Brenda Blethyn

A diminutive, auburn-haired British actress, Brenda Blethyn has been active on stage and British TV, but at middle age began to make an impression in feature films. With her spry and feisty manner, she has shown a flair for outlandish comedy, but has also proven her versatility in a wide range of dramatic roles, many of which have allowed her to add her brand of humor to the most tragic situations.

After working as a secretary for a nearly a decade—during which time she married and divorced—Blethyn gained early acting experience at the Bubble Theater and the Belgrade Theater in Coventry. She had a breakthrough when she joined the company at the Royal National Theater in 1975, where Blethyn performed in plays including "Tamburlaine" and "Bedroom Farce" (both directed by Peter Hall), "The Passion" and "A Midsummer's Night Dream" (both helmed by Bill Bryden) and "The Beaux Strategem" and "The Provok'd Wife" (directed by Peter Wood). She earned praise for her work in the London production of "Steaming" and finally made her American stage debut in the off-Broadway production of Alan Ayckbourn's "Absent Friends" in 1991.

She segued into television, where her work has ranged from the British comedy series, "Outside Edge" to a production of "King Lear", from the mystery miniseries "Death of an Expert Witness" (1985) to the NBC two-part TV-movie "Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story" (1987). She has also worked on BBC dramas which later received video or art-house theatrical releases, including Mike Leigh's "Grown-Ups" (1980), as the intrusive sister, and an acclaimed adaptation of Hanif Kureishi's autobiographical "The Buddha of Suburbia" (1993). It took time, however for Blethyn to make her way into feature films—her first role on the big screen was the mother of a little boy in Nicolas Roeg's childhood fantasy, "The Witches" (1990). Blethyn received greater US exposure as Brad Pitt's mother in "A River Runs Through It" (1992) and some of her greatest acclaim to date for working again with Leigh on "Secrets & Lies" (1996). As a mother rediscovered by the black daughter she gave up at birth, Blethyn was both amusing and pitiable in a role that earned the actress numerous accolades, including an Oscar nomination and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award.

After "Secrets & Lies", Blethyn’s acting talents were in demand. She joined Julie Walters as sisters-in-law and best pals who make a trip to Las Vegas in "Girls Night" (1997). Blethyn was tremendously moving as a woman who has never fully recovered from the death of her child in the little-seen Australian-made "In the Winter Dark" (1998). Her somewhat over-the-top turn as a blowzy, talkative widow raising an oddball daughter (Jane Horrocks) who happens to have a gift for mimicry in "Little Voice" (also 1998) brought the actress her second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. The actress went on to excel as Louella Parsons in the acclaimed HBO original "RKO 281" (1999), about the making of Orson Welles' masterpiece "Citizen Kane". In 2000, Blethyn offered a deft comic turn as a refined widow forced by financial straits into growing a bumper crop of marijuana in the genial "Saving Grace" and the following year garnered an Emmy nomination for her affecting portrayal of Auguste Van Pels in the acclaimed ABC miniseries "Anne Frank".

Blethyn starred in a series of offbeat film projects in the first part of the 21st Century, starting with the Billy Bob Thornton directed comedy, “Daddy and Them” (2001). As Julia, she played the wife of an Arkansas man (Jim Varney in his last on-screen performance) awaiting trial for attempted murder. After lending her voice talents for the Nickelodeon animated feature, “The Wild Thornberry’s Movie” (2002), she appeared in the dark psychological drama, “Sonny” (2002), directed by first-timer Nicholas Cage. Often criticized for overplaying a working-class British accent, Blethyn affected an American tone in playing the mother of Pumpkin Romanoff (Hank Harris) in the satirical look at fraternity life in Southern California, “Pumpkin” (2002). Blethyn gave a comic turn as the high-strung matriarch of a trio of equally insecure daughters in “Lovely and Amazing” (2002), after which she played the show tune singing mother of Bobby Darin in Kevin Spacey’s labor-of-love, “Beyond the Sea” (2004). Unfortunately, the actor’s directorial debut fizzled at the box office, as it sparked no interest with audiences. In 2005's lively adaptation of Jane Austen's"Pride and Prejudice," Blethyn's performance as Mrs. Bennett, the forever nattering matriarch constantly trying to marry off her daughters to save the family's future, was a comedic gem.

  • Also Credited As:
    Brenda Anne Bottle
  • Born:
    Brenda Anne Bottle on February 20, 1946 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, United Kingdom
  • Job Titles:
    Actor, Personal assistant, Secretary, Stenographer
Family
  • Father: William Charles Bottle.
  • Mother: Louisa Kathleen Bottle. Died c. 1991
Significant Others
  • Companion: Michael Mayhew. works for the National Theatre
Education
  • Guildford School of Acting, Guildford, Surrey, England, 1974
  • Thanet Technical College, Kent, England
Milestones
  • 1975 Joined England s National Theatre Company
  • 1980 Acted in The Imitation Game (made for British TV, but shown at film festivals and received limited theatrical exposure)
  • 1980 Initial collaboration with Mike Leigh, the British TV-movie Grown-Ups
  • 1981 Had featured role in the British stage play Steaming
  • 1984 Starred with Simon Callow in the British comedy series Chance in a Million (Channel Four/Thames)
  • 1984 Co-starred in the London staging of Benefactors by Michael Frayn
  • 1988 Appeared in a British stage production of Born Yesterday
  • 1989 Had lead in the British series The Labours of Erica, a sitcom written for her by Chance in a Million writers Fegen and Norriss
  • 1990 Made full-fledged feature film debut in the US-produced film, The Witches
  • 1991 Appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Absent Friends
  • 1992 Had small role as the family matriarch in the Robert Redford directed A River Runs Through It
  • 1992 Returned to the British stage in An Ideal Husband in Manchester
  • 1993 Appeared in The Buddha of Suburbia
  • 1996 Last stage appearance (to date), Habeas Corpus at the Donmar Theatre Warehouse
  • 1996 Received first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the birth mother of an African American daughter who she gave up for adoption in Mike Leigh s Secrets & Lies ; Spall played her brother
  • 1997 Teamed with Julie Walters for Girls Night
  • 1998 Won critical praise as the shrill working-class mother of a gifted young woman nicknamed Little Voice ; received second Academy Award nomination, this time as Best Supporting Actress
  • 1999 Co-starred with John Hurt in the love story Night Train
  • 1999 Portrayed Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the HBO drama RKO 281
  • 2000 Appeared as a widow forced by circumstances into raising marijuana in the comedy Saving Grace
  • 2001 Acted in the ensemble of Daddy and Them (filmed in 1998); written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton; (released theatrically in 2002)
  • 2001 Played the wife of a military officer stationed in Malayasia in the 1930s in Sleeping Dictionary
  • 2001 Portrayed Auguste Van Pels in the ABC movie Anne Frank ; received Emmy nomination
  • 2002 Played the mother of the title character, a former gigolo, in the film Sonny, directed by Nicolas Cage
  • 2004 Portrayed Bobby Darin s (Kevin Spacey) mother in Beyond the Sea a biopic of the legendary signer Bobby Darin
  • 2005 Cast opposite Donald Sutherland and Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice, an adaptation of the Jane Austen classic
  • 2006 Cast as Peter Mullan s loving wife in On a Clear Day
  • 2007 Once again appeared opposite Keira Knightley in the critically-acclaimed Atonement
  • 2007 Played a bawdy comedienne with a sinking career in the Australian drama Introducing the Dwights
  • Co-starred with Timothy Spall in the British comedy series Outside Edge
  • Gained early stage experience with the Bubble Theater and with the Belgrade Theater in Coventry
  • Raised in Ramsgate, England
  • Worked for ten years as a bank secretary, during which time she married and later divorced

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