Welcome to The Helen Mirren Archives, your premiere web resource on the British actress. Best known for her performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, "Prime Suspect" and her Oscar-winning role in "The Queen", Helen Mirren is one of the world's most eminent actors today. This unofficial fansite provides you with all latest news, photos and videos on her past and present projects.  Enjoy your stay.
Celebrating
10 years
on the web
Nov
12
2023

According to Deadline, Helen Mirren’s American Cinematheque tribute has a new date. The Cinematheque announced today that their annual awards show will now take place on Thursday, February 15, at The Beverly Hilton. The event was postponed from its original November 4 date due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. As previously announced, Mirren – who is getting awards buzz for her role as Golda Meir in Golda — will receive the 37th American Cinematheque Award. Kevin Goetz & Screen Engine will be honored with the Power of Cinema Award. This is the annual fundraiser for the organization, with proceeds benefiting its classic, international and independent film programs at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre in Los Angeles, the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. A portion of the funds supports American Cinematheque’s commitment to diversified programming and audience reach, through engaging with Los Angeles County’s 88 school districts to broaden the AC Educational Screening Series.

Nov
11
2023

On Thursday, Helen Mirren stopped by “The Talk” on CBS to promote the Audible premiere of “Moriarty: The Silent Order”. She talked about voicing Lady Milverton and joked about the possibility of joining the EGOT ranks in case of a Grammy win for her performance. A clip of her appearance can be found in the video archive with screencaptures being added to the photo gallery.

“I play sort of an arch villainous [Lady Milverton] really. I’ve always wanted to play an arch villainous. I was rather cross that I was never asked in any of the Bond movies to be like the big villain…so it was a wonderful opportunity.” Host Jerry O’Connell asks, “You have Emmy, an Oscar and a Tony – is this our Grammy? Are we getting that EGOT?” “Wouldn’t that be lovely. There are so many brilliant actresses who can also sing, and I want to kill them because I can’t sing at all.” Mirren adds, “I’m never going to win my Grammy from singing…They often win a Grammy for writing a book, then reading it, a sort of tell all book.” She jokes, “My Sex Life by Helen Mirren.” (Helen Mirren, The Talk, November 09, 2023)

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Video Archive – Talkshows – The Talk (2023)
Photo Gallery – Television & Online Appearances – The Talk (November 09, 2023)

Nov
11
2023

Tuesday night, on the one-month anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern and central Israel that sparked the nation’s biggest conflict in 50 years, an audience gathered at the Linwood Dunn Theater of the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Studies in Hollywood for a packed industry screening of – and panel discussion following – the powerful biopic “Golda” starring Helen Mirren in the title role as former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. The eerie timeliness of the film couldn’t have been known when it was released in the United States on August 25, nor in the UK on October 6 (the day before the conflict was launched). “Golda” tells the story of how Meir, ill with malignant lymphoma, runs interference during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in ’73. Mirren, thanks to a masterful make-up job by the Bleecker Street movie’s hair, makeup and prosthetics designer Karen Hartley-Thomas, is transformed into the chain-smoking Israeli leader for the duration of the film’s 100 minutes. Mirren and Hartley-Thomas along with the Israeli-born “Golda” director Guy Nattiv all were present Tuesday for the post-screening panel talk that was made possible by the fact the film was made internationally (in London) and not under a SAG contract as the SAG-AFTRA walkout continues. A complete article on the Q&A can be read over at GoldDerby. A clip can be watched in the video archive.

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Video Archive – Public Appearances – “Golda” Screening at Academy’s Pickford Center (2023)

Nov
11
2023

Screenrant has posted a lenghty article on “Moriarty: The Silent Order”, including an audio clip of Helen Mirren’s narration, which you can listen to on their site. The podcast drama, produced by Audible in collaboration with Treefort Media, first premiered in July of 2022 with 10 gripping and mystery-filled episodes. Set in the Sherlock Holmes universe, the story unfolded from the perspective of Holmes’ iconic nemesis James Moriarty (portrayed by Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan). The sophomore season, now available exclusively on Audible, takes place six months after Moriarty’s near death at Reichenbach Falls. The professor has tracked down the woman he loves in New York City, only to discover that she is trapped by The Order, an evil organization whose power goes beyond the confines of Britain. Amidst yet another tragedy, he endeavors to take down the entire organization — and he needs the help of (a still alive) Sherlock Holmes to do it. Helen Mirren joins the cast of Moriarty: The Silent Order as the villainous Lady Milverton, and her already-scintillating performance can be heard in Screen Rant’s exclusive clip above. Possibly the worst woman in London, Lady Milverton is a blackmailer who is proficient at leveraging secrets and lies against everyone with power in Britain. As part of The Order, she shares their aspirations of world domination, and she’s not about to let Moriarty or Holmes stand in her way.

Nov
04
2023

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Helen Mirren’s ardent feminism came to the fore Thursday night when the Oscar-winning actress was asked during a keynote conversation in Toronto what she looked forward to beyond the “horrible situation” of the current Israel-Hamas war. “Gosh, that’s an incredibly difficult question, because you don’t want to be naïve and silly. Of course one hopes for peace,” Mirren told the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center during an appearance at its 2023 Spirit of Hope Benefit. Praised as a steadfast ally in the fight against anti-Semitism by the human rights organization after she received their 2023 Humanitarian Award, Mirren’s informal conversation was overshadowed by events in the Middle East after Israel declared war on the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza after its Oct. 7 surprise attack on southern Israel. Asked at one point during the keynote what frightens her today, Mirren answered without pause: “Oh, October the seventh. That scares me the most, and whatever it is in humanity that makes people able to do that, whatever it is that pushes them to commit those acts, whatever brainwashing, whatever it is that can turn peoples’ minds to those actions.” Pointing to other grave human atrocities in history, she referenced the Holocaust during the Second World War and America’s traumatic history of lynching African-American men to terrorize their communities. “Lynchings were very prevalent. And I just saw recently postcards of an audience at a lynching, that they’d send to each other, as sort of, ‘what fun we had the other night at the lynching.’ What it is in us, human beings? Is it fundamental to us? It is so much a part of our nature as all the goodness we have,” Mirren additionally asked during the Toronto gala. Mirren also addressed the controversy over a non-Jew like herself being cast to play the Israeli leader. “It’s a legitimate discussion. The whole idea of casting has really been blown out of the water recently, and I applaud that. It’s completely right,” she said. At the same time, Mirren said she would not have taken the part of Golda Meir if the biopic itself had not been directed by an Israeli, Nattiv. She added, “Without that authentic voice, I just wouldn’t have done (the role) with someone else.” Edit: Pictures have been added to the photo gallery.

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Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2023 – Annual Spirit of Hope Gala 2023

Oct
24
2023

Helen Mirren’s latest feature film, “Golda”, has been released on home video and on-demand in the United States last week. The drama, which focuses on Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, can be also found on streaming platforms (check availability here). While fans in Europe will have to wait a little longer – it’s currently in theaters in the United Kingdom – screencaptures from the Blu-Ray have been added to the photo gallery with many thanks to US fan Joan for sending them in.

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Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Golda – Blu-Ray Screencaptures

Oct
20
2023

This week, Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford were guests at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, France. Hackford was the recipient of a Life Achievement Award for his outstanding career in directing – and Helen was on hand for the festival’s Robert Altman retrospective, which featured a screening of “Gosford Park” in her attendance. Pictures from both events have been added to the photo gallery.

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Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2023 – Festival Lumière – “Gosford Park” Screening
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2023 – Festival Lumière – Taylor Hackford Life Achievement Award

Oct
20
2023

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this year’s American Cinematheque Awards event, which was set to honor Helen Mirren with its main honor, has been postponed due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. The event, originally scheduled for Nov. 4 in Beverly Hills, will be rescheduled, with a new date announced in the upcoming weeks. On top of Mirren being recognized as recipient of the 37th American Cinematheque Award, Kevin Goetz and Screen Engine are also set to be honored with the Power of Cinema Award, presented by Hill Valley. The American Cinematheque Awards is an annual fundraiser with proceeds benefiting its acclaimed classic, international and independent film programs at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre in Los Angeles, the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Additionally, a portion of the funds support American Cinematheque’s commitment to diversified programming and audience reach, through engaging with Los Angeles County’s 88 school districts to broaden the AC Educational Screening Series. Current ticket holders will be eligible to attend the American Cinematheque Awards once the new date is announced.

Oct
10
2023

Our week-long celebration of the site’s anniversary has overlapped with Helen Mirren’s promotional tour for “Golda” in the United Kingdom, where the film released theatrically last Friday. So here comes a nice bundle of what we have missed – including an appearance on “Lorraine”, a cover-story on Radio Times and various articles and reviews on the film’s release. Check out the list below for all updates.

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Photo Gallery – Television & Online Appearances – 2023 – Lorraine (Otober 02, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Empire Magazine (United Kingdom, November 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – The Guardian (Australia, October 04, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Radio Times (United Kingdom, October 03, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Best Magazine (United Kingdom, September 10, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2023 – Le Défilé L’Oréal Paris – “Walk Your Worth”
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2023 – “Golda” Screening (London)

Oct
09
2023

Here’s our final anniversary update, and this one comes with a back story. 10 years ago, when I was working on launching the site, my good online friend Anke was cleaning up her archives and sent me a couple of tapes featuring old Helen Mirren appearances from the time she promoted “The Queen”. A decade later, when I was preparing the site’s 10th anniversary, I stumbled upon those tapes and realised I never digitalized them. So today, with many thanks to Anke, we can watch Helen’s appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, This Morning, Film 2006 with Jonathan Ross and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross for the first time in their entirety. Screencaptures from all shows have been added as well, and you can also find screencaptures from the 2001 television pilot Georgetown, in which Helen starred, but which was never picked up as a series. Enjoy all the updates.

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Video Archive – Talkshows – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (January 11, 2007)
Video Archive – News Segments – Star Daily (October 04, 2006)
Video Archive – Talkshows – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (October 03, 2006)
Video Archive – Talkshows – This Morning (September 12, 2006)
Video Archive – News Segments – Film 2006 with Jonathan Ross (September 11, 2006)
Video Archive – News Segments – Leute heute (September 10, 2006)
Video Archive – News Segments – Kulturzeit (September 10, 2006)
Video Archive – News Segments – Seitenblicke (September 10, 2006)
Video Archive – News Segments – Leute heute (September 03, 2006)
Video Archive – Talkshows – Friday Night with Jonthan Ross (September 09, 2005)
Photo Gallery – Television Films & Series – Georgetown – Pilot Screencaptures
Photo Gallery – Miscellaneous Projects – Doing Her Own Thing (1970)