HRH Dame Helen Mirren

Royal gorgeousness

In her 50-year career, Dame Helen Mirren's performances as queens has garnered her the most recognition and acclaim.

Mirren as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (1965), Milonia Caesonia
in Caligula (1979), and the title role in The Duchess of Malfi (1981)

At the onset of her career, she played Cleopatra in the 1965 Old Vic production of Antony and Cleopatra; Lady Anne Neville (eventually Queen) in the 1970 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Richard III; Lady Macbeth in the 1974 RSC production of Macbeth; and Queen Margaret in the 1977 RSC production of Henry VI Parts I, II, and III. Her first prominent movie role was that of Milonia Caesonia, the fourth and last wife of the mad Roman emperor in Caligula (2009). Other theater roles were for playing the title role in the 1980 Royal Exchange Theatre and 1981 Roundhouse productions of The Duchess of Malfi and as the Athenian queen Phedre in the 2009 National Theatre production of Phedre.

She received an Olivier nomination for playing again Cleopatra in the 1983 Pit Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra; Oscar and BAFTA noms, and Cannes Best Actress prize for playing Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George (1994); an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award for playing the eponymous title role in Elizabeth I (2005); an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, a SAG, and heaps of critics group awards (most notably BCFA, LAFCA, NSFC, and NYFCC) for Best Actress for playing Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006); and an Olivier, a Drama Desk, and a Tony Best Actress in a Play award for The Audience for playing again Elizabeth II.

In addition, Mirren also provided  voice acting as queens in animated films: as the titular role in The Snow Queen (1995), based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, and as the pharaoh's wife and Moses' adoptive mother in The Prince of Egypt (1998).

With her Tony win on 7 June 2015, she became the 20th actor to join the elite circle of Triple Crown of Acting winners. Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange, and Viola Davis would eventually follow suit.

Triple Crown of Acting-winning royalty: Emmy as Elizabeth I (for the 2005 miniseries of the same name) and
an Oscar and a Tony as Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006) and The Audience (2015).

Now, this bears asking: It is only monarchs that Mirren can play to critical acclaim/awards hardware?

Apart from the ones mentioned above, Mirren immersed herself in plays such as Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Miss Julie, Measure for Measure, and The Seagull before she turned 30. In 1984, she won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress prize for her performance in the Irish film Cal (1984), for which she also got her first BAFTA nomination. Other notable films she starred in include Excalibur (1981), White Nights (1985), The Mosquito Coast (1986), and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (1989), which gained a cult following among cinephiles.

Tony-nominated performances in A Month in the Country (1995) and Dance of Death (2001).

Her first Tony nominations were for playing Natalia Petrovna opposite F. Murray Abraham in the 1995 revival of A Month in the Country and for playing Alice opposite Sir Ian McKellen in the 2001 revival of Dance of Death. On West End, her other Olivier nominations were for playing Lady Torrance in the 2000 Donmar Warehouse production of Orpheus Descending and as Christine Mannon in the 2003 Royal National Theatre staging of Mourning Becomes Electra.

Emmy-nominated performances in The Prime Suspect series (1992-2007), The Passion of Ayn Rand ([1999], won),
Door to Door (2002), and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2005).

The dame was thrust into the worldwide consciousness by playing the detective Jane Tennison in the miniseries Prime Suspect (1991) and its permutations up to 2006. The series led to six Emmy nominations for Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special: Prime Suspect 2 (1992), Prime Suspect 3 (1993), Prime Suspect: The Scent of Darkness ([1995], won), Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement (1996), Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (2003), and Prime Suspect: The Final Act ([2006], won). She also won an Emmy for playing the title role in the TV movie The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999). Her other Emmy nominations were for performances in Door to Door (2002), The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003), and Phil Spector (2013), for which she also won her fourth individual SAG Award.

Oscar-nominated turns in Gosford Park (2001) and The Last Station (2009).

Mirren also earned Oscar nominations for playing the housekeeper Mrs. Wilson in the Robert Altman whodunit ensemble Gosford Park (2001) for which she also won an SAG, National Society of Film Critics, and New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Supporting Actress; and for playing Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009), in the lead category. In 2013, she was also nominated for Leading Actress at the Golden Globes, BAFTA, and SAG Awards for her performance as Alma Reville in Hitchcock (2012). These did not translate into an Oscar nomination, though, which could have been her fifth. She was also nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical for The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) as the chef Madame Mallory. In 2015, she starred in three films: as Maria Altmann who fought the Austrian government to reclaim the Gustav Klimt's painting of her aunt in Simon Curtis' Woman in Gold (2015), as military intelligence officer Col. Katherine Powell in Gavin Hood's Eye in the Sky (2015), and as Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in the Jay Roach biopic Trumbo (2015) opposite Bryan Cranston in the title role. She earned Best Supporting Actress nominations for the latter from the SAG Awards, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice Awards.

Apparently, Helen Lydia Mironoff can play characters so varied. It just so happened that her works as monarchs proved to be the most popular and acclaimed. It must be because of the sex appeal, elegance, and regality she exudes that perfectly fit her monarch roles best.