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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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===Early life=== |
===Early life=== |
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Higgins, the second of five children, was born in [[Bradford]] in the county of [[Yorkshire]], [[England]], the daughter of Paula Cecilia ([[married and maiden names|née]] Murphy) and James Stephen Higgins.<ref>http://www.filmreference.com/film/7/Clare-Higgins.html</ref> Her parents were [[teacher]]s |
Higgins, the second of five children, was born in [[Bradford]] in the county of [[Yorkshire]], [[England]], the daughter of Paula Cecilia ([[married and maiden names|née]] Murphy) and James Stephen Higgins.<ref>http://www.filmreference.com/film/7/Clare-Higgins.html</ref> Her parents were came from a working-class [[Irish Catholic]] background<ref name="telegraph">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/11/23/bthig23.xml</ref> and worked as [[teacher]]s. Higgins was interested in acting since her childhood. After being expelled from a convent school, she ran away from home at seventeen.<ref name="telegraph"/> At 19, she gave birth to a boy but gave him to adoption because she was unable to raise him.<ref name="telegraph"/> |
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===Career=== |
===Career=== |
Revision as of 06:57, 20 December 2007
Clare Higgins |
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Clare Frances Elizabeth Higgins (born 10 November 1955) is an English stage, film and television actress.
Biography
Early life
Higgins, the second of five children, was born in Bradford in the county of Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Paula Cecilia (née Murphy) and James Stephen Higgins.[1] Her parents were came from a working-class Irish Catholic background[2] and worked as teachers. Higgins was interested in acting since her childhood. After being expelled from a convent school, she ran away from home at seventeen.[2] At 19, she gave birth to a boy but gave him to adoption because she was unable to raise him.[2]
Career
At 23, she achieved her dream of becoming an actress, graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Through the '80s, she became a dynamic stage actress, both in London and on Broadway, winning three Olivier Awards. In 1983, she starred with Ben Cross in the BBC production of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel, playing the role of Christine Manson. For the big screen, Clare gave a landmark performance in the violent, harrowing Clive Barker directed Hellraiser. The film was made in 1986 and was based on Barker's original novel The Hellbound Heart. The novel corcearned a couple, Julia and Rory, who moves to a house in London previously owned by the husband's brother, Frank. Frank was a dangerous and perverted man who used to seek pleasures unknown and, by doing it, opened a box that served as a gate to another dimension inhabited by the Order of the Gash, weird looking and strange beings known as cenobites who offered pleasure through intense pain. Julia had an affair with Frank that both kept secretly. Upon moving to the house, Julia makes contact with what was left from Frank, in the attic, and starts to seduce men and murder them as food for Frank who needs to recover his skin and body nutrients before the cenobites discover he escaped. The film carried a few differences from the novel (in the book, Kirsty is a friend, in the movie its the daughter) but the main ideas were preserved.
Higgins reprised the role in 1988 for Tony Randel's Hellbound: Hellraiser II. A successful sequel to Hellraiser, Hellbound was considered a brutal horror film that shocked audiences around the world and,in general, collected great reviews. Many scenes made the film famous for its visceral violence, the "kiss sequence" standing out among other scenes. Higgins, playing the evil Julia, holds in her arms a weak-willed, defeated man (played by William Hope) and sucks his blood through the mouth by kissing him. He moans and cries in great pain and fights to get rid of her grip but can't do much as Julia proves to be stronger and keeps the imobilization, draining his nutrients. The landmark movie marked forever the careers of all involved - William Hope, who had the most difficult scene with Clare, to this day claims that Hellbound: Hellraiser II was the finest film he has ever done to date.
Acting Awards and nominations
Higgins was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1995 (1994 season) for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Sweet Bird of Youth at the Royal National Theatre. She was awarded the 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress of 2002 for her performance in Vincent in Brixton performed at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe and Wyndham Theatres.She was awarded the 2002 London Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in Vincent in Brixton performed at the Royal National Theatre: Cottesloe and later at Wyndham's Theatre. Additionally, she was awarded the 1994 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre) for Best Actress for her performances in The Children's Hour and Sweet Bird of Youth. She was also awarded the 2002 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in Vincent in Brixton at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Clare Was nominated for Broadway's 2003 Tony Award as Best Actress (play) for Vincent in Brixton.