With the Oscar ceremony just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to devote Vintage Image of the Day to pictures of the current nominees from years past, as I did last year. I'm starting with the woman generally considered a shoo-in for Best Actress: Helen Mirren. Mirren has been acting for films and television since the late 1960s, so there are plenty of opportunities for interesting photos. She hasn't always played queens and refined ladies, either. One of Mirren's earliest films, the 1969 film Age of Consent, was criticized for showing too much of her, unclothed. You might remember her as evil Morgana in Excalibur. She's also played a number of Shakespearean heroines and villainesses, from Ophelia to Titania to Lady Macbeth. My favorite Mirren movie is The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, and much to my mother's disapproval, I have the slightly naughty U.S. poster from the 1989 film (featuring Mirren in lingerie) on my living-room wall.
The above photo is from the 1980 movie Hussy, in which Mirren plays an exotic dancer named Beaty. It is not one of Mirren's better films, but I loved the photo. The actress would have been about 35 at the time. If you want to see many more photos of Mirren throughout her career, I'd recommend a visit to the Helen Mirren Appreciation Society site, which includes images from not only her TV and film productions, but also some of her theatrical performances. Check out the Filmography section for a wide range of vintage images.
1. Thanks for your kind mention of the Helen Mirren Appreciation Society website and glad you enjoyed the Filmography section. We are in fact rather proud of our very extensive database. Our members, particularly our librarian Elaine, have written original reviews or synopses of every performance we've seen, which is most of them. You can write your own review or comments about any performance and we'll jump in and discuss them with you. Enjoyed discovering your site here too. Best regards, Ann - webmaster@helenmirren.net
Posted at 6:49PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Ann