Valerie Hobson

Valerie Hobson

Born: April 14, 1917
Died: November 13, 1998
in Larne, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Valerie Hobson (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998) was a British actress who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s. She was born Babette Valerie Louise Hobson in Larne, County Antrim, Ireland.

She appeared as Baroness Frankenstein in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) with Boris Karloff and Colin Clive, taking over the role from Mae Clarke, who had played it in the original Frankenstein (1931). Hobson also played opposite Henry Hull that same year in Werewolf of London, the first Hollywood werewolf movie, predating The Wolf Man by six years.

The latter half of the 1940s saw Hobson in perhaps her two most memorable roles: as the adult Estella in David Lean's 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations, and as the refined and virtuous Edith D'Ascoyne in the 1949 black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets.

In 1952 she divorced her first husband, film producer Sir Anthony Havelock-Allan (1904–2003), and married MP John Profumo (1915–2006) in 1954, giving up acting shortly afterwards

Valerie Hobson's last starring role was in the original London production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical play The King and I which opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on October 8, 1953. She played Mrs. Anna Leonowens opposite Herbert Lom's King.

After Profumo's ministerial career ended in disgrace in 1963, following revelations he had lied to the House of Commons about his affair with Christine Keeler, she stood by him, and they worked together for charity for the remainder of her life.

Hobson's eldest son, Simon Anthony Clerveaux Havelock-Allan was born in May 1944 with Down's Syndrome. Her middle child, Mark Havelock-Allan, was born on 4 April 1951. Her youngest child is author David Profumo, (b. 16 October 1955) wrote Bringing the House Down (2006) about the scandal.

She died of a heart attack in London in 1998 and is buried in Surrey, England.

Description above from the Wikipedia Valerie Hobson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Valerie Hobson...

Monsieur Ripois
Title: Monsieur Ripois
Character: Catherine Ripois
Released: September 30, 1954
Type: Movie
While his wife, Catherine, is finalizing their divorce, serial philanderer Andre invites his latest conquest, Catherine’s best friend, Patricia, over for dinner. Over the course of the evening, Andre shares his entire romantic history since first coming to London as a young man, including his liaisons with his former boss, a marriage-minded young girl and a kindhearted Frenchwoman.
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Background
Title: Background
Character: Barbie Lomax
Released: November 9, 1953
Type: Movie
Two years of deterioration sees John and Barbara Lomax's marriage reduced to bitter sniping and "keeping up appearances" for the sake of the children. When John's old friend Bill professes his love for Barbara, the marriage finally breaks up – causing their three children to react in different ways and their son secretly determined to do Bill harm.
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The Voice of Merrill
Title: The Voice of Merrill
Character: Alycia Roche
Released: December 1, 1952
Type: Movie
A convicted female blackmailer is found murdered in her flat and suspicion falls on three men, all of whom the police believe may have had reason to wish her dead
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Meet Me Tonight
Title: Meet Me Tonight
Character: Stella Cartwright
Released: September 9, 1952
Type: Movie
Meet Me Tonight was the American title for the British-filmed Tonight at 8:30, adapted from the Noel Coward stage production of the same name.
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Who Goes There!
Title: Who Goes There!
Character: Alex Cornwall
Released: June 9, 1952
Type: Movie
When Miles Cornwall returns suddenly to the home he shares with his father and sister in a grace-and-favour house at St. James's Palace, he's amazed to find a pretty Irish girl in his favorite armchair. Intrigued, he turns on the charm but, as she explains her situation, he finds himself unaccountably falling in love with this pretty interloper.
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The Card
Title: The Card
Character: Countess of Chell
Released: February 25, 1952
Type: Movie
A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing - some honest, some not quite so. If he can just manage to avoid a certain very predatory woman...
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The Rocking Horse Winner
Title: The Rocking Horse Winner
Character: Hester Grahame
Released: November 30, 1949
Type: Movie
A strange and tragic tale of a young boy who is able to predict race winners at the horse track by riding his own rocking horse to aid his parents out of their endless round of debts.
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The Interrupted Journey
Title: The Interrupted Journey
Character: Carol North
Released: October 11, 1949
Type: Movie
When John North, a budding author, pulls the communication cord of a late night train that is taking him away on a weekend with his publishers wife, he sets in motion a series of events that lead to a train crash, a murder and a police man hunt, but all is not what it seems.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets
Title: Kind Hearts and Coronets
Character: Edith D'Ascoyne
Released: June 21, 1949
Type: Movie
When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.
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Train of Events
Title: Train of Events
Character: Stella
Released: January 18, 1949
Type: Movie
A train disaster is told in four short stories to give character studies of the people involved, how it will affect them and how they deal with it.
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The Small Voice
Title: The Small Voice
Character: Eleanor Byrne
Released: November 27, 1948
Type: Movie
A man and his wife take to their house some men they rescue from a road crash and then find they have picked up some dangerous criminals.
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Blanche Fury
Title: Blanche Fury
Character: Blanche Fury
Released: February 19, 1948
Type: Movie
Penniless governess Blanche Fullerton takes a job at the estate of her rich relations, the Fury family. To better her position in life, Blanche marries her dull cousin, Laurence Fury, with whom she has a daughter. But before long, boredom sets in, and Blanche begins a tempestuous romance with stableman Philip Thorn. Together, they hatch a murderous plan to gain control of the estate.
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Great Expectations
Title: Great Expectations
Character: Estella
Released: December 26, 1946
Type: Movie
In this Dickens adaptation, orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.
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The Years Between
Title: The Years Between
Character: Diana Wentworth
Released: July 8, 1946
Type: Movie
Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson, Flora Robson and Felix Aylmer star in this moving and sophisticated story of love and loss set against the backdrop of the Second World War and based on the play by Daphne du Maurier. After hearing news that her officer husband has been killed in battle, Diana Wentworth forges a new life for herself, becoming an MP and learning to love again. Then, out of the blue comes the shattering news that her husband is not dead after all.
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The Adventures of Tartu
Title: The Adventures of Tartu
Character: Maruschuka Lanova
Released: October 1, 1943
Type: Movie
British Captain Terence Stevenson (Robert Donat) accepts an assignment even more dangerous than his everyday job of defusing unexploded bombs. Fluent in Romanian and German and having studied chemical engineering, he is parachuted into Romania to assume the identity of Captain Jan Tartu, a member of the fascist Iron Guard. He makes his way to Czechoslovakia to steal the formula of a new Nazi poison gas and sabotage the factory where it is being manufactured.
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Unpublished Story
Title: Unpublished Story
Character: Carol Bennett
Released: August 10, 1942
Type: Movie
Morale-boosting story released in the middle of World War II. A journalist uncovers a peace organisation at the centre of disreputable dealings.
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Atlantic Ferry
Title: Atlantic Ferry
Character: Mary Ann Morison
Released: September 6, 1941
Type: Movie
The MacIver brothers (Michael Redgrave, Griffith Jones) build the first ship to cross the Atlantic by steam power alone.
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Contraband
Title: Contraband
Character: Mrs. Sorensen
Released: May 11, 1940
Type: Movie
When a neutral Danish merchant ship is forced to put into port after trying to evade British wartime contraband control, its captain becomes involved in a beautiful British Naval Intelligent agent's efforts to capture a group of German spies operating from a London cinema.
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The Spy in Black
Title: The Spy in Black
Character: The School Mistress
Released: August 3, 1939
Type: Movie
A German submarine is sent to the Orkney Isles in 1917 to sink the British fleet.
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This Man in Paris
Title: This Man in Paris
Character: Pat Drake
Released: July 1, 1939
Type: Movie
A British reporter and his wife, on vacation in Paris, run into a gang of counterfeiters.
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The Silent Battle
Title: The Silent Battle
Character: Draguisha
Released: March 1, 1939
Type: Movie
Secret agents try to defeat terrorists on the Orient Express.
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Q Planes
Title: Q Planes
Character: Kay Lawrence
Released: February 21, 1939
Type: Movie
In England, an eccentric police inspector, an earnest test pilot and a spunky female reporter team up to solve the mystery of a series of test aircraft which have disappeared without a trace while over the ocean on their maiden flights; unaware, as they are, that a spy ring has been shooting the planes down with a ray machine hidden aboard a salvage vessel which is on hand to haul the downed aircraft aboard, crews and all.
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The Drum
Title: The Drum
Character: Mrs. Carruthers
Released: September 29, 1938
Type: Movie
Set in the India of the British Raj, the evil and untrustworthy Prince Guhl (Raymond Massey) plans to wipe out the British troops as they enjoy the hospitality of Guhl's spacious palace. It's up to the loyal young Prince Azim (Sabu) to warn the troops of Guhl's treachery by tapping out a message on his drum.
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This Man Is News
Title: This Man Is News
Character: Pat Drake
Released: September 16, 1938
Type: Movie
A newspaper reporter keeps beating the police to clues in a current murder case. This makes the police think he may be involved in the crime.
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When Thief Meets Thief
Title: When Thief Meets Thief
Character: Glory Fane
Released: January 1, 1937
Type: Movie
A London cat burglar falls for the girlfriend of a stockbroker who used to be his partner.
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No Exit
Title: No Exit
Character: Laura Anstey
Released: November 26, 1936
Type: Movie
A crime novelist stages an imaginative prank to prove that the perfect murder is possible but finds it has catastrophic consequences.
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Tugboat Princess
Title: Tugboat Princess
Character: Sally
Released: October 15, 1936
Type: Movie
When her parents are drowned at sea, "Princess" Judy is adopted by a soft-hearted old sea captain, Captain Zack, and brought to live on his tugboat.
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Secret of Stamboul
Title: Secret of Stamboul
Character: Tania
Released: October 5, 1936
Type: Movie
A man travels to Istanbul to try and prevent a revolution.
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August Week End
Title: August Week End
Character: Claire Barry
Released: February 17, 1936
Type: Movie
At a high-society dinner party, a wealthy, older and married man sets his sights on a beautiful young girl who's loved by a younger and not-so-wealthy man.
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The Great Impersonation
Title: The Great Impersonation
Character: Eleanor Dominey
Released: December 8, 1935
Type: Movie
The second of the three film versions of the E. Phillips Oppenheim espionage thriller set largely in an old dark house where a tremulous wife wonders if her husband is really his double, a dastardly German spy.
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Chinatown Squad
Title: Chinatown Squad
Character: Janet Baker
Released: May 31, 1935
Type: Movie
Police search for the killer of a man who misused $700,000 intended for the Chinese Communists.
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Werewolf of London
Title: Werewolf of London
Character: Lisa Glendon
Released: May 13, 1935
Type: Movie
A strange animal attack turns a botanist into a bloodthirsty monster.
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Bride of Frankenstein
Title: Bride of Frankenstein
Character: Elizabeth
Released: April 20, 1935
Type: Movie
Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive, not killed as previously believed. Dr. Frankenstein wants to get out of the evil experiment business, but when a mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, kidnaps his wife, Dr. Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new creature.
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Rendezvous at Midnight
Title: Rendezvous at Midnight
Character: Sandra Rogers
Released: February 11, 1935
Type: Movie
There are plenty of suspects when an unscrupulous, blackmailing businessman turns up dead, especially the Police Commissioner's current paramour, who actually confessed to the killing before it was committed.
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The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Title: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Character: Helena Landless
Released: February 4, 1935
Type: Movie
A choirmaster addicted to opium and obsessed with a beautiful young woman will stop at nothing to possess her.
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Life Returns
Title: Life Returns
Character: Mrs. Kendrick
Released: January 2, 1935
Type: Movie
A doctor who has spent his career working on ways to revive the dead sees his chance to prove his theory by performing his procedures on a recently deceased dog.
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Strange Wives
Title: Strange Wives
Character: Mauna
Released: November 30, 1934
Type: Movie
When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.
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His Lordship
Title: His Lordship
Character: Last Face in Montage (uncredited)
Released: June 2, 1932
Type: Movie
The commoner is a happy cockney plumber by the name of Bert Gibbs. Bert comes into contact with the celebrated Russian movie star Ilya Myona. Desperate for publicity and aware that nobility make for good copy, Ilya persuades Bert to pose as her fiancé (with the possibility of persuading him to go through with the marriage if need be). Things are complicated by a pair of anarchic Bolsheviks, one of whom has a daughter named Lenina who knows Bert from his plumber days and is quite in love with him.