Blanche Marvin

Marvin was born Blanche Schein^[1] in New York City on 17 January 1925.^[2][3] According to her daughter, she became estranged from her parents and siblings, and by her own account, she left home at age 14.^[1] She became a dancer and actor under the stage name Blanche Zohar, and appeared in small roles on Broadway in Lute Song (1946) and other productions, as well as in films.^[1][4]

According to Marvin, she once rebuffed a pass from Marlon Brando. She became a close friend of Tennessee Williams, whom she met through Margo Jones, who directed the Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie. Marvin later claimed Williams had named his lead character in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, after her. She married American producer Mark Marvin, 17 years her senior.^[5]

Marvin began reviewing plays in 1987 and continued working as a theatre critic until she was 99 years old.^[1] She created the Empty Space Peter Brook Award in 1991, and endowed it personally.^[5] She was made an Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2010, for services to theatre,^[5] and appeared as a "castaway" on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 16 November 2012.^[6]

A widow since 1958,^[5] she lived in St John's Wood, north London. She had two children by her marriage to Mark Marvin.^[7] Blanche Marvin died at her home in London on 13 January 2026, four days before her 101st birthday.^[1][8][9][2]