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For a time in the late 1990s, it seemed that Helena Bonham Carter was about to deliver on her promise and begin what would be a major career as a first-rate, important actress. Audiences and critics had always known of her extraordinary look. a delicate beauty that evoked another time and another place, but her performance in "The Wings of the Dove" (1997) had shown her to be possessed of a vital acting talent as well. She received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work in the film although Francis McDormand won the Academy Award for her role in "Fargo."
Born in Golders Green, London, England on May 26, 1966, Helen Bonham Carter had achieved success in films early. Before she was 20 years old, she had scored her first lead in director James Ivory's tasteful adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel "A Room With a View" (1985), only her second film. She followed up this auspicious E.M Forster's "Maurice" (1987), her second film for James Ivory
In hindsight, it is no coincidence that "Room," her first film under the Merchant-Ivory banner (director Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Jabha Prawler' ), proved to be the brand's big breakthrough on the big screen, ushering them into the big-time, with a good box office showing and full-blown Oscar recognition. In the two Merchant-Ivory films in which she was a major star, the brand scored their greatest success. Though it was Emma Thompson, her rival for Kenneth Branaugh's affections, who won a Best Actress Oscar for "Howard's End" (1992), Bonham Carter'S presence in the film clearly was a factor in its great success. It began a three-picture run that climaxed with Merchant-Ivory's last wholly unqualified success, "Howards End" (1992)
Howards End" (1992) was the last film she made for Merchant-Ivory, and the brand's career eventually wound down without their good-luck charm, as Helena Bonham Carter was the real thing. The patrician offspring of British Prime Minister 'H.H Asquith' 's blue blood (he was her great-great-grandfather; her great-grand-uncle Anthony Asquith was a noted English director), Helena Bonham Carter possessed of an extraordinary look with her dark hair and eyes and porcelain skin, Carter was born to be part of the Merchant-Ivory stable, giving their ersatz-Englishness a certain "je ne sais quoi" that paid off in handsome dividends, rather like British gilt-edged government securities.
Ironically, it was her turn as the undisputed star of the neo-Merchant-Ivory "Wings of the Dove" that brought her her Oscar nod. She was not only beautiful, she not only could act, but she was courageous. In "Wings," she arguably had the most explicit nude scene ever to be limned by an Oscar-nominated actress, but lost out to Helen Hunt.
Alas, her subsequent career, while interesting, has failed to deliver on that promise, though she is still young and likely to astound us once again. Her choice of roles can be seen as an attempt to break out of the Merchant-Ivory cottage industry ghetto of Henry James & E.M. Forster adaptations. She was quite memorable in the neo-classic "Fight Club" and seemed to be on the verge of achieving that rare status of someone who is a star with an extraordinary look who can also act while retaining true sexpot status. (On the distaff side, the great Paul Newman comes to mind. Brando was a superstar who could act, but hardly a sexpot. Julie Christie had a chance but turned her back on stardom, while Jane Fonda came close, though her sex-kitten act was a bit forced, but finally chucked it all away after having her breasts unnecessarily augmented for ted Turner.) Carter's output since then has evinced an erosion in her status as both star and actress, though her beauty remains undiminished .
Bonham Carter was in a relationship with actor Kenneth Branagh (with whom she appeared in Mary Shelley's Frankenstin and The Theory of Flight), from 1994 to the summer of 1999. They met whilst on the set of Frankinstein and Kenneth, not long after, divorced his wife Emma Thompson. In 2001, she began her current relationship with director Tim Burton whom she met while filming Planet of the Apes. Burton has taken to casting Bonham Carter in his movies, including Big Fish, Corspe Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd and Alice in Wonderland.
They live in Belsize Park, London, in neighbouring houses with a connecting doorway because they felt they could not live together in the same residence. They purchased the house when she became pregnant with the couple's first child, son Billy Raymond Burton, who was born on 4 October 2003. The couple maintain a close relationship with actor Johnny Depp, who regularly appears in most of Burton's films. Depp is also Billy Ray's godfather, accepting the job after Burton persuaded Bonham Carter to ask him. At age 41, she gave birth to her second child, daughter named Nell Burton, on 15 December 2007 in Central London. She says she named her daughter Nell after all the "Helens" in her family lineage.
In August 2008, when four of her relatives were killed in a safari bus crash in South Africa, she was given indefinite leave from filming Terminator Salvation, and returned later on to complete the rest of her filming.
In 2008, both Bonham Carter and Burton put their American apartments up for sale. The apartments are located in the Greenwich Village area, in New York City. The couple sold them for a collective $8.75 million. In early October 2008, it was released that Bonham Carter had become a patron of the charity, Action Duchenne, the national charity established to support parents and sufferers of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Bonham Carter released the statement: "As a patron of Action Duchenne, I would like to urge as many people as possible to find out about the work of the charity and the devastating effects of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Treatments and a cure seem tantalisingly close but they will not appear without further support and funding. Please join Action Duchenne in helping to make muscle wasting history''.
In December 2008, Bonham Carter lent her voice to a MTV domestic violence public service announcement, reciting a passage about love from the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The 60-second commercial features a dysfunctional couple in a domestic environment. No dialogue is heard only accompanying music and Bonham Carter's voice. Bonham Carter recorded her vocal in a single take for the ad, which aired on 2 December 2008. The ad will air across MTV in the UK and across Europe as part of MTV's Staying Alive campaign. MTV will also make the ad available online and is considering running it in cinemas.
Early 2009, Bonham Carter joined fellow Hollywood A-listers Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet, Liam Neeson, Helen Mirren and more, leaving the imprint of her lips on a card and signing it. The kiss prints, which are featured in the window of Newcastle’s famous Fenwick store, will now be auctioned off for charity.
| VITAL STATS | Helena Bonham Carter Information: Has a father called Raymond Bonham Carter,has a mother called Elena Bonham Carter,Has a partner called Tim Burton and Billy Ray and Neil Burton is Helena Bonham Carters children.
| | Eye color:Brown | | Height: 5' 3" (1.60 m) | | Nickname(s): HBC | | Notable feature(s): Unusual looks/facial characteristics | | Education: She was denied admission to King's College, Cambridge University, not because of her grades or her test scores but because school officials were afraid that she would leave mid-term to pursue her acting career. Because of Cambridge's rejection, Helena decided to concentrate fully on acting. | | Family: Raymond Bonham Carter (father), Elena Bonham Carter (mother), Tim Burton (partner), Billy Ray and Nell Burton (children) | | Resides in: London, United Kingdom | | Religious affiliations: | | Political affiliation: Daughter of a prominent British banker and the great-granddaughter of Asquith, the Liberal prime minister. | | Personal interests/hobbies: | | Charities/Causes: Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. | Other: Speaks French fluently.
Engaged to director Tim Burton (2001 - present) 2 children.
She is the granddaughter of Violet Bonham Carter, a Life Peeress in her own right and the niece of Mark Bonham Carter, who was created a Life Peer in his own right as well. Her half-Spanish mother 'Elena Propper de Callejon' is niece of Baroness Liliane de Rothschild, née Fould-Springer.
Helena has also appeared on stage in productions of Trelawney of the Wells, The Barber of Seville, House of Bernarda Alba, The Chalk Garden, and Woman in White. | | |
dionisis27posted 7 days ago
