We’ve talked about a few of British actress Lena Headey’s historical costume movie/TV show roles, but really only scratched the surface. Let’s run down this actress who has done much more than just Game of Thrones!
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Yep, she played “Lizzie” (it’s been so long that I don’t remember the role, but looks like she’s a servant?) in the 1930s-set Merchant/Ivory film.
Century (1993)
Set in the late 19th century, a Jewish doctor discovers another is sterilizing women. Headey plays “Miriam.”
How We Used to Live (1993)
Per Wikipedia, “series traced the lives and fortunes of various fictional Yorkshire families from the Victorian era until the early 1970s.”
The Jungle Book (1994)
An adaptation of the Ridyard Kipling story, set in 1890s India. Headey plays the romantic interest of Mowgli, who was raised by animals.
Gentlemen Don’t Eat Poets (1995)
Headey plays the daughter of a paleontologist. I have no idea.
Mrs. Dalloway (1997)
An older woman in 1923 flashes back to her youth. Headey plays the best friend, Sally.
Merlin (1998)
Technically fantasy, but whatever. Headey plays Guinevere in this adaptation of the King Arthur story.
Onegin (1999)
An incredibly boring movie set in 1830s Russia. Headey plays the older sister of main character Tatanya (Liv Tyler).
The Gathering Storm (2002)
Winston Churchill’s rise to power up to the beginning of World War II. Headey has a small but chicly-dressed part as a government official’s wife.
Black Plague (2002)
I keep trying to force myself to watch this for Snark Week. A straight-to-video movie about a 14th-century village who hosts a French captive, and people start dying…
Possession (2002)
A story split between two modern day researchers who are investigating two 19th-century poets. Headey plays the ex-girlfriend of the female poet.
The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Technically another fantasy story, but half of it is set in the real world. It’s about the famed folklorists, although it turns them into con-men. Set in the 1820s, I think? Headey plays the daughter of a woodsman turned into a werewolf. As one does.
300 (2006) & 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
A highly fictionalized story of 480 BCE Battle of Thermopylae between the Spartans and Persians. Headey plays Gorgo, Queen of Sparta, and has some hot sex with Gerard Butler. She’s also in the sequel, but I can’t tell which (if any) of these pics are from that.
The Red Baron (2008)
A biographical film about World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen; sadly, not about Snoopy. She plays Richthofen’s nurse and the two, of course, fall in love.
The Adventurer: the Curse of the Midas Box (2013)
A fantasy adventure film costumed in the bustle era (1870s-80s). Read Sarah’s posts about it to know more, I know nothing.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2015)
The horror-light retelling of the famous Jane Austen novel. Headey plays a badass Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
The White House Plumbers (coming this year)
An upcoming TV miniseries about Watergate, which is super zeitgeisty these days! Headey will play Dorothy Hunt, wife of one of the co-conspirators.
What’s your favorite of Lena Headey’s frock flick roles? And no, Game of Thrones doesn’t count!
The crown with the dangly bits in ‘Merlin’ is trying to be a Byzantine imperial crown like the ones Justinian and Theodora are wearing in the 6th-century mosaics at San Vitale in Ravenna; it’s just not quite working.
The OG live action Jungle Book definitely jumpstarted my childhood crush on both Cary Elwes and Lena Headey. Although I was never sure how her white dresses stayed so pristine while she’s romping around the jungle.
Every time that I ever see Keira Knightley in anything, I am always wishing it was Lena Headey instead. Some actors are just too contemporary and need to stay fixed in the 20th century – to present time. Headey seems to be stellar in any century.
Are we certain that she’s not in some way related to Anna Chancellor?
Re. Queen Guinevere’s crown; it has a definite Byzantine vibe and those dangly ornaments were totally a thing on early English crowns so I’d give it a pass.
I love Lena Headey no matter what she’s in, and she’s been in a lot of poor movies.
“What’s with all the ringlets under the dowdy caps?”
Originally I was thinking that maybe they were going for a Staithes bonnet, which is traditional women’s work headgear linked to Yorkshire, but the images look off overall.
Digging a little deeper in the Wikipedia entry on this long-running (1968-2002) series shows that by 1993, the series had expanded from the original “Victorian era until the early 1970s” framework it had for decades and had begun to show earlier periods like the Tudor and Stuart eras.
The ones with Lena Headey were a three-part set of episodes titled “In Civil War,” so they’re going for 17th century rather than 19th century.
Okay, that makes a lot more sense!
I loved her in Possession; it’s a so-so adaptation of a really good book, and Headey’s performance is amazing.
Funny, a couple of days ago I watched a film called “Clothes in the Wardrobe” from early 1990s–it was “Introducing Lena Headey”. I’d seen it years earlier as (I think) “The Summer House”, and it stars Julie Walters, Joan Plowright and Jeanne Moreau, with Headey as a reluctant bride in 1950s Croydon, England. Great period detail of clothes and decor.
My but she looks good in that eyepatch! I like her costumes in 300 too, but you have to be really toned to wear them!
Lena Headey is awesome!! Fave FrockFlick role is her character in Possession, more so because Possession is one of my favorite movies than because of her character. She was badass in 300, and I’m think all the pics you showed were from the first movie (which I’ve seen) rather than the second (which I haven’t). She was also a badass in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but I’m pretty sure that I remember her bitching. I mean, that’s a definitive characteristic of Lady Catherine, isn’t it? Wow. She was in so much that I’ve forgotten about and/or always wanted to see but never quite got around to. I really want to see what, if any, chemistry she managed to have with Ralph Fiennes and Natasha McElhone.
But I think my fave parts of this post are when you get relaxed and write things like, “Technically fantasy, but whatever,” and “I have no idea.” That just makes me smile! Thanks for this post.
Correction: “…what, if any, chemistry she has with Joseph Fiennes…” I mean they’re both fienne but Joseph is no Ralph and vice versa.