She was a hands-on presence, treading the boards while manning the box office, running PR campaigns and even acting as janitor. She developed an interest in acting while studying at Boston’s School of the Fine Arts, and after training at New York’s Herbert Berghof Studio she eventually upped sticks to Denver, where she and her first husband, Richard Collier, founded the Trident Playhouse. She was a practical child who took over running the family shop after her parents’ divorce later, she worked as a bookkeeper for a haulage firm. She was born Verna Frances Bloom on Augin the small town of Lynn, Massachusetts, to a grocer, Milton Bloom, and his wife Sara (née Damsky). As she noted about Animal House: “It’s my first comedy role … I have friends who tell me I’m the funniest woman in the world, but never give me a comedy role.” Yet her career would be stymied by Hollywood’s attitude to ageing female performers. She memorably brandished scissors at Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter (1973) and as Dean Wormer’s hot-to-trot wife, Marion, in Animal House (1978), she flirted with Tim Matheson in the fresh produce aisle, schooling a generation of teens in the difference between “sensuous” and “sensual”.
Verna Bloom, who has died aged 80, was a vivacious, versatile actress who emerged in the late 1960s into a film industry that struggled fully to integrate her talents.
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