Helen Mirren, who won her first Oscar on Sunday for her stoic portrayal of Britain's monarch in “The Queen,” began her career as a sex symbol but has attracted equal attention playing strong, resilient women.
Long considered the favourite to take home the coveted Oscars statuette, Mirren fought off stiff competition from Penelope Cruz (“Volver”), Meryl Streep (“The Devil Wears Prada”) and fellow Britons Judi Dench (“Notes on a Scandal”) and Kate Winslet (“Little Children”).
Though she once dismissed the Oscars as “the creme de la creme of bullshit,” Mirren, 61, has caught the Academy's eye twice before, with nods for “The Madness of King George” (1994) and 2001's “Gosford Park.”
In her Academy Award-winning turn, Mirren depicts Queen Elizabeth II as a resolute sovereign, bound by tradition and protocol, who wrestles with public pressure to shed her veneer of propriety and grieve alongside her nation after Princess Diana's death.The role also garnered Mirren a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA.
“You know, my sister told me that all kids love to get gold stars, and this is the biggest and the best gold star that I have ever had in my life,” Mirren said.
She also delivered a tribute to Queen Elizabeth as a woman who, for half a century, “has maintained her dignity, her sense of duty and her hairstyle.
“I salute her courage and her consistency. And I thank her, because if it wasn't for her, I most certainly would not be here,” Mirren said, hoisting her Oscar and proclaiming, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the queen!”Mirren recently told the entertainment website IGN.com that she gained some special insight into Queen Elizabeth II over tea, after the monarch elevated Mirren to damehood in 2003.
“There is a twinkle to her and a relaxation about her that you don't really see in her formal moments,” she said.
“There is another queen, woman -- Elizabeth Windsor -- who is very easy and welcoming and sparkly, and with the most lovely smile, ... and not that sort of reserved and cool gravitas that she normally communicates. So I very much tried to bring that into it,” she told IGN.
When news of Princess Diana's death broke in 1997, Mirren said she was relieved to be away from Britain because of what she described as a circus-like public reaction.
“It became about them,” she told IGN. “It appeared to be about her, but it was about them. It was weird.” Born Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov on July 26, 1945 in southeastern England, the star of the popular television crime series “Prime Suspect” and scores of films, including the award-winning made-for-cable movie “Elizabeth I,” debuted as Cleopatra at London's Old Vic theatre in 1965, at 18.
She came to be known as a “sex queen” and “the thinking man's crumpet” thanks to a string of roles, including Caesonia in 1979's “Caligula,” in which she quite notably disrobed.
“I'm famous for getting my kit off in England, yes,” Mirren admitted in a recent interview with CBS television's “60 Minutes.” National Youth Theatre artistic director Paul Roseby described her allure to The Guardian recently, saying: “She is very sexy, but it's not a cosmetic Hollywood sexy -- it's a fresh-air, natural sexiness.” A more mature Mirren bared it all again in 2003's “Calendar Girls,” but she has also turned heads with weightier roles -- including the tough-as-nails Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect,” Mrs. Wilson in “Gosford Park” and the queens Elizabeth.
The first actress to portray both Queen Elizabeth I and II, Mirren has also had noteworthy runs in the theatre, as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and on Broadway, where she was nominated for two best actress Tony Awards for “A Month in the Country” (1995) and 2002's “Dance of Death.”She has been married to “Ray” producer/director Taylor Hackford since 1997, and the couple divide their time between their homes in London and Los Angeles.—AFP