Verna Frances Bloom (August 7, 1938 – January 9, 2019) was an American actress.

Career

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, Bloom portrayed Charlotte Corday in '' The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade'' (1967) and Blanche Morton in ''

Brighton Beach Memoirs ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes ''Biloxi Blues'' and ''Broadway Bound''. Productions ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' had a pre-Broadway e ...

'' (1983). She made her film debut in '' Medium Cool'', and then co-starred in

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' Do ...

's 1973 film, '' High Plains Drifter'' and in the 1974 made-for-TV movie '' Where Have All The People Gone?'' with

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 ...

and

Kathleen Quinlan Kathleen Denise Quinlan Abbott (born November 19, 1954) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1977 film of the novel '' I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,'' and her Golde ...

. Bloom also had roles in more than 30 films and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

episodes beginning the 1960s, including playing Mary, mother of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

, in '' The Last Temptation of Christ'' in 1988 and Marion Wormer in ''

Animal House ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulc ...

'' in 1978.

Personal life and death

Bloom was born in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

, and attended the

School of Fine Arts The School of Fine Arts or College of Fine Arts is the official name or part of the name of several schools of fine arts, often as an academic part of a larger university. These include: The Americas North America *Alabama School of Fine ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

, graduating with a BFA in 1959. She also studied at the

HB Studio The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency progra ...

in New York City. Bloom married Richard Collier, but they separated by 1969. They began the Trident Theater in Denver Colorado, which operated from 1963 to 1965. In 1972 she married film critic

Jay Cocks John C. "Jay" Cocks Jr. (born January 12, 1944) is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is a graduate of Kenyon College.Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire ...

, from complications of

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * * 1938 births 2019 deaths Actresses from Massachusetts American film actresses Jewish American actresses Actors from Lynn, Massachusetts Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American stage actresses 21st-century American Jews {{US-film-actor-1930s-stub