Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren DBE (born Helen Lydia Mironoff) was born on 26 July 1945 at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in the Hammersmith district in London to an English mother and a Russian father. Her mother, Kathleen “Kitty” Alexandrina Eva Mathilda (née Rogers; 1908 – 1996), was a working-class woman from West Ham, the 13th of 14 children born to a butcher whose own father was a butcher to Queen Victoria.

Mirren’s father, Vasily Petrovich Mironoff (1913 – 1980) was a member of the Russian nobility; he was taken to England when he was two by his father, Pyotr Vasielevich Mironoff, who owned a family estate near Gzhatsk (now Gagarin), was part of the Russian aristocracy. Her mother, Mirren’s Great-Grandmother, was countess Lydia Andreevna Kamenskaya, an aristocrat and a descendant of Count Mikhail Fedetovich Kamensy, a prominent Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars.

She’s an English actress who became an American citizen in 2017. With a career spanning 60 years, she is the recipient of numerous accolades and is the only performer to have achieved both the American and the British Triple Crowns of acting.

Mirren has received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen”, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier award for portraying the same character in “The Audience”, as well as three British Academy Television Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards for her role as DCI Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect”.

Born in London, England, she had duel citizenship – UK and US, her spouse was Taylor Hackford who she married in 1997 and her partner was Liam Neeson from 1980 – ’85. Her relatives were Simon Mirren (nephew), Tania Mallet (cousin), Rio Hackford (stepson) and Mihail Kamensky was one of her distant forefathers.

Mirren’s stage performance as Cleopatra in “Anthony and Cleopatra” at the National Youth theatre in 1965 provided her an opportunity to join the Royal Shakespeare Company, before making her West End stage debut in 1975.

Subsequently, she achieved success in film and TV, appearing in films such as “The Madness of King George” in 1994, Gosforth Park in 2001 and “The Last Station” in 2009, receiving Academy Award Nominations for each of those performances. For her role on “Prime Suspect”, which ran from 1991 to 2006, she won three consecutive British Academy Awards for Best Actress (1992, ‘3 and ‘4). A record of consecutive wins shared with Dame Julie Walters – and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

After her breakthrough role in “The Long Good Friday” in 1980, Mirren appeared in other films including “Cal” in 1984, for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, 2010 in 1984, “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & Her Lover” in 1989, “Teaching Mrs. Tingle” in 1999, “Calendar Girls” in 2003, “The Debt” in 2010, “Hitchcock” in 2012, and so forth.

In the Queen’s 2003 birthday Honours, Mirren was appointed a Dame (DBE), for services to drama, with investiture taking place at Buckingham Palace. She has received numerous honours including a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013, the BAFTA Fellowship for a lifetime achievement in 2014, and screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2022.

I took all of this from Wikipedia, except to say I saw her playing in “Yellowstone”.

The beautiful Dame Helen Mirren

Tot Vrydag, till Friday, á Vendredi, bis Freitag, hasta manana, Paz, Arrivederci, and cheers for eers!!

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