Anne Boleyn in the Movies

"I know my husband! He is a hunter... When he has sported, he will kill. 'Tis his nature. And I am the prey." - From the television series The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970)

British actress Laura Cowie, seen here as Anne Boleyn, played the role in the silent movie Henry VIII (1911.) She later married her on-screen co-star, Arthur Bourchier.

Considered one of the greatest German actresses of her generation, Henny Porten -  shown in a studio still - played the doomed Queen in the 2-hour long silent movie epic Anna Boleyn (1920), directed by Ernest Lubitsch.

"Isn't it a pity to lose a head like this?" Merle Oberon, seen here in the role, gave her break-out performance as Anne Boleyn in the Oscar-winning British costume drama, The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933.) Oberon, who went on to become one of the great beauties of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, had a relatively small role in the movie, with the story beginning on the day of Anne's execution. Yet, it was a memorable appearance and Oberon herself became fascinated by the character, hanging portraits of Anne in her Knightsbridge apartment. 

"I need an English teacher for the Dauphin." A poster for the French-language epic, Les perles de la couronne (1937), which chronicled the adventures of a fictitious set of royal jewels through history, with what would now be called an "all-star cast." Anne Boleyn was briefly played by Barbara Shaw, appearing as a young woman at the French Court and then later as Queen of England.

German actress Lilli Palmer played Anne Boleyn in the American television drama The Trial of Anne Boleyn (1952), opposite Rex Harrison as King Henry VIII. This was not Lilli's last performance as a royal figure - her last on-screen job in 1986 was as the Dowager Tsarina Natalya of Russia in the mini-series Peter the Great and she also played the pretender, Anna Anderson, in Anastasia: The Czar's Last Daughter (1956.) Today, Lilli Palmer is perhaps best-known for having played Holocaust victim, Edith Frank, in The Diary of Anne Frank (1967.)

The beautiful American model, Elaine Stewart, made a brief appearance as Queen Anne in the lavish movie based on the early life of her daughter, Young Bess (1953.)

American actress, Beatrice Straight, played Anne in the American television drama, The Crisis of Anne Boleyn (1954), which was set on May 16th, 1536, the day after the Queen's trial.  The episode was part of the successful Omnibus television series.

The lovely Czechoslovakian actress, Jeanette Sterke, played Queen Anne in the drama The White Falcon (1956), part of the BBC's successful Sunday Night Theatre series.

Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave is seen her making her brief, non-speaking cameo as Anne Boleyn in the screen adaptation of the Robert Bolt play, A Man For All Seasons (1966), based on the downfall of Catholic politician, Sir Thomas More.

"The only love I can ever give you is that of a loyal subject for her King." The performance of French-Canadian actress, Genevieve Bujold, in the Oscar-winning Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), is considered by many people to have been the definitive on-screen portrayal of Anne. Bujold was nominated for an Academy Award, but she lost to Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The trailer for Anne of the Thousand Days can be watched here. 

"I must pray to God to give me a son!" British theatre actress, Dame Dorothy Tutin, appeared as Anne in two episodes of the acclaimed BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970.) Her performance was critically praised and in the same year she was fantastic as Queen Henrietta-Maria in the movie Cromwell, opposite Richard Harris and Sir Alec Guinness.

"I think my lady will have all - or nothing." Following the success of The Six Wives of Henry VIII, actor Keith Michell was cast once again as the King in a cinema-released production Henry VIII and his Six Wives (1972.) This time, the role of Anne Boleyn was played by British actress, Charlotte Rampling, shown here in her first scene in the movie. Henry VIII and his Six Wives was the only movie to portray Anne's alleged deformities - the vestigial sixth finger and mole - part of the "black legend" of Anne Boleyn concocted in the 1570s.

"’Tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perked up in a glistering grief
And wear a golden sorrow."

Perhaps best known to British audiences for her role as the White Witch in the television production of C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Barbara Kellerman is shown here as a young Anne Boleyn in the screen version of William Shakespeare’s The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth (1979.)

A promotional poster for the movie God's Outlaw (1986), based on the life of Protestant intellectual, William Tyndale. Oona Kirsch is shown as a pious Anne Boleyn in the bottom of the poster, with Keith Barron as Henry VIII.

Julia Marsen played Anne Boleyn in the documentary series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (2001), narrated by Cambridge historian, Dr. David Starkey, author of Elizabeth: Apprenticeship, Six Wives and The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities & Politics.

Jodhi May, on the right, is shown playing Anne Boleyn in the BBC dramatisation of Philippa Gregory's novel, The Other Boleyn Girl (2003), with Natascha McElhone as her sister, Lady Mary Carey.

"If I love you - will I be safe?" Helena Bonham-Carter was pregnant when she starred as Anne Boleyn in the 2-part television movie, Henry VIII (2003.) She is shown here in the role, opposite Ray Winstone as King Henry. Part One chronicled the love affair between Henry and Anne, whilst Part Two told the story of the King's final ten years of life, focussing primarily on the King's third and fifth wives, played by Emilia Fox and The Devil Wears Prada's Emily Blunt.

"Glory? What glory?" Israeli actress, Natalie Portman, is shown here as Anne in the Hollywood adaptation of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. The trailer can be watched here and this blog's review, read here.

Natalie Dormer gave a triumphant and sympathetic portrayal of Anne across two seasons and twenty episodes of the Showtime series, The Tudors in 2007 and 2008. She reprised the role in the 2010 finale as the ghost of Anne Boleyn, returning to the deathbed of her husband. In a dream sequence of Anne's childhood, the 6 year-old Anne was played by Irish actress, Muireann O'Donoghue. The Tudors' interpretation of the Queen's execution can be seen here, with Jonathan Rhys Meyer as the King, George Irving as Sir William Kingston, James Frain as Thomas Cromwell, Henry Cavill as the Duke of Suffolk