Bonham Carter Nominated for BAFTA TV Award for Portraying Elizabeth Taylor

Helena Bonham Carter is being recognized for her Elizabethan performance…

The 47-year-old part-Spanish actress has earned a nomination for the British Academy of Film and Television ArtsTV Awards.

Burton and Taylor

Bonham Carter – A BAFTA winner in the film category for The King’s Speech – is nominated for Leading Actress for her portrayal of the late Elizabeth Taylor in the BBC biopic Burton and Taylor, which centers on Taylor’s ill-fated reunion with Richard Burton on and off the stage for the critically reviled 1983 revival of Noel Coward’s stage play Private Lives.

The Oscar-nominated actress has said taking on the role was terrifying — “playing Elizabeth Taylor, a screen icon.” But that the role also became a touch irresistible.

“That’s one of the things about being an actor,” says Bonham Carter. “You get these little gifts. You get to step into the lives of these people you know about, but don’t really know. It’s a challenge.”

It’s Bonham Carter’s second BAFTA TV Award nomination. She was previously nominated for her starring role in 2009’s dramatic television film Enid, which was broadcast on BBC Four.

The International category features Breaking Bad, House Of Cards, Denmark’s Borgen, and France’s The Returned.

This year’s ceremony will be held in London on May 18.

Here’s the list of the major drama and comedy nominees:

LEADING ACTOR
JAMIE DORNAN, The Fall, BBC Two
SEAN HARRIS, Southcliffe, Channel 4
LUKE NEWBERRY, In The Flesh, BBC Three
DOMINIC WEST, Burton and Taylor, BBC Four

LEADING ACTRESS
HELENA BONHAM CARTER, Burton and Taylor, BBC Four
OLIVIA COLMAN, Broadchurch, ITV
KERRIE HAYES, The Mill, Channel 4
MAXINE PEAKE, The Village, BBC One

SUPPORTING ACTOR
DAVID BRADLEY, Broadchurch,
ITV
JEROME FLYNN, Ripper Street, BBC One
NICO MIRALLEGRO, The Village, BBC One
RORY KINNEAR, Southcliffe, Channel 4

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
SHIRLEY HENDERSON, Southcliffe, Channel 4
SARAH LANCASHIRE, Last Tango in Halifax, BBC One
CLAIRE RUSHBROOK, My Mad Fat Diary, E4
NICOLA WALKER, Last Tango in Halifax, BBC One

MALE PERFORMANCE IN A COMEDY PROGRAMME
RICHARD AYOADE, The IT Crowd, Channel 4
MATHEW BAYNTON, The Wrong Mans, BBC Two
JAMES CORDEN, The Wrong Mans, BBC Two
CHRIS O’DOWD, The IT Crowd, Channel 4

SINGLE DRAMA
AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME
BLACK MIRROR: BE RIGHT BACK,
COMPLICIT
THE WIPERS TIMES

MINISERIES
THE FALL,
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY
IN THE FLESH
SOUTHCLIFFE

DRAMA SERIES
BROADCHURCH
MY MAD FAT DIARY
TOP OF THE LAKE
THE VILLAGE

INTERNATIONAL
BORGEN
BREAKING BAD
HOUSE OF CARDS
THE RETURNED

Bonham Carter Portraying Elizabeth Taylor in “Burton and Taylor”

Helena Bonham Carter has landed a legendary role…

BBC America has released the first image of the 47-year-old part-Spanish actress as Elizabeth Taylor.

Helena Bonham Carter in Burton and Taylor

The two-time Academy Award nominee is portraying Taylor in Burton and Taylor, while Dominic West is portraying Taylor’s two-time husband Richard Burton.

Unlike last year’s Lifetime biopic Liz & Dick, which co-starred Lindsay Lohan and Grant Bowler, all of the the drama in Burton and Taylor appears to be on screen as the film follows the divorced pair’s onstage reunion in a 1983 revival of the Noel Coward play, Private Lives. It ran for just 63 performances on Broadway.

The BBC Drama Productions project will be co-produced by BBC America for its Dramaville block.

In the United Kingdom, Burton and Taylor will be broadcast on BBC Four, although no official airdate has been set.

BBC Worldwide is distributing internationally.

Bonham Carter to Star in the BBC’s Burton & Taylor TV Movie

Helena Bonham Carter will be portraying one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age in an upcoming BBC project…

The 47-year-old part-Spanish actress and Dominic West have been cast as legendary, volatile ex-lovers Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the BBC’s television movie Burton & Taylor.

Helena Bonham Carter

The 90-minute film, which will air on the British network’s BBC Four, will chart the pair’s ill-fated appearance in a 1983 revival of the Noel Coward play, Private Lives, which ran for 63 performances on Broadway. Burton and Taylor were famously married twice, from 1964-1974 and again from 1975-1976.

Most recently, Lindsay Lohan and Grant Bowler starred in a Lifetime biopic about the turbulent couple.

Burton & Taylor is an in-house project from BBC Drama Productions based on the screenplay from Made In Dagenham’s William Iory.

Bonham Carter, a two-time Academy Award nominee who most recently starred in the film adaptation of the musical Les Misérables, has starred in The King’s Speech, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and several of the Harry Potter films.