5 minute read
HELEN MIRREN
A NATIONAL TREASURE
TO describe actress Helen Mirren as the Queen of British theatre and film would definitely not be far from the truth.
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After all, Helen, now 75, has played a queen on film a total of six times and Queen Elizabeth II twice. In fact, she is the only actress to play both Queen Elizabeth I and II and won a BAFTA for her role as the latter in the 2006 film The Queen about the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death. Perhaps she was always meant to play such regal roles as, although born into a working class family, her paternal grandfather was a Russian diplomat and her great, great, great, great grandfather was Field Marshal Kamensky, one of the Russian heroes of the Napoleonic wars.
Helen Lydia Mironoff – her father changed the family name to Mirren by deed poll – she was the second of three children. Her introduction to acting came first at primary school and then at St Bernard’s High School for Girls at Southend on Sea in school productions.
Determined on a career in theatre, at 18 she auditioned for the National Youth Theatre and at 20 impressed early on stage at the Old Vic in her role as Cleopatra in Anthony and Cleopatra in 1965.
The result of her work with the NYT was an invitation to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. A clutch of high-profile roles followed including Diana in All’s Well That Ends Well and Rosalind in As You Like It. She also appeared in touring productions, all the time adding to her reputation both for acting and as an independent-minded woman.
In 1970, a documentary film Doing Her Own Thing about Helen and her time at the RSC was made and shown on TV. Throughout the ‘70s, she was often offered roles that showcased her feisty, passionate nature and she became a favourite in West End theatres.
In 1972, she was famously dubbed “the sex queen of the Royal Shakespeare Company” by the BBC’s Michael Parkinson.
In 1977 at the RSC in Stratford and the following year at the Aldwych Theatre, she played a steely Queen Margaret in the three parts of Henry VI. In 1979, she was winning praise as Isabella in Measure for Measure.
Probably inevitably, she made a breakthrough on Broadway and was subsequently twice nominated for Tony Awards as Best Actress. Later, in 2015, she won a Tony as Best Actress playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience which also won her an Olivier Award in the US, joining luminaries like Ingrid Bergman, Dame Maggie Smith and Al Pacino.
Alongside her enviable theatrical career, Helen has appeared in a large number of films. Early on, these included A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Age of Consent, O Lucky Man! and Caligula.
Pivotally, in 1980, she starred with Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday which really made film audiences sit up and notice her. Excalibur, 2010, White Nights, The Mosquito Coast and When the Whales Came followed.
Her film repertoire was wide: The Madness of King George, Some Mother’s Son, The Prince of Egypt, The Cook,
The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. But TV also beckoned and in 1991, she took on the iconic role of Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
Tennison, one of the first females at her rank in the Greater London Metropolitan Police Service, had been created by writer Lynda La Plante. Tennison rises to the rank of Detective Superintendent, confronting institutionalised sexism in the police force while solving complex crimes.
The no-nonsense role was made for Helen Mirren who put her special stamp of acting excellence on Tennison. The series ran until 2006 and, still today, re-runs reveal her consummate skills in both acting and holding an audience – even one in its millions and at home. As her reputation grew, she was offered more and better roles, sometimes glamorous, sometimes dowdy. In 2001 she appeared in Gosford Park with Maggie Smith and took a starring role in the inspirational Calendar Girls in 2003 with Julie Walters and a cast of actresses that resembled a Who’s Who of the nation’s best.
The Clearing, Raising Helen and Shadowboxer continued to enhance Helen’s glittering career. In 2006, she took on the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the film The Queen, providing a mesmerising performance of the monarch at a particularly tough time for the royal family and the nation. No-one was surprised when it swept the awards’ board. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Inkheart, State of Play, The Last Station, Greenfingers and The Pledge continued her on-screen presence. Her latest film releases include The Good Liar, a crime thriller with Ian McKellen, and a couple more projects held up by Covid look set to enhance her reputation in 2021 and beyond.
She has won a whole cabinet-full of awards and in 2014 received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement. She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to drama. In 2014 she received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement
Her private life has often mirrored the fascination of her on-screen roles. She lived with actor Liam Neeson for four years after meeting him on the set of Excalibur in 1981 and met her husbandto-be Taylor Hackford when he directed her in White Nights in 1985. They married later in the Scottish Highlands with Hackford dressed in a traditional Scottish tartan kilt.
She is stepmother to Hackford’s two children but has never had children of her own, reportedly stating:
She is plainly her own woman, a brilliant role model for older females and regularly speaks her mind. When she became a Dame, she stated:
“In England, it’s a big deal. I do feel like it’s a great honour.
“But I had to think about it quite seriously for a couple of weeks. It does sort of squash you into the establishment thing. In the end, my base feelings got the better of me. I succumbed to pride.”
Helen Mirren is obviously making every decade of her life as memorable as possible, and still plans to – for which her many fans around the world are eternally grateful.
