View source for Valerie Hobson

{{short description|British actress (1917–1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Valerie Hobson
| title              = 
| image              = Hobson-valerie 1934.jpg
| imagesize          = 
| caption            = Hobson in 1934
| birth_name         = Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1917|04|14|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Larne]], County Antrim, Ireland
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1998|11|13|1917|04|14|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Westminster]], London, England
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Anthony Havelock-Allan]]|1939|1952|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[John Profumo]]|1954}}
}}
| children           = 3, including [[David Profumo]]
| occupation         = 
| years_active       = 1932–1954
}}

'''Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson''' (14 April 1917 – 13 November 1998)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-valerie-hobson-1185255.html | title=Obituary: Valerie Hobson | first=Tom | last=Vallance | work=[[The Independent]]|location=London | date=16 November 1998}}</ref> was a British<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Valerie-Hobson | title=Valerie Hobson &#124; British actress &#124; Britannica }}</ref> actress whose film career spanned the 1930s to the early 1950s. Her second husband was [[John Profumo]], a British government minister who became the subject of the [[Profumo affair]] in 1963.

==Early years==
Hobson was born at Sandy Bay, [[Larne]], [[County Antrim]], in [[Ulster]], [[Ireland]], to Robert Gordon Hobson, who was a [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]] in the [[Royal Navy]], and Violette née Willoughby.<ref name = HobsonODNB>{{cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/71263|title=Hobson [married names Havelock-Allan, Profumo], (Babette Louisa) Valerie|first=Simon|last=Heffer|author-link=Simon Heffer}}</ref><ref name="HobsonDIB">{{cite journal|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/hobson-valerie-a4040|title=Hobson, Valerie|last=Hourican|first=Bridget|year=2009|journal=Dictionary of Irish Biography|access-date=19 December 2022|doi=10.3318/dib.004040.v1|url-access=subscription|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="g">{{cite news|last1=Barker|first1=Dennis|title=Star of screen and scandal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19573912/valerie_hobson/|work=The Guardian|date=16 November 1998|location=England, London|page=16|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = 25 April 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

Before she was 11 years old, Hobson had begun to study acting and dancing at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts]].<ref name="it">{{cite news|last1=Banville|first1=John|title=A family affair|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-family-affair-1.1015823|access-date=26 April 2018|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=14 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426025404/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-family-affair-1.1015823|archive-date=26 April 2018}}</ref>

==Career==
{{expand section|date=March 2023}}

In 1935, aged 18, Hobson appeared as Baroness Frankenstein in ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' with [[Boris Karloff]] and [[Colin Clive]]. She played opposite [[Henry Hull]] that same year in ''[[Werewolf of London]]'', the first Hollywood werewolf film. The latter half of the 1940s saw Hobson in perhaps her two most memorable roles: as the adult Estella in [[David Lean]]'s (1908-1991) adaptation of ''[[Great Expectations (1946 film)|Great Expectations]]'' (1946),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Great Expectations movie review (1946) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-great-expectations-1946 |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and as the refined and virtuous Edith D'Ascoyne in the [[black comedy]] ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'' (1949).<ref>{{Cite web |title=myReviewer.com - About the DVD - Kind Hearts and Coronets |url=https://www.myreviewer.com/DVD/144127/Kind-Hearts-and-Coronets/About |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231206070903/https://www.myreviewer.com/DVD/144127/Kind-Hearts-and-Coronets/About |archive-date=2023-12-06 |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=www.myreviewer.com}}</ref>

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 8 October 1953. She played Mrs. Anna Leonowens opposite [[Herbert Lom]]'s King. The show ran for 926 performances.<ref>[[Stanley Green (historian)|Stanley Green]], ''Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre'' (New York, 1976: Dodd, Mead & Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts: DaCapo Press, 1980), p. 233.<!--ISBN needed--></ref>

==Personal life and death==
In 1952, Hobson divorced her first husband, film producer [[Anthony Havelock-Allan]]. In 1954, she married [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]] [[John Profumo]], a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP), giving up acting shortly afterwards. Profumo was a prominent politician of [[Italian people|Italian]] descent.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

After Profumo's ministerial career ended in [[Profumo affair|disgrace in 1963]], following revelations he had lied to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] about his affair with [[Christine Keeler]], Hobson stood by him, and they worked together for charity for the remainder of her life, although she did miss their more public personas.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1527833/Son-breaks-familys-40-year-silence-on-scandal-of-the-Profumo-Affair.html|title=Son breaks family's 40-year silence on scandal of the Profumo Affair|work=The Telegraph|date=2 September 2006|location=London, UK|first=Elizabeth|last=Grice}}</ref>

Hobson's eldest son, Simon Anthony Clerveaux Havelock-Allan, was born in May 1944 with [[Down's Syndrome]], and died in January 1991. Her middle child, [[Havelock-Allan baronets|Mark Havelock-Allan]], was born on 4 April 1951 and became a judge. Her youngest child is the author [[David Profumo]], who wrote ''Bringing the House Down: A Family Memoir'' (2006) about the scandal. In it, he writes that his parents told him nothing of the scandal and he learned of it from another boy at school.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n20/ian-gilmour/dingy-quadrilaterals|title=Dingy Quadrilaterals|work=London Review of Books|date=19 October 2006}}</ref>

Hobson died in 1998, aged 81.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Pace|first=Eric|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/16/arts/valerie-hobson-81-actress-and-profumo-s-wife.html|title=Valerie Hobson, 81, Actress and Profumo's Wife|newspaper=New York Times|date=November 16, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Galloway|first=Doug|url=https://variety.com/1998/scene/people-news/valerie-hobson-1117882587/|title=Valerie Hobson|magazine=Variety|date=November 29, 1998}}</ref> After her death, her body was cremated at [[Mortlake Crematorium]] in accordance with her wishes. Half of her ashes were interred in the family vault in [[Hersham]], and the rest were scattered on 1 January 1999 by her sons David Profumo and Mark Havelock-Allan, near the family's farm in Scotland.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3655083/Even-if-the-heart-bleeds-almost-to-death-passionate-love-is-worth-it.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=David | last=Profumo | title=Even if the heart bleeds almost to death, passionate love is worth it | date=4 September 2006}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Hobson was portrayed by [[Deborah Grant]] in the film ''[[Scandal (1989 film)|Scandal]]'' (1989); by [[Joanna Riding]] in [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s stage musical ''[[Stephen Ward the Musical]]'', which opened at the [[Aldwych Theatre]] on 19 December 2013; and by [[Emilia Fox]] in the BBC miniseries ''[[The Trial of Christine Keeler]]'' in 2019.

==Filmography==
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* ''[[His Lordship (1932 film)|His Lordship]]'' (1932) – Last Face in Montage (uncredited)
* ''[[For Love of You]]'' (1933) – Minor Role (uncredited)
* ''[[Eyes of Fate]]'' (1933) – Rene
* ''[[The Path of Glory]]'' (1934) – Maria
* ''[[Two Hearts in Waltz Time (1934 film)|Two Hearts in Waltz Time]]'' (1934) – Susie
* ''[[Badger's Green (1934 film)|Badger's Green]]'' (1934) – Molly Butler
* ''[[Great Expectations (1934 film)|Great Expectations]]'' (1934) – Biddy (scenes deleted)
* ''[[Strange Wives]]'' (1934) – Mauna
* ''[[The Man Who Reclaimed His Head]]'' (1934) – Mimi – Carnival Girl (uncredited)
* ''[[Life Returns]]'' (1935) – Mrs. Kendrick
* ''[[The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935 film)|The Mystery of Edwin Drood]]'' (1935) – Helena Landless
* ''[[Rendezvous at Midnight]]'' (1935) – Sandra Rogers
* ''[[Oh, What a Night (1935 film)|Oh, What a Night]]'' (1935) – Susan
* ''[[Bride of Frankenstein]]'' (1935) – Elizabeth
* ''[[Werewolf of London]]'' (1935) – Lisa Glendon
* ''[[Chinatown Squad]]'' (1935) – Janet Baker
* ''[[The Great Impersonation (1935 film)|The Great Impersonation]]'' (1935) – Eleanor Dominey
* ''[[August Weekend]]'' (1936) – Claire Barry
* ''[[The Secret of Stamboul]]'' (1936) – Tania
* ''[[Tugboat Princess]]'' (1936) – Sally
* ''[[No Escape (1936 film)|No Escape]]'' (1936) – Laura Anstey
* ''[[Jump for Glory]]'' (1937) – Glory Howard aka Glory Fane
* ''[[The Drum (1938 film)|The Drum]]'' (1938) – Mrs. Carruthers
* ''[[This Man Is News]]'' (1938) – Pat Drake
* ''[[Q Planes]]'' (1939) – Kay Hammond
* ''[[The Silent Battle (1939 film)|The Silent Battle]]'' (1939) – Draguisha
* ''[[This Man in Paris]]'' (1939) – Pat Drake
* ''[[The Spy in Black]]'' (1939) – The School Mistress
* ''[[Contraband (1940 film)|Contraband]]'' (1940) – Mrs. Sorensen
* ''[[Atlantic Ferry]]'' (1941) – Mary Ann Morison
* ''[[Unpublished Story]]'' (1942) – Carol Bennett
* ''[[The Adventures of Tartu]]'' (1943, aka ''Sabotage Agent'') – Maruschuka Lanova
* ''[[The Years Between (film)|The Years Between]]'' (1946) – Diana Wentworth
* ''[[Great Expectations (1946 film)|Great Expectations]]'' (1946, Hobson had acted in the 1934 version in the role of Biddy, but her scenes were cut.) – Estella
* ''[[Blanche Fury]]'' (1948) – Blanche Fury
* ''[[The Small Voice]]'' (1948) – Eleanor Byrne
* ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'' (1949) – Edith
* ''[[Train of Events]]'' (1949) – Stella (segment "The Composer")
* ''[[The Interrupted Journey]]'' (1949) – Carol North
* ''[[The Rocking Horse Winner (film)|The Rocking Horse Winner]]'' (1950) – Hester Grahame
* ''[[The Card (1952 film)|The Card]]'' (1952) – Countess of Chell
* ''[[Who Goes There!]]'' (1952) – Alex Cornwall
* ''[[Meet Me Tonight]]'' (1952) – Stella Cartwright (segment "Ways and Means")
* ''[[The Voice of Merrill]]'' (1952) – Alycia
* ''[[Background (1953 film)|Background]]'' (1953) – Barbie Lomax
* ''[[Knave of Hearts (film)|Knave of Hearts]]'' (1954) – Catherine Ripois
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name|0387753}}
* {{Screenonline name|id=486555}}
* {{Find a Grave|13282710}}
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=5535 Photographs of Valerie Hobson]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Valerie}}
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:British film actresses]]
[[Category:People from Larne]]
[[Category:20th-century British actresses]]
[[Category:British expatriate actresses in the United States]]
[[Category:Actresses from Hampshire]]
[[Category:Actresses from County Antrim]]
[[Category:Havelock family|Valerie]]