Catherine of Aragon

Catherine of Aragon (December 16, 1485 – January 7, 1536; Spanish: Catalina de Aragón) was queen consort of England as Henry VIII of England's first wife. Henry annulled his twenty-four year marriage to her after only one of their six children, Mary I, survived infancy.

Film, TV and fiction

Catherine was first portrayed on the silver screen in 1911 by Violet Vanburgh in a production of William Shakespeare's play Henry VIII. Nine years later, the German actress Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein played Catherine in the film Anna Boleyn. Later, actress Rosalie Crutchley played Catherine in The Sword and the Rose an acount of Mary Tudor's romance with the duke of Suffolk in 1515. Crutchley later played Henry's sixth queen Catherine Parr in The Six Wives of Henry VIII.

Related Topics:
Violet Vanburgh - Hedwig Pauly-Winterstein - Rosalie Crutchley - Mary Tudor - Catherine Parr - The Six Wives of Henry VIII

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It was not until 1969, in Hal B. Wallis's acclaimed movie Anne of the Thousand Days that Catherine appeared again. This time she was played by the Greek actress Irene Papas. A year later, in a 90-minute television drama produced by the BBC, British actress Annette Crosbie played the most historically-accurate version of Catherine in a piece simply entitled Catherine of Aragon as part one in the channel's series The Six Wives of Henry VIII. The drama began on the night Catherine arrived in England and followed through until her early marriage to Henry VIII. It re-commenced almost a decade later, with Henry's manoeuvres to get a divorce in order to marry Anne Boleyn. The play, which co-starred the Australian actor Keith Michell as Henry VIII, Dame Dorothy Tutin as Anne Boleyn and Patrick Troughton as the duke of Norfolk, then chronicled Catherine's life until her death in January 1536. Two years later Claire Bloom played Catherine in another adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

Related Topics:
Hal B. Wallis - Anne of the Thousand Days - Irene Papas - BBC - Annette Crosbie - The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Keith Michell - Dorothy Tutin - Patrick Troughton - Claire Bloom

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In 1973, in the movie Henry VIII and his Six Wives, Frances Cuka played Catherine and Keith Michell reprised his role as Henry VIII. A scene was incorporated between Ms. Cuka and Charlotte Rampling (playing Anne Boleyn) to show their quiet, glacial enmity.

Related Topics:
Frances Cuka - Charlotte Rampling

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It was not until 2001 that Catherine again appeared on the screen. This time it was in Dr. David Starkey's documentary series on Henry's queens. She was portrayed by Annabelle Dowler, with Julia Marsen as Anne Boleyn.

Related Topics:
David Starkey - Annabelle Dowler - Julia Marsen

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In 2003 Catherine appeared twice on British television. In January, Spanish actress Yolanda Vasquez made a brief appearance in the wildly-inaccurate The Other Boleyn Girl, opposite Jared Harris as Henry VIII and Natascha McElhone as Mary Boleyn. In October, the ITV 2-part television drama, Henry VIII starred Ray Winstone in the title role and Asumpta Serna as Queen Catherine. Part 1 chronicled the king's life from the birth of his bastard son, Henry Fitzroy until the execution of Anne Boleyn (played by Helena Bonham-Carter) in 1536. David Suchet co-starred as Cardinal Wolsey.

Related Topics:
Yolanda Vasquez - Jared Harris - Natascha McElhone - Mary Boleyn - ITV - Ray Winstone - Asumpta Serna - Bastard - Henry Fitzroy - Helena Bonham-Carter - David Suchet - Cardinal Wolsey

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Catherine's story appears in fiction: Katharine of Aragon by Jean Plaidy, a trilogy recently published under one volume. Also, for younger readers, Catherine's story is told in Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer.

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