Geraldine James

Geraldine James OBE (born 6 July 1950) is an English actress.

Early life and family[edit]

James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to parents both with backgrounds in the medical profession, her father a cardiologist, her mother a nurse. ^[1][2][3] She failed her 11 plus exam, and was educated at Downe House School in Newbury, Berkshire, where she was known as Gerry Thomas.^[4] Embarrassed by her simple surname, James used the grander-sounding double-barrelled name of Vaughan-Thomas while at school.^[5]

After graduating from the Drama Centre London in 1973, she began her career in repertory theatre. On 17 January 1977, she met her husband, Joseph Blatchley, at a party.^{[citation needed]}

Acting[edit]

James has been nominated four times for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress; for Dummy (1977), The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Band of Gold (1995) and The Sins (2000).^{[citation needed]} For her role as Portia in the 1989 Broadway revival of The Merchant of Venice, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play. She also won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 1989 Venice Film Festival for She's Been Away.^{[citation needed]} Her film credits include Gandhi (1982), The Tall Guy (1989), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), and 45 Years (2015). From 2017 to 2019, she starred in the Netflix series Anne with an E as Marilla Cuthbert, and in the 2019 film Downton Abbey as Queen Mary.

Theatre director Peter Hall said that James ranks amongst the great English classical actresses.^[6]

Credits[edit]

Film appearances[edit]

• The Dumb Waiter (1979) as Sally
• Bloody Kids (1980) as Ritchie's wife
• Sweet William (1980) as Pamela
• Gandhi (1982) as Mirabehn
• Freedom Fighter (1988) as Krista Donner
• The Tall Guy (1989) as Carmen
• The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (1989) as Mrs. Gertrude Brisket
• Prince of Shadows (1991) as Rebecca Osorio
• If Looks Could Kill – Teen Agent, (1991) as Vendetta Galante
• The Bridge (1992) as Mrs Todd
• Words Upon the Window Pane (1994) as Mrs. Henderson
• Moll Flanders (1996) as Edna
• The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) as Dr. Ludmilla Kropotkin
• The Luzhin Defence (2000) as Vera
• Lover's Prayer (2001) as Mother
• An Angel for May (2002)
• Calendar Girls (2003) as Marie
• Northanger Abbey (2007) as the narrator
• Sherlock Holmes (2009) as Mrs Hudson
• Alice in Wonderland (2010) as Lady Ascot
• Made in Dagenham (2010) as Connie
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) as Cecilia Vanger
• Arthur (2011) as Vivienne Bach
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) as Mrs Hudson
• 45 Years (2015) as Lena
• Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) as Lady Ascot
• Rogue One (2016) as Jaldine Gerams (Blue 3)
• Daphne (2017)
• Anne with an E (2017) as Marilla Cuthbert
• Megan Leavey (2017) as The Veterinarian
• Beast (2017)
• Downton Abbey (2019)^[7] as Mary of Teck
• Benediction (2021)

Music appearances[edit]

• Human. :II: Nature. (2020)

Radio appearances[edit]

Television appearances[edit]

• The Sweeney: Pay Off (1976) as Shirley Glass
• Dummy (1977) as Sandra X
• Shoestring (1979) Nine tenths of the law.
• The History Man (1981) as Barbara Kirk
• I Remember Nelson (1982) as Emma Hamilton
• The Jewel in the Crown (1984) as Sarah Layton
• Blott on the Landscape (1985) as Lady Maud Lynchwood
• Echoes (1988) as Angela O'Hara
• Inspector Morse: Who Killed Harry Field (1991) as Helen Field
• A Doll's House (1992) as Kristine Linde
• Band of Gold (1995–1997) as Rose Garrety
• Kavanagh QC (1995–1999) as Eleanor Harker QC
• Rebecca (1997) as Beatrice
• Little Britain as Mother of Harvey Pincher (cameo)
• The Sins (2000) as Gloria Green
• State of Play (2003) as Yvonne Shaps
• Hex (2004) as Lilith Hughes
• He Knew He Was Right (2004) as Lady Rowley
• Agatha Christie's Poirot – After the Funeral, (2005) as Helen Abernethie
• The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006) as Hilary Rees-Benson
• A Harlot's Progress (2006)
• Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006) as Cornelia
• The Last Enemy (2008) as Barbara Turney
• Heist (2008) as Joanna
• Midsomer Murders (2010) Series 13, episode 8, "Fit for Murder" as Miranda Bedford
• Thirteen Steps Down (2012) as Gwendolyn
• Utopia (2013) as Milner
• Black Work (2015) as Chief Constable Carolyn Jarecki
• The Five (2016) as Julia Wells
• Anne with an E (2017–2019) as Marilla Cuthbert (adaptation of Anne of Green Gables)
• Back to Life (2019-2021) as Caroline Matteson
• The Beast Must Die (2021) as Joy
• Silo (2023) as Mayor Ruth Jahns
• This Town (TBA)^[8]
• Dope Girls (TBA)^[9]

Theatre appearances[edit]

• Portia opposite Dustin Hoffman in the London and Broadway productions of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.^[10][11]
• Hedda Gabler at the Royal Exchange, Manchester in 1993.
• Rosalind in As You Like It, at the RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 2023.

Awards[edit]

Honours[edit]

• James was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours.^{[citation needed]}

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Geraldine James at IMDb
• Geraldine James at the Internet Broadway Database
• Geraldine James at the BFI's Screenonline
• "The Jewel That is James" – Interview by Jeremy Taylor for bmi Voyager October 2007
• Q&A with Geraldine James in the Guardian