Claire Bloom started as a Shakespearean at the age of five. Having seen Norma Shearere play Juliet in a movie theatre in Wales, she went home and began to learn the lines. Sixteen years later her performance as Juliet at the Old Vic Theatre in London was hailed "as the most enchanting in memory."
Born in London in 1931, Miss Bloom won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and studied under Eileen Thorndike before attending the Central School of Speech Training. Her first stage appearance was at the Oxford Repertory Theatre in 1946, when she played Private Jessie Killigrew in "It Depends What You Mean"; subsequently she played Helen in "An Italian Straw Hat" and Jessie in "Pink String and Sealing Wax."
She made her London debut in 1947, walking-on in "The White Devil," and three months later she played in "He Who Gets Slapped." In September, 1947 she appeared for the Under Thirty Theatre Group in "The Wanderer" at His Majesty's Theatre.
She joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company at Stratford-on-Avon for the 1948 Festival, when she played Blanch in "King John," Ophelia in "Hamlet" opposite both Paul Scofield and Robert Helpmann, and Perdita in "The Winter's Tale."
At the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1949 she played Daphne Randall in "The Damask Cheek," and later that year appeared as Alizon Eliot in "The Lady's Not For Burning." In 1950 she played Isabelle in "Ring Round the Moon."
Following the long run of this play, she was chosen by Charles Chaplin as leading lady in his film "Limelight," and after her return from Hollywood she joined the Old Vic Company for the 1952-53 Season to play Juliet and Jessica in "The Merchant of Venice."
She rejoined the Old Vic Company for the 1953-54 Season, when she played Ophelia to Richard Burton's Hamlet, Helena in "All's Well That Ends Well," Viola in "Twelth Night," Virgilia in "Coriolanus" and Miranda in "The Tempest."
She returned to the Company again in the 1955-56 Season to play Juliet and the Queen in "Richard II." She plays both roles in the current American tour. Among the films she has made between stage appearances have been "Innocents in Paris," "Appointment in Berlin," Richard III" and "Alexander The Great."

Photo accompanying the article- quarter page left profile of Claire Bloom.