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
Oct
26
2019

Over the last, there have been numerous interviews, an appearance on “The Talk, as well as articles and editorial pictures to promote the television broadcast of “Catherine the Great” in the United States. For a complete list of all the material that has been updated to the site, have a look at the previews below.



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Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – Vogue (Spain, November 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – Entertainment Weekly (USA, November 2019)
Photo Gallery – Television Appearances – The Talk (October 21, 2019)
Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Catherine the Great – Production Stills
Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Catherine the Great – Promotional Stills
Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Catherine the Great – Making Of screencaptures
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2019 – Session 09
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2019 – Session 10
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2019 – Session 11
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2019 – Session 12

Video Archive – Talkshows – The Talk (2019)
Video Archive – Career – Catherine the Great – Making Of
Video Archive – Career – Catherine the Great – Preview – In the Weeks Ahead

Oct
19
2019

Also on Thursday, Helen Mirren was the star at the Los Angeles premiere for “Catherine the Great”. The many romances of Catherine the Great have been the stuff of legend for centuries, and after playing the famed 18th century Russian empress at the center of HBO’s miniseries Catherine the Great, Dame Helen Mirren says that like dating app users today, Catherine enjoyed swiping right. “I think she liked to have someone to laugh with, she liked to have someone to have dinner with — I think she would have been probably on Tinder in this day and age, as so many other people are,” Mirren told The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere of the four-hour mini, held appropriately at the antiquities-minded Hammer Museum in Los Angeles’ Westwood neighborhood. “So, yes, she liked men. Definitely. And she had a sexual life, as well as a political life. But as she said, ‘My problem is I love love too much. History’s always fantastic,” Mirren told THR. “When you play these historical characters and you start really looking at what they achieved in a day, it really takes your breath away. They almost seem to be superhuman.” Over 240 pictures from the premiere have been added to the photo gallery.


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Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2019 – “Catherine the Great” Premiere (Los Angeles)

Oct
19
2019

On Thursday, Helen Mirren made the talkshow rounds in Los Angeles to promote the television premiere of “Catherine the Great” on HBO. She sat down with Sean Hayes, serving as a guest host, on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”, and was interviewed at the Sirius XM Hollywood Studios. The full Ellen appearnce can be found in the video archive while pictures from both appearances have been added to the photo gallery.


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Video Archive – Talkshows – The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2019)
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2019 – Taping of “Sirius XM” at Hollywood Studios
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2019 – Taping of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show”
Photo Gallery – Television Appearances – 2019 – The Ellen DeGeneres Show (October 17, 2019)

Oct
15
2019

Helen Mirren is no stranger to playing powerful female rulers operating in the world of men. Her latest endeavor, Catherine the Great, is no different as she brings the story of the extraordinary 18th century Russian Empress to life in the upcoming HBO limited series. At the New Yorker festival screening of the first episode, Mirren was joined by co-star Jason Clarke, who plays Catherine’s military leader and lover Grigory Potemkin, for a Q&A moderated by Juilliard Drama Director Evan Yionoulis. While the four-part series charts Catherine’s shaky beginnings as a ruthless but progressive empress following a coup that overthrew her late husband, it equally follows Catherine’s passionate love affair with Potemkin and its sweeping impact on the Russian empire. Read on for four takeaways about the series, including its inspirations and some surprising similarities.

Unlike Catherine the Great when she took power, Helen Mirren has Russian roots.

While Catherine herself was Prussian-born, making the scope of her rule even more extraordinary, Mirren is Russian on her father’s side. Her paternal grandfather was a member of the Russian Imperial Army and her original family name was “Mironoff.” “I was made aware of Russian history by my grandfather when I was 7 or 8, listening to him tell stories of the dacha and where the horses were kept,” Mirren recalls. “And he’d tell of a sleigh ride that took four days from Moscow to our family estates in Russia.” These tales gave Mirren an early start, but it wasn’t until later in life when she began reading Russian history that she became specifically fascinated with Catherine the Great.

Catherine’s real-life letters were a valuable source of research for Mirren and Clarke.

Catherine and Potemkin’s correspondence, which still exists, proved to be a treasure trove of information about an era predating photos and videos. The letters of love and yearning when Potemkin was away at war fighting the Turks provided a script for Mirren and Clarke’s characters to follow. “They were so intimate, so sweet, but at the same time you could see their jealousy and their angst — you saw the whole relationship beautifully expressed in those letters,” Mirren said. “You could see the way he made her laugh, and her sexual obsession with him, but it was true love.” “You see in what they wrote that she was the center of his universe,” Clarke agreed. “He just couldn’t get enough of this woman on all different levels. Initially she was his teacher and educator; then he was her attack dog or war man. Their relationship was incredible, like nothing I’d ever read.”

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Oct
14
2019

She’s played royalty so often, sometimes we forget Dame Helen Mirren isn’t a real queen. She may as well be – and it seems the beloved actress had the same idea at the premiere of her new regally inspired mini-series “Catherine the Great” where she was carried along the red carpet in a golden sedan chair by four burly blokes. With millions of dollars worth of Chopard diamonds dripping from her ears and neck and her enviable figure clad in couture, Helen would have put a real royal to shame – not that she’d ever behave like a royal. She’s the woman Michael Parkinson once labelled a “sex queen” who projected a “sluttish eroticism” – but who decades later won an Oscar for portaying no less then The Queen. You can read the full article of Helen’s recent cover story in the photo gallery.

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Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – Woman’s Weekly (New Zealand, October 14, 2019)

Oct
03
2019

The promotion for “Catherine the Great” is in full swing and there have been many interviews with Helen Mirren and articles posted on the HBO/Sky miniseries. The press coverage is really extensive with seven new cover stories throughout the week. Most of them are coming from the United Kingdom – including new covers from Radio Times and Woman & Home – as well as a stunning cover and inside story from Canada’s Zoomer Magazine. All last added magazines are listed below with links to the photo gallery. Enjoy reading!



Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – Woman & Home (United Kingdom, November 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – Radio Times (United Kingdom, October 03, 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – TV Ilta Sanomat (Finland, October 03, 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – Zoomer Magazine (Canada, October 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – Emmy Magazine (USA, October 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – Super Tele (Spain, September 28, 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – Saturday (United Kingdom, September 28, 2019)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2019 – TV & Satellite Week (United Kingdom, September 28, 2019)

Oct
03
2019

To promote “Catherine the Great” in the UK, Helen Mirren has been interviewed on various daytime programs, including Sky News, The Andrew Marr Show, and, just this morning, Lorraine. All appearances can be found in the video archive.

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Video Archive – Talkshows – Lorraine (2019)
Video Archive – News Segments – The Andrew Marr Show (2019)
Video Archive – News Segments – Sky News (2019)

Oct
03
2019

Lots and lots of new production stills from “Catherine the Great” have been added to the photo gallery, including many wonderful promotional pictures of Helen as well as new posters. For a complete overview, have a look at the list below.



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Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Catherine the Great – Production Stills
Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Catherine the Great – Promotional Stills
Photo Gallery – Career Photography – Catherine the Great – Posters & Key-Art

Sep
28
2019

On Friday, Helen Mirren helped launch Graham Norton’s 26th season of his beloved show, promoting the UK release of “Catherine the Great” while sharing Graham’s red sofa with RuPaul, Jack Whitehall and Simon Reeve. In reference to Ru Paul’s UK premiere of “Ru Paul’s Drag Race”, Mirren joked that her husband Taylor Hackford’s sons Rio and Alexander were “slightly in shock” when she showed them around the popular gay entertainment venue the Vauxhall Tavern years ago. “There’s a real historic tradition of drag in London and I was growing up and first came to London on a Friday night there was often a drag show. There is a very famous drag pub – the Vauxhall Tavern – and when I first got together with my husband he had two young sons. I thought it would show these two young Californian boys something of the real London, so I took them to the Vauxhall Tavern.” She added: “These poor kids were slightly in shock but they certainly remember it as being very cool. It was cool, and I love my London.” The full episode can be watched below and in the video archive while screencaptures and promotional stills have been added to the photo gallery. By the way, this is Helen’s seventh appearance on The Graham Norton show – you can find all previous appearances in the video archive.

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Photo Gallery – Video Archive – Talkshows – The Graham Norton Show (2019)
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2019 – Taping of “The Graham Norton Show
Photo Gallery – Television Specials & Appearances – The Graham Norton Show (September 27, 2019)

Sep
25
2019

Earlier this evening, “Catherine the Great” celebrated its premiere in London, providing Helen Mirren with an entrance worthy of a Queen. A first batch of pictures have been added to the photo gallery, with more information to come. Edit: Over 100 additional images have been added to the photo gallery with many thanks to Joan for the contributions. Also, video footage from the premiere as well as a news segment by Entertainment Tonight Canada have been added to the video archive.


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Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2019 – Catherine the Great Premiere (London)