Julie Christie

Early life

Christie was born on 14 April 1940 at Singlijan Tea Estate, Chabua, Assam, British India, to Rosemary (née Ramsden), a Welsh-born painter, and Frank St John Christie, who ran the tea plantation where she grew up. She has a younger brother, Clive, and an older (deceased) half-sister, June, from her father's relationship with an Indian tea picker on his plantation. At the age of six she was sent to live with a foster mother so she could attend a convent school in England. Her parents separated when Julie was a child, and after their divorce, she spent time with her mother in rural Wales.

She was baptised in the Church of England and was a boarder at the independent Convent of Our Lady school in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, after being expelled from another convent school for telling a risqué joke that reached a wider audience than she had anticipated. After being asked to leave the Convent of Our Lady as well, she attended the all-girls Wycombe Court School, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, during which time she lived with a foster mother from the age of six. At the Wycombe school, she played the Dauphin in a production of Shaw's Saint Joan. She went to Paris to finish schooling and learn French. She later returned to England and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Career

Early career

Christie made her professional stage debut in 1957, and her first screen roles were on British television. Her earliest role to gain attention was in BBC serial A for Andromeda (1961). She was a contender for the role of Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, Dr. No, but producer Albert R. Broccoli reportedly thought her breasts were too small.

1960s

Christie appeared in two comedies for Independent Artists: Crooks Anonymous and The Fast Lady (both 1962). The latter was financed by the Rank Organisation, and Filmink magazine argued Christie was "another in the long, long line of classy female stars given early career breaks by Rank, only for the studio to not know what to do with her."

Her breakthrough role was as Liz, the friend and would-be lover of the eponymous character played by Tom Courtenay in Billy Liar (1963), for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination. The director, John Schlesinger cast Christie only after another actress, Topsy Jane, had dropped out of the film. It resulted in her being put under contract by Nat Cohen. Christie appeared as Daisy Battles in Young Cassidy (1965), a biopic of Irish playwright Seán O'Casey, co-directed by Jack Cardiff and (uncredited) John Ford.

Her role as an amoral model in Darling (also 1965) led to Christie becoming known internationally; it also inspired the singer Tony Christie to take his stage name from Christie. The film was directed by Schlesinger and co-starred Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Harvey. Christie was cast in the lead role only after Schlesinger insisted, the studio having wanted Shirley MacLaine. Christie received the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress in a Leading Role for her performance.

In David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (also 1965), adapted from the epic/romance novel by Boris Pasternak, Christie played Lara Antipova, in what has become her best-known role. The film was a major box-office success. , Doctor Zhivago is the 8th highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation. According to Life magazine, 1965 was "The Year of Julie Christie".

After dual roles in François Truffaut's adaptation of Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 (1966), starring with Oskar Werner, she appeared as Thomas Hardy's heroine Bathsheba Everdene in Schlesinger's Far from the Madding Crowd (1967). After moving to Los Angeles in 1967 ("I was there because of a lot of American boyfriends"), she appeared in the title role of Richard Lester's Petulia (1968), co-starring with George C. Scott. Christie's persona as the swinging sixties British woman she had embodied in Billy Liar and Darling was further cemented by her appearance in the documentary Tonite Let's All Make Love in London. In 1967, Time magazine said of her: "What Julie Christie wears has more real impact on fashion than all the clothes of the ten best-dressed women combined".

1970s

In Joseph Losey's romantic drama The Go-Between (1971), Christie had a lead role along with Alan Bates. The film won the Grand Prix, then the main award at the Cannes Film Festival. She earned a second Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as a brothel madam in Robert Altman's postmodern western McCabe & Mrs. Miller (also 1971). The film was the first of three collaborations between Christie and Warren Beatty, who described her as "the most beautiful and at the same time the most nervous person I had ever known". The couple had a high-profile but intermittent relationship between 1967 and 1974. After the relationship ended, they worked together again in the comedies Shampoo (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978).

Her other films during the decade were Nicolas Roeg's thriller *Don't Look Now * (1973), based on a story by Daphne du Maurier, in which she co-starred with Donald Sutherland, and the science-fiction/horror film Demon Seed (1977), based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz and directed by Donald Cammell. Don't Look Now in particular has received acclaim, with Christie nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the greatest British film ever.

Christie returned to the United Kingdom in 1977, living on a farm in Wales. In 1979, she was a member of the jury at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. Never a prolific actress, even at the height of her career, Christie turned down many high-profile film roles, including Anne of the Thousand Days, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Reds, all of which earned Oscar nominations for the actresses who eventually played them.

1980s and 1990s

In the 1980s, Christie appeared in non-mainstream films such as The Return of the Soldier (1982) and Heat and Dust (1983). She had a major supporting role in Sidney Lumet's Power (1986) alongside Richard Gere and Gene Hackman, but apart from that, she avoided large budget films. She starred in the television film Dadah Is Death (1988), based on the Barlow and Chambers execution, as Barlow's mother Barbara, who desperately fought to save her son from being hanged for drug trafficking in Malaysia.

After a lengthy absence from the screen, Christie co-starred in the fantasy adventure film Dragonheart (1996), and appeared as Gertrude in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (also 1996). Her next critically acclaimed role was the unhappy wife in Alan Rudolph's domestic comedy-drama Afterglow (1997) with Nick Nolte, Jonny Lee Miller and Lara Flynn Boyle. Christie received a third Oscar nomination for her role. Appearing in six films that were ranked in the British Film Institute's 100 greatest British films of the 20th century, in recognition of her contribution to British cinema Christie received BAFTA's highest honour, the Fellowship, in 1997. In 1994, she had been awarded the title Doctor of Letters from the University of Warwick.

21st century

Christie made a brief cameo appearance in the third Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), playing Madam Rosmerta. Around the same time, she also appeared in two other high-profile films: Wolfgang Petersen's Troy and Marc Forster's Finding Neverland (both 2004), playing mother to Brad Pitt and Kate Winslet, respectively. The latter performance earned Christie a BAFTA nomination as supporting actress in a film.

Christie portrayed the female lead in Away from Her (2006), a film about a long-married Canadian couple coping with the wife's Alzheimer's disease. Based on the Alice Munro short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain", the movie was the first feature film directed by Christie's sometime co-star, Canadian actress Sarah Polley. She took the role, she said, only because Polley is her friend. Polley has said Christie liked the script but initially turned it down as she was ambivalent about acting. It took several months of persuasion by Polley before Christie finally accepted the role.

In July 2006 she was a member of the jury at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival. Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2006 as part of the TIFF's Gala showcase, Away from Her drew rave reviews from the trade press, including The Hollywood Reporter, and the four Toronto dailies. Critics singled out her performances as well as that of her co-star, Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, and Polley's direction. Christie's performance generated Oscar buzz, leading the distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment, to buy the film at the festival to release the film in 2007 to build momentum during the awards season.

On 5 December 2007, she won the Best Actress Award from the National Board of Review for her performance in Away from Her. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and the Genie Award for Best Actress for the same film. On 22 January 2008, Christie received her fourth Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 80th Academy Awards. She appeared at the ceremony wearing a pin calling for the closure of the prison in Guantanamo Bay.

Christie narrated Uncontacted Tribes (2008), a short film for the British-based charity Survival International, featuring previously unseen footage of remote and endangered peoples. She has been a long-standing supporter of the charity, and in February 2008, was named as its first 'Ambassador'. She appeared in a segment of the film, New York, I Love You (also 2008), written by Anthony Minghella, directed by Shekhar Kapur and co-starring Shia LaBeouf, as well as in Glorious 39 (2009), about a British family at the start of World War II.

Christie played a "sexy, bohemian" version of the grandmother role in Catherine Hardwicke's gothic retelling of Red Riding Hood (2011). Her most recent role was in the political thriller The Company You Keep (2012), where she co-starred with Robert Redford and Sam Elliott.

She is a signatory of the Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledge that was published in September 2025.

Critical reception

Pauline Kael, critic for The New Yorker, once said of Christie that she was the "girl one wanted to see on the screen not for her performances but because she was so great-looking that she was compelling on her own."

Personal life

Christie is fluent in French and Italian.

In the early 1960s, Christie dated actor Terence Stamp. She had a live-in relationship with Don Bessant, a lithographer and art teacher, from December 1962 to May 1967, before dating actor Warren Beatty for seven on-and-off years (1967–1974). Christie was also linked romantically with musician Brian Eno, record producer Lou Adler, director Jim McBride and photographer Terry O'Neill.

Christie was married to journalist Duncan Campbell from 2005 until his death in 2025; they had lived together since 1979. In January 2008, several news outlets reported that the couple had quietly married in India two months earlier, in November 2007, which Christie called "nonsense", adding, "I have been married for a few years. Don't believe what you read in the papers."

In the late 1960s, her advisers adopted a very complex scheme in an attempt to reduce her tax liability, giving rise to the leading case of Black Nominees Ltd v Nicol (Inspector of Taxes). The case was heard by Judge Sydney Templeman (who later became Lord Templeman), who gave judgement in favour of the Inland Revenue, ruling that the scheme was ineffective.

Christie is active in various causes, including animal rights, environmental protection, and the anti-nuclear power movement. In the 1980s she was a supporter of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp. She is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, as well as Reprieve, and the CFS/ME charity Action for ME. She is a vegetarian.

Acting credits

Films

Television

Theatre

Christie made her professional debut in 1957 at the Frinton Repertory Company in Essex.

Awards and nominations

Major associations

Academy Awards

British Academy Film Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Miscellaneous awards

References

References

1. Although most sources cite 1941 as Christie's year of birth, she was in fact born in 1940 and baptised that year.
   First name(s) Julie Frances
   Last name Christie
   Baptism year:1940
   Birth year: 1940
   Place: [[Dibrugarh]]
   Presidency Bengal
   Mother's first name(s)-
   Mother's last name-
   Father's first name(s)-
   Father's last name Christie
   Baptism date: 1940
   Birth date: 1940
   Archive reference: N-1-606&607
   Folio: #93
   Catalogue descriptions: Parish register transcripts from the Presidency of Bengal
   Records: British India Office births & baptisms
   Category: Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
   Record collection: Births & baptisms
   [http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bl%2fbind%2fb%2f685327&refreshingcookie=true Collections from Great Britain]
2. "All Time Box Office Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation". Boxofficemojo.com.
3. (2000). "Julie Christie: The Biography". Carlton Publishing Group, London.
4. [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HGVL-6WW2 India, Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947]
   Name Julie Frances Christie
   Sex Female
   Birth Date 14 Apr 1940
   Father's Name Francis St. John Christie
   Father's Sex Male
   Mother's Name Rosemary
   Mother's Sex Female
   Event Type Christening
   Event Date 7 Jul 1940
   Event Place Bengal, India
   Event Place (Original) Singhijan, Bengal, India
5. Associated Press (December 10, 1997). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RLU_AAAAIBAJ&pg=6810%2C3187792 "The Pleasure of Watching Julie Christie"]. ''The Robesonian''.
6. (12 February 2008). "Light at last on Julie's half-sister - British paper acts detective, unveils life of actress's hidden Indian connection". [[The Telegraph (India)]].
7. Manners, Sarah. (17 February 2008). "Christie's Secret World".
8. (8 October 2009). "Julie Christie – Biography".
9. Adams, Tim. (1 April 2007). "The divine Miss Julie". The Guardian.
10. Zacharek, Stephanie. (12 June 2001). "Julie Christie The most honest and revealing of actresses, she speaks a language of her own that we instantly understand". Salon.
11. Riedel, Michael. (12 November 1995). "Kiss Of Death". New York Daily News.
12. Vagg, Stephen. (20 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1962".
13. Barton, Laura. (1 September 2010). "Billy Liar – still in town". The Guardian.
14. Draycott, Helen. (25 January 2014). "Erdington star of the stage and screen, Topsy Jane Garnet, dies aged 75". Royal Sutton Coldfield Observer.
15. Vagg, Stephen. (21 January 2025). "Forgotten British Moguls: Nat Cohen – Part Three (1962-68)".
16. Greenstreet, Rosanna. (27 January 2024). "Tony Christie: 'Who would play me in a film of my life? Oh, Brad Pitt'".
17. Mell, Eila. (2005). "Casting Might-Have-Beens: A Film by Film Directory of Actors Considered for Roles Given to Others". McFarland.
18. "The 38th Academy Awards (1966) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
19. "Julie Christie Biography".
20. (15 March 2022). "Doctor Zhivago (1965)".
21. Tiffin, George. (2015). "A Star is Born: The Moment an Actress becomes an Icon". House of Zeus.
22. Gliatto, Tom. (9 February 1998). "Darling".
23. Snead, Elizabeth. (25 January 2008). "The private life of Julie Christie". Los Angeles Times.
24. [https://www.timeout.com/london/film/100-best-british-films#tab_panel_4 "The 100 best British films"]. ''Time Out''. Retrieved 24 October 2017
25. "Berlinale 1979: Juries". berlinale.de.
26. "Oscar Augury – Best Actress: Julie Christie is Front-Runner for Her Performance in "Away from Her"". Yahoo!.
27. (12 July 1988). "Julie Christie Making U.S. TV Movie". [[The New York Times]].
28. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120306070913/http://www.bafta.org/awards/academy-fellows%2C125%2CBA.htm "Fellowship"], British Academy of Film and Television Arts
29. [http://www.cinemarealm.com/best-of-cinema/top-100-british-films/ ''British Film Institute – Top 100 British Films''] (1999). Retrieved 27 August 2016
30. "List of all Honorary Graduates and Chancellor's Medallists".
31. Olsen, Mark. (14 November 2007). "Julie Christie is good at being picky". Los Angeles Times.
32. Cochrane, Kira. (12 April 2007). "I felt like a crazy stalker". Guardian News and Media Limited.
33. "28th Moscow International Film Festival (2006)". MIFF.
34. (2016). "2007 Award Winners". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
35. "Julie Christie profile". About.com.
36. "Uncontacted Tribes". Survival International.
37. "Julie Christie named 'Survival ambassador'". Survival International.
38. (23 April 2010). "Catherine Hardwicke's The Girl With the Red Riding Hood". Dreadcentral.com.
39. Betts, Anna. (2025-09-10). "Actors and directors pledge not to work with Israeli film groups ‘implicated in genocide’". The Guardian.
40. Kael, Pauline. (2011-10-27). "The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael: A Library of America Special Publication". Library of America.
41. ''Julie Christie'', [[Anthony Hayward]] (Robert Hale, 2000)
42. (17 November 2019). "Terry O'Neill obituary". The Times.
43. Savage, Michael. (16 May 2025). "Duncan Campbell, celebrated Guardian crime reporter, dies aged 80". [[The Guardian]].
44. "Julie Christie Biography". [[TV Guide]].
45. (30 January 2008). "Julie Christie gets married". The Guardian.
46. Dimi Gaidatzi. (11 February 2008). "Oscar Nominee Julie Christie: I've Been Married for Years".
47. [1975] STC 372.
48. (6 September 2006). "Protest and survive". The Guardian.
49. (n.d.). "Palestine Solidarity Campaign: Patrons". Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
50. "Reprieve – Board and Patrons". Reprieve.
51. [http://www.actionforme.org.uk/get-informed/about-us/people/patrons List of Patrons at Action for ME official website] {{Webarchive. link. (4 December 2014 , actionforme.org.uk; accessed 29 October 2016.)
52. (10 March 2002). "Julie Christie has done us no favours". The Telegraph.
53. "4th Moscow International Film Festival (1965)". MIFF.