in a position of authority over violent men." In January 2015, Blethyn was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Capri Hollywood International Film Festival. In 2016 Blethyn lent her voice to the British animated biographical film Ethel & Ernest, based on the graphic memoir of the same name that follows Raymond Briggs' parents through their period of marriage from the 1920s to their deaths in the 1970s. The film earned favorable reviews from critics, who called it "gentle, poignant, and vividly animated" as well as "a warm character study with an evocative sense of time and place." Blethyn received a nomination in the Best Voice Performance category at the British Animation Awards 2018. From 2020 to 2022, she went on to play Kate Abbott, the cafe-owner in Kate and Koji who developed strong friendships with two asylum-seeking doctors Jimmy Akingbola in Series 1 and Okorie Chukwu in Series 2. Personal life Blethyn married Alan James Blethyn, a graphic designer she met while working for British Rail, in 1964. The marriage ended in 1973. Blethyn kept her husband's surname as her professional name. British art director Michael Mayhew has been her partner since 1975, and the couple married in June 2010. Blethyn was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in the 2003 New Year Honours. Filmography Selected theatre performances Nora in A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. Directed by Greg Hersov at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1987) Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin. Directed by Greg Hersov at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1988) Mrs Cheverley in An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde. Directed by James Maxwell at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (1992) Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (2008) Mrs Berry in Haunted by Edna O’Brien. Directed by Braham Murray at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. (2009) References External links 1946 births Living people Alumni of the Guildford School of Acting Best Actress BAFTA Award winners Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses English voice actresses Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Ramsgate Actresses from Kent 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses English Shakespearean actresses Royal Shakespeare Company members