Brenda Blethyn has been on our TV screens for over 40 years.
The now 79-year-old actress is best known for playing the title role in ITV’s long-running British crime series, Vera, which is based on the bestselling Vera Stanhope series of novels by Ann Cleeves. While the show initially received mixed reviews, audiences quickly fell in love with the sharp-tongued, bucket-hat-wearing, nearly-retired detective.
In a way, Brenda could relate to her character as she too was ready to retire when the offer for Vera came in.
“I was amazed to have been offered the part. I was thinking about retiring anyway or cutting back on work. I was already 64 when the offer came in,” she told 7News Spotlight.
For 14 years, audiences around the world watched DCI Vera Stanhope solve crimes across the windswept moors of Northumberland with her trademark ‘suffer no fools’ attitude.
“What I like about the Vera character is she’s not glamorous. She has not just stepped off a catwalk, she holds a responsible position, she’s good at it and she’s very ordinary. If you met her at the bus stop, you might… talk about the price of bread,” she told 7News Spotlight.
Now, Brenda has decided to hang up her crime-solving bucket hat for good.
Here’s everything we know about the actress’s incredible life on and off the screen.
BRENDA BLETHYN’S EARLY LIFE IN RAMSGATE, ENGLAND
Born Brenda Anne Bottle on February 20, 1946, Brenda was the youngest of nine children in a Roman Catholic working class family in Ramsgate, England. Her mother Louisa worked as a cleaner at the local pub and her father William was a private chauffeur.
“We had sod all growing up, but we were so rich in other things. My parents taught me right from wrong – and the importance of humour, which helps you to deal with most things. Dad and Mum were vital, vivid, strong personalities, although he was more laid-back,” Brenda wrote for The Guardian in 2013.
“Mum and Dad had plenty of time for us; we had to work hard and they were quite strict, we might get reprimanded and get a clout, but in equal measure, we got lots of loving, cuddles and lots of fun and games,” she told Great British Life in 2015.
After she left school, Brenda attended a local technical college and then worked as a bookkeeper for 10 years. After her first marriage broke down, she decided to pursue acting and enrolled in the Guildford School of Drama.
She went onto become one of the hardest working women on British film and television, starring in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice alongside Keira Knightly, 2007’s Atonement, and the sitcom Kate & Koji, just to name a few.
HER TWO MARRIAGES AND THE “LOVELY FELLA” WHO LEFT HER FOR ANOTHER WOMAN
Writing for The Guardian in 2013, Brenda said her older brothers were very protective of her while she was growing up, so much so, that she was “quite innocent” when she married her first husband, Alan Blethyn, a graphic designer she met while working for British Rail, in 1964. The marriage ended in 1973 when Alan “fell for someone else”.
“I was devastated when he left, but he really was a lovely fella — and the other lady is nice too. It was just one of those things.,” she wrote for the publication.
Brenda later met Michael Mayhew, the former head of Graphic Design at the National Theatre, in the 1970s and the pair tied the knot in 2010. Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2014, the Kate & Koji actress shared why she thinks their long-term relationship has been so successful.
“I genuinely think it’s about having our own space,” she explained. “We have a place on the coast in my hometown of Ramsgate in Kent, and even when we’re there we sit in separate rooms, Michael with his music in one, me with my crossword in another. We have so little in common but the relationship obviously works.”
“Michael makes me laugh like nobody else does, and I think he likes me for my honesty and my kindness,” she added.
While writing for The Guardian in 2013, Brenda said she was drawn to Michael’s honesty and his unwavering support throughout her career.
“He is kind and honest – he tells the truth, even if it’s what you don’t want to hear, such as saying the Armani outfit I had bought to present an award at the Golden Globes in 1998 didn’t suit me. He was right, so I bought another outfit, which was much better.”
BRENDA BLETHYN ON HER DECISION NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN
The now 79-year-old actress has spoken openly in the past about her decision not to have children and whether she has any regrets about it.
“Once in a blue moon I’ve wished I had but it’s been so fleeting that it’s not been a bother to me,” she told the Daily Mail in 2014:.”The things I wish I had done I’ve done, wherever possible.”
“Do I ponder on it sometimes? Yes. But there’s no point in having regrets, it’s a waste of energy,” she wrote for The Guardian. “And I have wonderful nephews, nieces and great-nieces — including the actor Kelly Scott, who had a part in my series Vera last year.”
WHY THE BELOVED ACTRESS HAS DECIDED TO HANG UP HER CRIME FIGHTING BUCKET HAT FOR GOOD
After 14 years of playing the loveable detective on TV, Brenda has decided to walk away from Vera and retire for good.
Speaking to The Mirror in 2023, Brenda admitted filming the series took her away from home for months at a time and she was ready to spend more time with Michael and her beloved cavoodle, Jack.
“Filming usually means six months away from home — and in 2022, it was the best part of ten months,” the actress told the outlet.
“My dog Jack can’t be with me in the north-east for all of that time. He’s alright once I’ve been away a while filming, but if I come home for a few days in between, he goes mad — then my husband has a merry time of it when I go again, with the dog wondering where I am!”
“Filming is usually six months of 16-hour days, minimum. I’m in nearly every scene, so it’s hard work and I’m not getting any younger!” she told TV Week in April. “It was really just to spend time with my family, who are also not getting any younger.”
Brenda also told the publication she took home Vera’s trademark bucket hat and mac coat on the last day of filming.
“Will [Nicholson], our producer, had cleverly contrived to shoot the very last scene in the incident room – simply because all the team and most of the crew would need to be there,” she explained.
“There was a round of applause at the end and a lot of speeches and my dog, Jack, was there. I got so emotional.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
