Geraldine James

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

James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to parents both with backgrounds in the medical profession, her father a cardiologist, her mother a nurse.

She failed her 11 plus exam, so was educated at Downe House, a girls' independent school in Newbury, Berkshire, where she was known as Gerry Thomas.

Embarrassed by her simple surname, James used the grander-sounding double-barrelled name of Vaughan-Thomas while at school.

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.

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).

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).

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.

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.