In this post I will count down my top five actresses to have portrayed Anne Boleyn in films and television. I am very particular about how my favorite wife of Henry VIII is portrayed.
Number 5: Claire Foy in Wolf Hall
~Claire Foy starred in the miniseries that centers on the life of Thomas Cromwell. Now this is a take on the Queen that is more negative. One thing I enjoyed about this portrayal was that they showed Anne speaking French regularly, and the costumes were some of the most era appropriate of those worn by actresses on this list!
Number 4: Merle Oberon in The Private Life of Henry VIII
~Merle Oberon is a great classic film actress that took the mantle of this Queen in the 1930s. She does a good job in the film, but her part is quite small.
Number 3: Genevieve Bujold in Anne of the Thousand Days
~Genevieve Bujold was who they cast instead of Elizabeth Taylor in this 1969 film. I personally thought her performance was okay, but not nearly as good as Elizabeth Taylor may have done (and at 35 Taylor was not too old!). Bujold did an incredible job in the final confrontation with Henry in the Tower, with the famous “My Elizabeth will be Queen” speech! That speech is what earns her third place on my list!!!
Number 2: Charlotte Rampling in Henry VIII and His Six Wives
~Charlotte Rampling is the actress to portray Anne in the film opposite Keith Michell. She shows verve and sass and certainly can hold her own against the King!
Number 1: Natalie Dormer in The Tudors!
~My personal favorite of all actresses to portray my favorite Queen of Henry VIII is Natalie Dormer! She is an actress that loved the history of this iconic Queen long before being cast. She even insisted on playing Anne with dark hair (originally the producers wanted her to keep her natural blonde). Natalie Dormer portrayed Anne Boleyn as a well rounded and real woman, and did not fall back on just showing her as a saint or sinner. I think that is one of the best parts of Natalie Dormer as Anne, and I am grateful to see Anne Boleyn portrayed as a human instead of an archetype!!!
Note: I hope you enjoyed my list of top Anne portrayals. Let me know who your favorite actresses to bring Anne Boleyn to life are in the comments!
Further Reading
- The Creation of Anne Boleyn by Susan Bordo
2 responses to “My Top 5 Anne Boleyn Portrayals”
Genevieve Bujold was definitely the best in my opinion.I am fed up with script writers who take poet’s license too far.They have an opportunity to portray history to uniformed.Also using a dark haired actress to play Catherine of Aragon.Cathetine was a strawberry blonde with blue eyes.Also Jodie Turner is miscast.Anne Boleyn wasn’t black and many in U.S. now think she was.Also kissing Jane Seymour on lips.Anne wasn’t bi sexual.
Thank you for reading and commenting. I think that a certain amount of poetic license in historical fiction is okay, as it is still for entertainment, however I wholeheartedly agree that it can go too far! The idea of Katherine of Aragon being portrayed as dark haired annoys me too, the only one that cast her appropriate looks wise that I have found is “The Spanish Princess.” I personally refused to even watch the Jodie Turner version due to how much blatant historical inaccuracies there were, as I read up on the show before deciding on watching it. I would be fine with lesbian scenes had Anne Boleyn ever been accused of that, but that was the one thing she was never falsely accused of! One point I have to dispute is that as an American myself I do not think there are many Americans who think Anne Boleyn was black.