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
Dec
30
2023

A late Christmas surprise is coming our way from Vanity Fair Italy’s December 29 issue with Helen Mirren on the cover and an in-depth interview inside in which she dishes on the recent release of “Golda” and its time in recent history, the January release of “White Bird” (which has been pushed by its American distributor to October 2024) and enjoying the Italian life. A translated version can be found in the press archive with the cover being added to the photo gallery. Enjoy the additions and a Happy New Year to everybody.

I read many history books and it seems clear to me that horror has always been a constant in the human condition. What was Alexander the Great great for? For killing millions of innocents? And Stalin? I grew up in England with the troubles (the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, ed.) and I saw how these pseudo-racial conflicts can last indefinitely, unless truly excellent leaders are found. I believe, and perhaps I’m wrong, that if there were more women in politics things would be different. You know, seeing these summits with heads of state that are almost always all men makes me angry, frustrates and saddens me. I would like to see parties made up of half women, in every part of the world. (Helen Mirren, Vanity Fair Italy, December 29, 2023)

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Vanity Fair (Italy, December 29, 2023)

Nov
16
2023

Another busy week for Helen Mirren: The Australian and New Zealand’s Women Weekly are both gifting Mirren their December 2023 cover stories. On Monday, she joined make-up artist Val Garland, influencer Nadine Baggott, chef and TV presenter Andi Oliver and anti-ageing expert George Lee in a panel to discuss ageing (one quarter of the population will be over sixty by 2050) and the beauty industry, hosted by L’oréal – who also released a stunning new editorial picture from their most recent campaign. All updates are listed below. Enjoy.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2023 – Session 14
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Women’s Weekly (Australia, December 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Women’s Weekly (New Zealand, December 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Woman & Home (United Kingdom, December 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – TV Times (November 04, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Public Appearances – 2023 – “You Look Great” Conversation Panel by by L’Oréal Paris

Sep
22
2023

Here comes a great conversation with Helen Mirren and Vanity Fair to promote “Golda” on its way into the 2024 awards season: About a month before Golda was released in US theaters via Bleecker Street on August 25, SAG-AFTRA went on strike, preventing Mirren from doing press for the movie, even if she technically could have. (The film was produced under an Equity union contract in the UK, rendering it ineligible for a SAG interim agreement.) Because the studio is not in the AMPTP, and with more distance from the strike’s launch, Mirren has begun campaigning for the film with her guild’s blessing as it leads a second life on digital (it’s now available on-demand and on platforms like Apple TV+ and Prime Video) and as Oscar season heats up. “I was given a written email from SAG to say…I can talk about it,” she says. “It’s a low-budget film, we don’t have a big marketing budget—so yes, it’s great to be able to talk.” To become Golda, she saw no choice but to take the portrayal that extra step: “Anybody playing Golda would’ve had to have certainly obeyed the physiognomy of the woman because she was so recognizable, so iconic.” The complete article can be read over at Vanity Fair.

Aug
24
2023

Helen Mirren graces the cover of DuJour Magazine‘s Fall issue with an interview to promote the theatrical release of “Golda” and a fantastic new photoshoot. When Dame Helen Mirren was 12, her family took her to see an amateur production of Hamlet by the Southend Shakespeare Company in Essex. “It must have been terrible and I didn’t really understand it, but the whole experience was a revelation,” says Mirren. It was her first real exposure to the theater, and it made her realize she needed to be an actor. The complete article can be read on their website.

The play, the lights going down, the amazing story being told, the complexity of the dialogue – it all just exploded in my mind, the way things can do when you’re a prepubescent teenager. You know those books where there are thousands of pages and the print is really tiny? I found that and started reading about these incredible characters, from Caliban to Queen Margaret. Shakespeare is a lifetime of work and has perhaps become her own lifetime of work. Even then, it’s the great wonder of Shakespeare that you never quite get to the end of it. I’m a great believer that Shakespeare shouldn’t be read until you’ve seen it. I still love to go.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – DuJour Magazine (United States, Fall 2023)
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2023 – Session 12

Jun
26
2023

We’re really blessed right now with all the press coverage for “1923”‘s FYC campaign and the upcoming press cycle for August’s theatrical release of “Golda”. Helen Mirren graces the cover of the British Saga Magazine’s July issue as well as another cover on The Los Angeles Times’ The Envelope supplement. Both can be found in the photo gallery. Enjoy reading.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – Saga Magazine (United Kingdom, July 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – The Los Angeles Times (United States, June 22, 2023)

Jun
18
2023

A big batch of recent articles have been added to the photo gallery, most of them concerning renewed promotion for “1923”, thanks to the recently opened Emmy voting timespan. While it’s difficult to tell how popular the series will be with voters after “Yellowstone” has been snubbed for a good number of years, a Best Actress nomination for Helen would be the most likely one out of the categories. For a complete list of added magazines, have a look at the list below.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – People Magazine (United States, June 26, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Deadline (United States, June 14, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – The Los Angeles Times (United States, June 13, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Amateur Photographer (United States, June 13, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – New Zealand’s Woman’s Weekly (New Zealand, June 12, 2023)

Jun
13
2023

For their roundtable to discuss their roles for the upcoming Emmys season, The Los Angeles Times paired old RSC colleagues Patrick Stewart and Helen Mirren, alongside Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Jeremy Strong (Succession), Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets) and Diego Luna (Andor). Definately a must-read: So there they sat, Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart, speaking across a table one late April day with four other actors talking about the old days. They reminisced about being in the same late-1960s British theater scene, laboring to become top-flight classical thespians. “We both were saying earlier how strange it is to find ourselves here in Los Angeles and being screen actors,” Mirren says. “Because both of our ambitions when we started was to be theater actors and, very specifically, to be classical theater actors. There was a snotty attitude – wasn’t there?” “Somewhat,” Stewart agrees. “Of British actors towards American film acting, which I personally never subscribed to, that it wasn’t real acting. Real acting was doing ‘Lear’ in front of 2,000 people without a microphone,” Mirren continues with a laugh. “I always loved American actors. British acting at the time was like looking at a beautifully constructed piece of furniture. Beautifully carved. You know, perfect reproduction of something. And American acting was like the same piece of furniture, a bit more funky, but real. My ambition was to meld the two together. This sense of control and technique, for want of a better word, with the beauty of the improvisational, instinctive, wonderful thing that is American acting.” The complete article can be read here.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – The Los Angeles Times (United States, June 13, 2023)
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2023 – Session 09

Apr
28
2023

Some fantastic pictures and behind-the-scene video has been released for Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren’s upcoming Emmy Magazine cover story (on newsstands May 04, 2023). In the video, they got cheecky on what they are most grateful for in the modern world. “What have we got now that we didn’t have in 1923?” Mirren pondered while sitting next to her co-star. “Oh you know what I’m very appreciative of? Spanx,” she said as Ford laughed heartily. “And I appreciate your loaning them to me on the occasional basis,” he teased. Pictures and screencaptures have been added to the photo gallery.

Related Media

Video Archive – Miscellaneous – Emmy Magazine Photoshoot
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2023 – Emmy Magazine (United States, May 04, 2023)
Photo Gallery – TV & Online Appearances – 2023 – Emmy Magazine Photoshoot
Photo Gallery – Editorial Photography – 2023 – Session 05

Nov
24
2022

AARP The Magazine is giving us an early Christmas present with a stunning cover story on Helen Mirren’s return to television with “1923”. The full article can be read on their website. An excerpt can be found below, alongside a fantastic video interview from the shoot. It’s the tail end of a sun-sparkled afternoon in Butte, Montana, and here I am in a windowless basement bar with — if you’ll excuse the expression — this dame I met a few minutes before. I was standing on the street outside the Miner’s Hotel, minding my own, when she pulled up in her car, looking a bit tiny behind the wheel. Then she whipped into this swift, effortless U-turn, settling without a hitch, nice and tight to the sidewalk. Oddly impressive. She pretty much jumped out of the car, and she seemed just a shade invigorated. “It’s extraordinary!” she told me later. “There’s no traffic! You can do a U-turn here in the middle of the road.” This dame, her name is Helen. Dame Helen Mirren. We shook hands right there on the street.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2022 – AARP The Magazine (USA, December 2022)

Nov
19
2022

It’s still some weeks until the Merry season, but Helen Mirren turns out to be a fitting testimonial for this year’s Christmas themed magazine covers. Both the British Woman’s Weekly and the Australian Mindfood have put Mirren on their Christmas covers. There’s also a new cover from the Hungarian Nok Lapjá and and article in the British Woman & Home (with many thanks to Joan for the contribution). Enjoy the new additions.

Related Media

Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2022 – Mindfood (Australia, December 2022)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2022 – Woman & Home (United Kingdom, December 2022)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2022 – Woman’s Weekly (United Kingdom, November 22, 2022)
Photo Gallery – Articles & Scans – 2022 – Nok Lapjá (Hungary, October 2022)