Helena Bonham Carter, who we last saw winning rave reviews for her appearance in BBC Four's Burton & Taylor, is hitting screens again this week in the Jean-Pierre Jeunet-directed The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet. Here we take a look at five of the best moments from her films to date. Add your own suggestions and thoughts in the comment thread below.
A Room with a View (1985)
Bonham Cartner started her career with this role as the free-spirited Lucy Honeychurch in EM Forster's tale of Edwardian repression; the first of many period dramas roles (and her first Forster adaptation before Howards End). Aged just 19 at the time, the actress excelled opposite Julian Sands as George Emerson, in a cast which also included Judi Dench and Daniel Day-Lewis. The New York Times commented: "Miss Bonham Carter gives a remarkably complex performance of a young woman who is simultaneously reasonable and romantic, generous and selfish." Watch a brilliant dissection of what love means in the clip below, also featuring a fresh-faced Maggie Smith.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007, and more in the series...)
HBC wasn't the original choice to play JK Rowling's cackling, wild-haired dark witch, but joined the project after Helen McCrory dropped out due to pregnancy. Bonham Carter, however, fully made the role her own throughout the course of four appearances to become one of the best received casting choices in the Harry Potter franchise.
The King's Speech (2010)
Tom Hooper's hugely successful George VI biopic resulted in Academy award and Golden Globe nominations – and a Bafta win – for her performance as Queen Elizabeth. Read our review here.
Fight Club (1999)
Bonham Carter's performance in the cult Chuck Palahniuk adaptation still looms large in the minds of fans. She went all out playing Marla Singer, the chain-smoking love interest, who shares the shame penchant for infiltrating support groups as Edward Norton's unnamed narrator.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
One of the many collaborations with her partner, director Tim Burton, (Corpse Bride, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows), HBC was marvellous in this brilliant-looking, camp, dark, seriously good-fun musical caper (with a stunning opening credits sequence too). Bonham Carter always has a cracking on-screen rapport with Johnny Depp, and here it is at its best as they romp through Stephen Sondheim's musical. True, they are not the best singers in the world, but their showmanship is superbly entertaining.
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