Verna Bloom

Verna Frances Bloom (August 7, 1938 – January 9, 2019) was an American actress known for her roles on stage and screen. She made her film debut in Medium Cool and gained recognition for her performances in Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973) and the made-for-TV movie Where Have All The People Gone? (1974). Bloom appeared in over 30 films and television episodes, including notable roles such as Mary, mother of Jesus, in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and Marion Wormer in Animal House (1978). On Broadway, she 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). Bloom was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and graduated with a BFA from the School of Fine Arts at Boston University in 1959. She also studied at the HB Studio in New York City.