# Verna Bloom

Verna Frances Bloom (August 7, 1938 – January 9, 2019) was an American actress.

## Early Life

Verna Frances Bloom, born on August 7, 1938, in Lynn, Massachusetts, grew up in a Russian Jewish family where her father, Milton, operated a grocery store. Her mother, Sara (Damsky) Bloom, initially focused on managing their household. After Milton and Sara divorced, Sara took charge of the family grocery business and later transitioned to bookkeeping for a trucking company. She graduated from Boston University and later studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio for actors in New York.

## Career

On Broadway, Bloom portrayed Charlotte Corday in The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1967) and Blanche Morton in Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983). She made her film debut in Medium Cool, and then co-starred in Clint Eastwood's 1973 film, High Plains Drifter and in the 1974 made-for-TV movie Where Have All The People Gone? with Peter Graves and Kathleen Quinlan. Bloom also had roles in more than 30 films and television episodes beginning the 1960s, including playing Mary, mother of Jesus, in The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988 and Marion Wormer in Animal House in 1978.

## Personal life and death

Bloom was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and attended the School of Fine Arts at Boston University, graduating with a BFA in 1959. She also studied at the HB Studio in New York City.
Bloom married Richard Collier, but they separated by 1969. They began the Trident Theater in Denver Colorado, which operated from 1963 to 1965. In 1972 she married film critic Jay Cocks. They had a son, Sam, born in 1981. The couple remained married until her death.
Bloom died aged 80 on January 9, 2019, in Bar Harbor, Maine, from complications of dementia.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1969 | Medium Cool | Eileen | |
| 1969 | Children's Games | The Girl | |
| 1970 | Street Scenes 1970 | Herself | |
| 1971 | The Hired Hand | Hannah Collings | |
| 1972 | Particular Men | Evelyn | TV movie |
| 1973 | High Plains Drifter | Sarah Belding | |
| 1973 | Badge 373 | Maureen | |
| 1974 | Where Have All the People Gone? | Jenny | TV movie |
| 1975 | Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic | Jean Hodges | TV movie |
| 1977 | Contract on Cherry Street | Emily Hovannes | TV movie |
| 1978 | National Lampoon's Animal House | Marion Wormer | |
| 1980 | Playing for Time | Paulette | TV movie |
| 1981 | Rivkin: Bounty Hunter | Bertha | TV movie |
| 1982 | Honkytonk Man | Emmy | |
| 1985 | The Journey of Natty Gann | Farm Woman | |
| 1985 | After Hours | June | |
| 1985 | Promises to Keep | | TV movie, (uncredited) |
| 1988 | The Last Temptation of Christ | Mary, Mother of Jesus | |
| 2003 | Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update | Marion Wormer | Short film, (final film role) |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1967 | N.Y.P.D. | Barbara Laney | Season 1, episode 3 |
| 1969 | Bonanza | Ellen Masters | Season 10, episode 29 |
| 1969 | The David Frost Show | Herself | 1 episode |
| 1973 | Doc Elliot | Mary Beth Hickey | Season 1, episode 1 |
| 1973–1976 | Police Story | Marge Connor / Elizabeth Shaner | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | The Blue Knight | Moody Larkin | Season 1, episode 1 |
| 1976 | Kojak | Carrie Zachary | Season 3, episode 17 |
| 1977 | Visions | Nancy Doucette | Season 2, episode 4 |
| 1977 | Lou Grant | Emily | Season 1, episode 13 |
| 1977 | Gibbsville | | Season 1, episode 10 |
| 1987 | Cagney & Lacey | Joan Torvec | Season 7, episode 1 |
| 1988–1989 | The Equalizer | Ellen / Marian Grey | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman | Maude Bray | Season 1, episode 1 |
| 2003 | The West Wing | Molly Lapham | Season 4, episode 13 |