Valerie Hobson

Valerie Hobson was born Babette Louisa Valerie Hobson on 14 April 1917 in the coastal town of Larne, County Antrim, Ireland, the daughter of Royal Navy commander Robert Gordon Hobson and Violette Willoughby. From a very young age she showed a keen interest in the performing arts, enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before she was eleven, where she received rigorous training in both acting and dance. Her film debut arrived in 1932 with an uncredited role, and by 1935 she had secured the memorable part of Elizabeth in Bride of Frankenstein, sharing the screen with Boris Karloff and Colin Clive, and also appeared as Lisa Glendon in the pioneering horror Werewolf of London. Throughout the late 1930s and 1940s Hobson became a staple of British cinema, delivering standout performances such as the adult Estella in David Lean’s adaptation of Great Expectations (1946) and the poised Edith D'Ascoyne in the darkly comic Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Her versatility extended to the stage, most notably when she originated the role of Mrs. Anna Leonowens in the London production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I in 1953, a run that lasted 926 performances. In her personal life, Hobson married film producer Anthony Havelock‑Allan in 1939, with whom she had three children, including Simon, who was born with Down’s syndrome, and Mark, who later became a judge. After their divorce in 1952 she married Brigadier John Profumo, a rising Conservative MP, in 1954 and withdrew from acting to support his political career. When Profumo’s scandal broke in 1963, Hobson stood by him, dedicating the remainder of her life to charitable work and family. She died on 13 November 1998 in Westminster, London, aged 81, and was cremated at Mortlake Crematorium, with her ashes partially interred in Hersham and partially scattered on her family’s Scottish farm.