Mary Boleyn - Depictions in Fiction

Depictions in Fiction

Mary was depicted in the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days, and was played by Valerie Gearon.

She was also depicted in the Showtime television series The Tudors (2007-2010), where she was played by Perdita Weeks.

A fictionalised form of her character also features prominently in the novels:

  • Brief Gaudy Hour: A Novel of Anne Boleyn by Margaret Campbell Barnes (1949)
  • Anne Boleyn by Evelyn Anthony (1957)
  • The Concubine: A Novel Based Upon the Life of Anne Boleyn by Norah Lofts (1963)
  • Anne, the Rose of Hever by Maureen Peters (1969)
  • Anne Boleyn by Norah Lofts (1979)
  • Mistress Anne: The Exceptional Life of Anne Boleyn by Carolly Erickson (1984)
  • The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy (1986)
  • I, Elizabeth: the Word of a Queen by Rosalind Miles (1994)
  • The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell (1997)
  • Dear Heart, How Like You This? by Wendy J. Dunn (2002)
  • Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer (2002)
  • Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009)

Mary has been the central character in three novels based on her life:

  • Court Cadenza (later published under the title The Tudor Sisters) by British author Aileen Armitage (Aileen Quigley) (1974)
  • The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper (1983)
  • The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (2001)

Philippa Gregory later nominated Mary as her personal heroine in an interview to the BBC History Magazine. Her novel was a bestseller and spawned five other books in the same series. However, it was controversial, since many historians found the work inaccurate in regards to historical events and individual characterizations. For example, Gregory characterizes Anne, not Mary, as the elder sister, and makes no mention of Mary's relationships prior to her affair with Henry.

The Other Boleyn Girl was made into a BBC television drama in January 2003, starring Natascha McElhone as Mary and Jodhi May as Anne.

A Hollywood film version of the book was released in February 2008, with Scarlett Johansson as Mary and Natalie Portman as Anne.

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