Sought-after Oscar winner
From Cleopatra to Queen: Helen Mirren becomes 80
As a young woman, she impresses at the theater. Her cinema career gets going late, but culminates in the Oscar win. At 80, Helen Mirren in Hollywood is still very much in demand.
Helen Mirren cannot complain about a lack of role offers. At the beginning of the year she was seen in the Western drama “1923”. She is currently playing in the Gangster series “Mobland”. And soon the British actress will come to the cinema with the crime comedy “The Thursday Murder Club”. Before her 80th birthday on July 26th, the Oscar winner (“Die Queen”) does not make any appearance to shorten.
Even after such a long time, she still feels on the theater stage and still afraid of the camera when she takes on new roles. “You are afraid of failure because you reveal something there,” she reveals in the interview of the German Press Agency years ago. “You don’t want to disappoint your fellow actors, the director and of course the audience.”
For Mirren, this fear of failure is more an incentive than an obstacle. “The things that really scare you are the things you should do,” explained the versatile British. “Because it means that they are demanding and demand a lot. But they are also fun. If you have overcome the fear, it will be great.”
Breakthrough at the theater as Cleopatra
The role of Cleopatra is considered Mirren’s breakthrough. The daughter of an Englishman and a Russian was born in London as Helen Lydia Mironoff in 1945. Her father changes the family name in Mirren so that he sounds British. She spends her childhood and youth in the coastal town of Southend-on-Sea and in the suburb of Westcliff-on-Sea, where she is already involved in school performances.
Helen is 18 years old when she joined the National Youth Theater. Shortly afterwards she plays Cleopatra in Shakespeare’s “Antonius and Cleopatra” at the London Old Vic. “It was a great platform for me,” she told the “Telegraph”, “and that was the start of my career.” Shortly afterwards there is an offer from the renowned Royal Shakespeare Company. And she plays the first film roles.
Your sex appeal excited
In “The Girl of the Coral Riff” (1969) she shows herself freely for the first time. For the drama “Savage Messiah” (1972) about the French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, she is even naked in front of the camera. She also played in the almost pornographic historical film “Caligula” (1979) – according to Mirren, an “irresistible mix of art and genitals”. She has no problem with nudity. In interviews, she often tells that she is an enthusiastic nudist.
But their sex appeal and their provocative appearance at that time bring disadvantages in the conservative Great Britain of the 70s. Mirren gets to feel everyday sexism. In 1975 she was even announced in a BBC talk show as “Sex Queen of the Royal Shakespeare Company”.
Moderator Michael Parkinson asks whether their “physical attributes” are a hindrance to their career. “So serious actresses must not have a big bosom, do you think that?” She countered. The interview causes a lot of sensation in Great Britain. Decades later, Mirren looks back on TV talk in the “Daily Mail”. “He was right,” she said. “Because of my appearance, I was not perceived as a serious actress.”
A gangster film as a milestone
But that changes. The gangster film “The Long Good Friday” (“Rififi on Good Friday”) with Bob Hoskins – today a classic of the genre – made it internationally known on the screen in 1980. In 1985 she met the US director Taylor Hackford while shooting “White Nights”. The two have been married since 1997.
With Harrison Ford, she played in 1986 in the drama “Mosquito Coast”. “I was still inexperienced as a film actress,” says Mirren in the dpa interview. “I was intimidated and I was not even aware of how much I learned from Harrison.” For the series “1923”, the duo stands together in front of the camera almost 40 years later and Mirren – long ago an established Hollywood star – raves: “I am still learning from him.”
In her long film career, she convinces in a wide variety of roles and genres – from historical films to thrillers and comedies. Even in the “The Fast and the Furious” series with muscular action stars like Vin Diesel and Jason Statham, she is part of the recurring line-up. With amusing irony, she plays the chubby mother of an ex-soldier.
An Oscar for “Die Queen” and numerous prices
She celebrates the greatest success of her film career in 2006. For her representation of the British Queen Elizabeth II. In the drama “The Queen”, she receives the Oscar as the best leading actress, the Golden Globe, the BAFTA Award and numerous other awards. She also has several Emmys, Tony and the Olivier Award.
Before that, she shines as Queen Elizabeth II at the theater. In addition, she plays in the Miniseries “Elizabeth I.” The title heroine who ruled in the 16th century. All of this, even though it grew up in an antimonarchist house. “I don’t know what my parents would have thought of playing the queen,” jokes Mirren in a TV interview before the Oscar ceremony.
With regard to her fear of a possible failure, she explains to the German press agency: “You don’t want them to say:” Well, somehow she didn’t do it, right? “” However, no case is known in which Helen Mirren has not managed.
dpa
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
