The sons of a minister, the boys eventually part company when Norman moves east to attend college, leaving his rebellious brother to find trouble back home. When Norman finally returns, the siblings resume their fishing outings, and assess where they've been and where they're going....

The Witches

Character: Mrs Jenkins

A young boy named Luke and his grandmother go on vacation only to discover their hotel is hosting an international witch convention, where the Grand High Witch is unveiling her master plan to turn all children into mice. Will Luke fall victim to the witches' plot before he can stop them?...

Saving Grace

Character: Grace Trevethyn

Unexpectedly widowed, prim and proper housewife Grace Trevethyn finds herself in dire financial straits when she inherits massive debts her late husband had been accruing for years. Faced with losing her house, she decides to use her talent for horticulture and hatches a plan to grow potent marijuana which can be sold at an astronomical price, thus solving her financial crisis....

Undertaking Betty

Character: Betty Rhys-Jones

A politician's wife and the mortician who has secretly loved her for years plan to fake her death so they can run away together....

Atonement

Character: Grace Turner

As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit....

Pride & Prejudice

Character: Mrs. Bennet

A story of love and life among the landed English gentry during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet is a gentleman living in Hertfordshire with his overbearing wife and five daughters, but if he dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met, so the family's future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages....

Secrets & Lies

Character: Cynthia Rose Purley

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman....

Beyond the Sea

Character: Polly Cassotto

Based on the life and career of legendary entertainer, Bobby Darin, the biopic moves back and forth between his childhood and adulthood, to tell the tale of his life....

Little Voice

Character: Mari Hoff

After the death of her father, Little Voice or LV becomes a virtual recluse, never going out and hardly ever saying a word. She just sits in her bedroom listening to her father's collection of old records of Shirley Bassey, Marilyn Monroe and various other famous female singers. But at night time, LV sings, imitating these great singers with surprising accuracy. One night she is overheard by one of her mother's boyfriends, who happens to be a talent agent. He manages to convince her that her tal...

Pumpkin

Character: Judy Romanoff

Carolyn's sorority sisters set their sights on the Sorority of the Year award and coaching challenged athletes is their ticket to the trophy. But when the queen of formals finds herself mentoring Pumpkin, a disabled athlete, their two worlds collide....

Dead Man Running

Character: Mother

A loan shark gives ex-con Nick a period of 24 hours in order to pay back the money he owes. Up against it, Nick involves his best mate on a multi-part mission in order to raise the cash before it's too late for them both...

The Sleeping Dictionary

Character: Aggie

A young Englishman is dispatched to Sarawak to become part of the British colonial government. He encounters some unorthodox local traditions, and finds himself faced with tough decisions of the heart involving the beautiful Selima, the unwitting object of his affections....

Sonny

Character: Jewel

New Orleans, 1981. Sonny Phillips, just discharged from the Army, returns home. The only life he's known is as a gigolo, working for his mother, but he wants to leave that behind. However, the job his Army buddy promised doesn't materialize, and he can't escape his past....

Pooh's Heffalump Movie

Character: Mama Heffalump (voice)

Who or what exactly is a Heffalump? The lovable residents of the Hundred Acre Wood -- Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit, Tigger, Eeyore, Kanga and the rest of the pack -- embark on a journey of discovery in search of the elusive Heffalump. But as is always the case, this unusual road trip opens their eyes to so much more than just the creature they're seeking....

Belonging

Character: Jess Copplestone

Jess (Brenda Blethyn) and town handyman Jacob (Kevin Whately) have been happily married 20 years, recently taking in a trio of Jacob's elderly relatives, including his mother (Rosemary Harris). Though the relations are demanding, kindhearted Jess -- who selflessly quit her job -- enjoys looking after them. But when Jacob disappears one day, Jess' life falls apart, and she must learn to cope with things on her own in this touching drama....

On a Clear Day

Character: Joan

After decades of laboring as a Glasgow shipbuilder, Frank Redmond, a no-nonsense 55-year-old working-class man, suddenly finds himself laid off. For the first time in his life, he is without a job or a sense of direction, and he's too proud to ask for guidance. His best mates - rascally Danny, timid Norman and cynical Eddie - are there for him, but Frank still feels desperately alone. An offhand remark from Danny inspires Frank to challenge himself. Already contemplating the state of his relatio...

Clubland

Character: Jean

The shy son of an aging comedienne tries to find a balance between his demanding home life, his new girlfriend, and his mother's second chance at fame....

London River

Character: Elisabeth

After traveling to London to check on their missing children in the wake of the 2005 terror attacks on the city, two strangers come to discover their respective children had been living together at the time of the attacks...

Music from Another Room

Character: Grace Swan

Music From Another Room is a romantic comedy that follows the exploits of Danny, a young man who grew up believing he was destined to marry the girl he helped deliver as a five year old boy when his neighbor went into emergency labor. Twenty-five years later, Danny returns to his hometown and finds the irresistible Anna Swann but she finds it easy to resist him since she is already engaged to dreamboat Eric, a very practical match. In pursuit of Anna, Danny finds himself entangled with each of t...

The Shawl

Character: Miss A

Miss A, troubled by problems, consults a clairvoyant. Can he solve them for her by summoning the spirits? Or is he just a fraud, out to steal her money?...

RKO 281

Character: Louella Parsons

In 1939, boy-wonder Orson Welles leaves New York, where he has succeeded in radio and theater, and, hired by RKO Pictures, moves to Hollywood with the purpose of making his first film....

Lovely & Amazing

Character: Jane Marks

An intimate family portrait of four hapless but resilient women and the bittersweet lessons they learn in keeping up with the hectic demands of their individual neuroses. Each of the women seeks redemption in her own haphazard way, but whatever salvation they find is illusory and short-lived....

On the Nose

Character: Mrs. Delaney

Brendan is a janitor at a university who has a fondness for gambling, especially betting on horse races. However, he doesn't have much skill at it, and poorly considered bets have drained the bank account he'd set aside for his daughter's education. Brendan's wife has made Brendan promise to give up gambling, but when their daughter announces she's just been accepted to Trinity College in Ireland, Brendan has to come up with the tuition money, and fast. While doing his sweeping at work, Brendan ...

The Yellow Bird

Character: Mrs. Louise Tutwiler

A young girl escapes the boredom of a small town existence in the 1930s....

In the Winter Dark

Character: Ida Stubbs

Fear of an unidentified livestock predator unites an Australian couple, an outcast, and an abandoned woman....

Grown-Ups

Character: Gloria

Dick and Mandy, a young working class couple, move into a council house in Canterbury, and find Mr. Butcher, one of their former teachers, living next door. Mandy's unmarried sister, Gloria, is constantly dropping in, and will not take any hints that the couple would prefer to be left alone, until her presence finally goads them to action....

Mary and Martha

Character: Martha

Wealthy American housewife Mary Morgan takes her bullied son George out of school for home education,including a trip to Southern Africa. Whilst in Mozambique George is bitten by a mosquito which crawls through a hole in his net and dies of malaria. After his funeral at home Mary feels a compulsion to return to Africa where she meets English woman Martha O'Connell,whose 24 year old son Ben, a teacher with voluntary service overseas,has also died of malaria. Ben gave his net to one of his pupils,...

Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too

Character: Mama Heffalump (voice)

Strike up the band with Pooh, Tigger, Darby and all your favorite friends in a spectacular full-length movie featuring seven original songs. It's a perfect day for a picnic, and you're invited! To thank Rabbit for planning this delightful event, his pals appoint him Mayor. But Rabbit has a lot to learn about what it takes to keep everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood one big, happy family! Join in the excitement as Pooh and the gang share laughter, surprises and the joys of friendship. Bursting with...

My Angel

Character: Headmistress

Fifteen year old Eddie's mother falls very ill after a serious car accident. Eddie and his brother Stewart end up having to take care of themselves and one night when they have ran out of food and electricity, Eddie dreams that his mother asks him to find an angel's halo so that she can be saved. Will Eddie be able to save his mother in time for Christmas?...

Two Men in Town

Character: Emily Smith

A convict is released from prison in a small town in New Mexico. 18 years ago he killed a deputy. The then-and-now sheriff seeks revenge....

Inside the Golden Statue

Character: Self

A behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the live broadcast of the 69th Annual Academy Awards ceremony....

Henry VI Part 1

Character: Joan La Pucelle

The life of King Henry the Sixth, in three parts....

Mysterious Creatures

Character: Wendy Ainscow

Feature-length ITV drama based on real events. Bill and Wendy Ainscow (Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn) are a middle class, middle-aged Birmingham couple locked in a deeply dysfunctional relationship with their 32-year-old daughter Lisa (Rebekah Staton). In a culmination of years spent unsuccessfully trying to obtain a diagnosis and get state help to deal with with Lisa's condition - which eventually turns out to be Asperger's syndrome - Bill and Wendy are ultimately driven to desperate measure...

The Imitation Game

Character:

Second World War drama - A young woman decides against working in a munitions factory, and lands a post with the signals corps attempting to crack the Enigma code....

The Bullion Boys

Character: Gwen

Based on a true story. In 1940, Britain's gold reserves were transferred for safety to Liverpool because of the threat of a German invasion. The top-secret operation was known only to a handful of security men and senior bank officials... and a group of Liverpool dockers who handle the move. Billy Mac, the dockers' leader, hatches an ingenious plan to steal some of the gold bars from under the noses of the guards....

Remember Me?

Character:

A domestic farce exposes the eccentricities of a "typical" middle class, suburban family who find their lives thrown into a crisis with the unexpected arrival of one of the wife's old flames....

Ethel & Ernest

Character: Ethel Briggs (voice)

This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through extraordinary events....

Floating Off

Character: Janice

Businessman Jack Humpage and his secretary Janice try to make an unconventional deal with a merchant bank before Humpage's son finds out....

Claws

Character: Sylvia

A tale of cat lovers, the social circle they inhabit and the power struggles between them....

Piccadilly Jim

Character: Nesta Pett

Set in the 1930s, an American with a scandalous reputation on both sides of the Atlantic must do an about-face in order to win back the woman of his dreams....

Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen

Character: Narrator

Playful, moving portrait of Raymond Briggs, told through interviews with Raymond, animation illustrated by Chris Riddell, and contributions from friends and admirers....

King Lear

Character: Cordelia

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about hi...

Daddy and Them

Character: Julia Montgomery

Ruby and her husband Claude are a working-class couple who live in suburban Arkansas. As crazy as they are for each other, their relationship is far from harmonious. (The lack of money doesn't help matters, either.) In fact, their whole family is fraught with unresolved conflicts. Then Claude's uncle is arrested on a felony charge, and everyone rallies round. Ruby's mother Jewel and flirtatious sister Rose (Claude's ex-girlfriend) even fly in from Tennessee; but, far from being a source of suppo...

Blizzard

Character: Aunt Millie

A young girl's aunt tells her the tale of a young ice skater and an enchanted reindeer....

A Way of Life

Character: Annette

At 17 Leigh-Anne Williams has a six month old baby to look after, with only the help of three teenage squatters who flog stolen gear to make ends meet. A neighbour (actually from Turkey) across the street becomes target to her growing paranoia that Social Services are going to take her daughter, Rebecca, away from her. Her behaviour becoming increasingly desperate as her delusions over her neighbour grow....

Strawberry Fields Forever

Character: Grannie Nellie

Steven Shepherd’s short life beheld just one very special day amidst his world of total and utter torment. He lived with his Grannie Nellie, who loved and cared for him dearly. The best day of his life was picking strawberries in the summer of 1966 because he had escaped the school bullies. He would return there just months later to stay for much longer....

Charlotte

Character: Grossmama (voice)

The true story of Charlotte Salomon, a young German-Jewish painter who comes of age in Berlin on the eve of the Second World War. Fiercely imaginative and deeply gifted, she dreams of becoming an artist. Her first love applauds her talent, which emboldens her resolve. When anti-Semitic policies inspire violent mobs, she escapes to the safety of the South of France. There she begins to paint again, and finds new love. But her work is interrupted, this time by a family tragedy that reveals an even...

King of the Teds

Character: Nina

Ron and Tina's lives are changed when long lost friend Nina calls, reawakening memories of when Ron was the charismatic 'King of the Teds' and both women loved him. A painful question carried for forty years will finally be answered....


Made by Yusuf Kıtlık