Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience. Indie Wire noted in July 2011 that the magazine is "the right combo of sizzling entertainment and hard breaking news." The multi-platform brand currently consists of an oversized weekly magazine, seasonal special reports, glossies, a high-traffic website, a mobile-optimized site, a digital daily, iPad app and events.

Its current mission statement reads as follows:

The Hollywood Reporter is the definitive interpretive voice of the entertainment industry. Informing, engaging and empowering content is delivered across a multimedia platform that includes: a weekly magazine, bi-monthly special reports, quarterly glossies, a Website, a daily news PDF, iPad app and events. The Hollywood Reporter is read by the most powerful people in the entertainment industry and the most influential consumers who follow it – those who shape desire, set trends and ultimately drive culture – providing an unmatched level of access and influence.

During the last century, it was one of the two major publications focused on Hollywood—the other being Variety. Today, both publications cover what is more broadly called the entertainment industry.

History[link]

The Hollywood Reporter was Hollywood's first daily entertainment industry trade paper. It began as a daily film publication, then added television coverage in the 1950s and began in the late 1980s to cover intellectual property industries.

Founder[link]

William R. Wilkerson published the first issue of The Hollywood Reporter on September 3, 1930. This daily magazine reported on movies, studios and personalities in an outrageously candid style. Through its outspoken pages, Wilkerson became one of the town's most colorful and controversial figures. He began each issue with a self-penned editorial entitled "Tradeviews", which exposed corrupt studio practices. "Tradeviews" went on to become one of the most widely read daily columns in the industry. The upstart publisher also employed hard-ball tactics to solicit advertising. Studios were literally blackmailed into giving their support. If they refused, he ordered a complete editorial blackout on all their material—from press releases to film reviews. The corporate moguls eventually banded together to deal with The Reporter. They refused Wilkerson all advertising support and deprived him of news from their studios. They even hired extra employees to burn The Hollywood Reporter when it was delivered every morning at their front gates. At the height of the battle, his reporters were barred from every lot in town. Wilkerson told them to climb over the studio walls and sift through executives' garbage. These tactics produced a flood of incriminating news, which Wilkerson cheerfully printed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the paper airmailed daily to his desk at the White House. By 1936, The Hollywood Reporter had become something even the most prescient studio heads never anticipated—a power that rivaled their own.^[1]

The Hollywood blacklist[link]

Wilkerson believed that the Screen Writers Guild was one of the prime Communist strongholds in all of Hollywood. He used his TradeView column to publicize the "Communist Takeover" of the guild dating as early as 1938. Throughout the thirteen year Screen Writers Guild ban of its members advertising their services in trade papers, Wilkerson would not allow screenwriter credits in The Reporter's film reviews.^[2]

On Monday, July 29, 1946, Wilkerson published his TradeView entitled "A Vote For Joe Stalin". It contained the first industry names on what later became the infamous Hollywood Blacklist—Dalton Trumbo, Maurice Rapf, Lester Cole, Howard Koch, Harold Buchman, John Wexley, Ring Lardner Jr., Harold Salemson, Henry Meyers, Theodore Strauss and John Howard Lawson.^[3]

Wilkerson soon went after Cole, who was the first Vice President of the Screen Writers Guild. Here, Wilkerson would be the first to ask the two questions that would ring throughout the nation for the next decade: "Are you a member of the Writers Guild?" and "Are you a member of the Communist Party of the United States?" On Monday, August 19, 1946, Wilkerson wrote:

FOR THE PURPOSE of trying to tag the activity of the Screen-Writers Guild generally, and particularly its action proposing to our State Department that the U.S.-French film agreement be renegotiated to give "greater benefit" to the French film writers, we would like to ask Mr. Lester Cole, who authored the motion for SWG passage:

"Are you a Communist? Do you hold card number 46805 in what is known as the Northwest Section of the Communist party, a division of the party made up mostly of West Coast Commies?"^[4]

In an editorial entitled "RED BEACH-HEAD!" on Tuesday, August 20, 1946, Wilkerson took aim at Hollywood writer John Howard Lawson. On Wednesday, August 21, 1946, in an editorial entitled "Hywd's Red Commissars!", Wilkerson skewered John Leech, Emmet Lavery, Oliver H. P. Garrett, Harold Buchman, Maurice Rapf, and William Pomerance. On September 12, 1946, Wilkerson printed "the list" of names that would be plucked by The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) for their 1947 hearings. Wilkerson used two different colors to identify two different levels of participation in Communism. "Red" indicated that the individual was a card-carrying communist. "Pink" meant that an individual simply had communist sympathies. The list included:

• Edward Dmytryk
• John Howard Lawson
• Guy Endore
• Lester Cole
• Dalton Trumbo
• Albert Maltz
• Henry Myers
• Marian Spitzer
• Ring Lardner Jr.
• Jay Gorney
• E. Y. Harburg
• Boris Ingster
• Harold Buchman
• Gordon Kahn
• Howard Koch
• Alvah Bessie
• John Bright
• Howard Dimsdale
• Paul Jarrico
• Francis E. Faragoh
• Frank Tuttle
• Alvin Wilder
• Martin Berkeley

Known in the beginning as "Billy's List", it quickly became "Billy's Blacklist", referring to the color of the publisher’s magazine ink. Wilkerson's list would eventually evolve into the infamous "Blacklist" that became the backbone of the May 8, October 20 and October 27 hearings. These hearings led to citations for contempt being issued by the United States on November 24, 1947. Wilkerson would do what no other publisher in America had dared to do prior to August 1946—publish the identities of card-carrying communists, their party member numbers and pseudonyms on his front page.

Ownership changes[link]

Wilkerson ran The Hollywood Reporter until his death in 1962, when his wife, Tichi Wilkerson, took over as publisher and editor-in-chief. She sold the paper on April 11, 1988 to trade publishers BPI for $26.7 million.^[5] Teri Ritzer was the last editor under Wilkerson. She began the paper's modernization by bringing newspaper editors into what was essentially a Hollywood wannabe newsroom.

BPI's publisher, Robert J. Dowling, brought in Alex Ben Block in 1990 and editorial quality of both news and specials was steadily improved. Ritzer and Block dampened much of the rah-rah coverage and cronyism that had infected the paper under Wilkerson. After Ben Block left, former film editor at Variety, Anita Busch, was brought in as editor between 1999 and 2001. Busch was credited with making the paper competitive with Variety. Dowling helmed the paper until he was forced to retire during corporate changes in late 2005.^{[citation needed]} Tony Uphoff assumed the publisher position in November 2005. The Reporter was acquired, along with the rest of the assets of VNU, in spring 2006 by a private equity consortium led by Blackstone and KKR, both with ties to the conservative movement in the United States. Uphoff was replaced in October 2006 by John Kilcullen, who was the publisher of Billboard. Kilcullen was a defendant in Billboard's infamous "dildo" lawsuit, in which he was accused of race discrimination and sexual harassment.^[6] VNU settled the suit on the courthouse steps.^[7] Kilcullen "exited" Nielsen in February 2008 "to pursue his passion as an entrepreneur."^[8] Matthew King, vice president for content and audience, editorial director Howard Burns, and executive editor Peter Pryor left the paper in a wave of layoffs in December 2006; editor Cynthia Littleton, widely respected throughout the industry, reported directly to Kilcullen. The Reporter absorbed another blow when Littleton left her position for an editorial job at Variety in March, 2007. Web editor Glenn Abel also left after 16 years with the paper.

In January 2007, VNU was purchased by a private equity consortium and renamed The Nielsen Company, whose properties include Billboard, AdWeek and A.C. Nielsen. Under its new leadership, Nielsen is reported to have made a $5 million investment in The Reporter.^[9]

In December 2009, Prometheus Global Media, a newly formed company formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners and chaired by Jimmy Finkelstein, CEO of News Communications, parent of Congressional Journal the Hill, acquired The Hollywood Reporter from Nielsen Business Media. It pledged to invest in the brand and grow the company.

Richard Beckman, formerly of Condé Nast, was appointed the new company's CEO.

Editors and publishers[link]

In April 2007, industry veteran Eric Mika was named to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Publishing Director of The Reporter. Having previously served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Nielsen Business Media's Film and Performing Arts Group and, before that, as Vice President and Managing Director for Variety, Mika assumed responsibility for the general management of sales, marketing and editorial for The Hollywood Reporter, as well as the brand's ancillary products, events, licensing business and partnerships.^[10]

In June 2007, Rose Einstein, former Vice President, Advertising Sales for Netflix and 25-year veteran of Reed Business Media, was named to the newly created role of Vice President, Associate Publisher to oversee all sales and business development for The Reporter.^[11] Mika left The Hollywood Reporter in early 2010.

In July 2007, The Reporter named Elizabeth Guider as its new editor. An 18-year veteran of Variety, where she served as Executive Editor, Guider assumed responsibility for the editorial vision and strategic direction of The Hollywood Reporter’s daily and weekly editions, digital content offerings and executive conferences.^[12] Guider left The Hollywood Reporter in early 2010.

In April 2010, Lori Burgess was named publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. Burgess had been publisher of OK! magazine since October 2008. Michaela Apruzzese was named associate publisher, entertainment, of The Hollywood Reporter in May 2010. Apruzzese served as the director of movie advertising for Los Angeles Times Media Group.

In May 2010, Janice Min was named Editorial Director. Min previously served as the editor-in-chief of Us Weekly magazine from 2003 until 2009. Richard Beckman, CEO of Prometheus Global Media, owner of The Hollywood Reporter, said of her hire: "Janice dramatically transformed the landscape of entertainment journalism, and she is perfectly suited to lead The Hollywood Reporter's business-to-influencer coverage of the global entertainment industry."

Presence on the web[link]

The Reporter published a primitive "satellite" digital edition in the late 1980s. It became the first daily entertainment trade paper to start a web site in 1995. Initially, the site offered free news briefs with complete coverage firewalled as a premium (paid) service. In later years, the web site became mostly free as it became more reliant on ad sales and less on subscribers. The web site had already gone through a redesign by the time competitor Daily Variety took to the web. In 2002, The Reporter’s web site won the Jesse H. Neal Award for business journalism.

Later, other The Reporter electronic products include U.S. and European daily e-mail editions, a daily East Coast digital edition, a business podcast and a number of blogs, and a weekly Korean-language newsletter that reached nearly 4,000 subscribers in Korea each day. In June 2007, The Reporter introduced The Hollywood Reporter, Digital Edition, an online electronic replica of the daily magazine, available in 12 languages, that also features text-to-voice conversion into six languages.^[13] In October 2007, the publication launched THR Direct, a free application that provides subscribers with immediate delivery of customized news, alerts and video from The Hollywood Reporter to their desktop.^[14]

The Reporter itself was slow to modernize. The paper still used vintage IBM-styled selectric typewriters in several departments into the early 1990s and was sluggish in upgrading operations by adding common business equipment such as computers, scanners and color printers to all departments. Archival materials were routinely microfilmed as late as 1998 rather than digitized, even though the system to view it was in storage or broken. Many staff members did not have email several years after its use became relatively common in business.

In late summer 2010, thr.com was completely redesigned and re-launched under Janice Min to become a cutting-edge, one-stop entertainment destination, covering movies, television, music, style, theatre, personal tech, and the business side of the entertainment industry (some content lives behind a pay wall). With breaking news and much more exclusive industry scoop, web traffic for the site has increased over 800% since late 2009.^{[citation needed]} The site now features HD movie and television trailers, photo and video galleries, and much more social connectivity - with buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Digg and a comment section on nearly every posting.

THR also has feeds on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in addition to a respected series of blogs that live on thr.com.

Editors and reporters today[link]

The Hollywood Reporter has a staff of roughly 150. Today, editors and reporters number more than 65, with another 50 staffers scattered in key bureaus around the world. It is interesting to note that during the "golden age" of Hollywood film and television, The Reporter was seldom staffed with more than 20 people. It was chiefly in the media boom of the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s that the employee roster increased.

In addition to hiring Eric Mika, Rose Eintstein and Elizabeth Guider, The Reporter hired the following staff in 2007:

• Todd Cunningham, former assistant managing editor of the LA Business Journal, as National Editor for The Hollywood Reporter: Premier Edition
• Steven Zeitchik as Senior Writer, based in New York, where he provide news analysis and features for the Premiere Edition
• Melissa Grego, former managing editor of TV Week, as Editor of HollywoodReporter.com
• Jonathan Landreth as the new Asian bureau chief, in addition to 13 new writers across Asia

However, staffing levels began to drop again in 2008. In April, Nielsen Business Media eliminated between 40 and 50 editorial staff positions at The Hollywood Reporter and its sister publications: Adweek, Brandweek, Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek.^[15] In December, another 12 editorial positions were cut at the trade paper.^[16] In addition, 2008 saw substantial turnover in the online department: THR.com Editor Melissa Grego left her position in July to become executive editor of Broadcasting & Cable,^[17] and Managing Editor Scott McKim left to become a new media manager at Knox College. With the entertainment industry as a whole shrinking, "Hollywood studios have cut more than $20 million from the Motion Picture Association of America budget this year. The resulting staff and program reductions are expected to permanently shrink the scope and size of the six-studio trade and advocacy group."^[18] Staffing at THR in 2008 saw even further cutbacks with "names from today's tragic bloodletting of The Hollywood Reporter's staff" adding up quickly in the hard economic times at the end of 2008.^[19] "The trade has not only been thin, but only publishing digital version 19 days this holiday season. Film writers Leslie Simmons, Carolyn Giardina, Gregg Goldstein, plus lead TV critic Barry Garron and TV reporter Kimberly Nordyke, also special issues editor Randee Dawn Cohen out of New York and managing editor Harley Lond and international department editor Hy Hollinger, plus Dan Evans, Lesley Goldberg, Michelle Belaski, James Gonzalez were among those chopped from the masthead."^[19]

When Janice Min and Lori Burgess came on board in 2010, the editorial and sales staff have increased nearly 50%, respectively. Janice hired some of the most recognized journalists in the entertainment industry, most notably scooping up veteran Variety film critic Todd McCarthy after his firing from Variety in March 2010.

Beckman and Burgess created a dedicated sales staff in New York to sell non-endemic advertising into the post re-launch print weekly, and beefed up the LA-based staff to better cover the endemic business.

Current status and legacy[link]

The Hollywood Reporter has been called^{[by whom?]} an institution, publishing out of the same offices on Sunset Boulevard for more than a half century, although by the 1970s the aging offices had become a time capsule more akin to the 1950s and the paper had clearly outgrown them.^{[citation needed]} Today, the offices are in L.A.'s Mid-Wilshire district.

In November 2007, The Reporter launched its Premier Edition, a new day-and-date edition of the publication with daily morning delivery to subscribers in New York and key cities across the East Coast. As a result of the move to regional printing, the Premier Edition is also available on newsstands throughout Manhattan each morning from Monday through Friday.

The Hollywood Reporter's conferences and award shows include the Key Art Awards, which aim to recognize the best in movie marketing and advertising. Its annual Power Women in Entertainment issue and event is a somewhat controversial if not subjective ranking of female entertainment executives. Its annual "Next Gen" special issue and event honors 35 up-and-coming executives in entertainment that are 35 years or younger. Throughout the year, THR publishes a 'roundtable' series in conjunction with many of the tent-pole award shows, including the Oscars, Golden Globes and Emmy's. The paper's influential^{[citation needed]} celebrity marketability rating system, Star Power, has ceased publication.

Today, The Hollywood Reporter is working to become the leading entertainment news source. With an impressive^{[says who?]} suite of products - from a daily PDF edition, to its oversized weekly glossy magazine, an iPad app, and a slew of international newsletters and festival dailies – and a robust new editorial staff, they have set out to redefine the flailing trade industry.

This section appears to be written like an advertisement. Please help improve it by rewriting promotional content from a neutral point of view and removing any inappropriate external links. (May 2011)

[edit] Competition with Variety

In March 2007, The Hollywood Reporter surpassed Variety to achieve the largest total distribution of any entertainment daily.^[20]

Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both are located on Wilshire Boulevard along the well-trafficked "Miracle Mile". Staffers often migrate between the papers. There is a history of bad blood between the rivals bordering on the obsessive,^{[citation needed]} sometimes petty and occasionally myopic. Variety was long established as an entertainment trade paper in vaudeville circles, Tin Pan Alley and in the theatre district of New York City, but it was The Hollywood Reporter that began covering the developing film business in Hollywood in 1930. Variety did not start its Hollywood edition until 1933.

The Hollywood Reporter maintains a business association with the home entertainment trade publication Home Media Magazine, which is owned by Questex Media Group. The alliance includes an exchange of stories when the need arises, and gives The Reporter access into the home entertainment trade, which Variety enjoys with its sister publication, the Reed-owned Video Business.

See also[link]

• Variety
• Nielsen Business Media
• Tubefilter

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Global Network Hot News

Hollywood
—  District of Los Angeles  —
The world-famous Hollywood Sign
Nickname(s): Tinseltown, The Entertainment Capital of the World
Hollywood Location within Central Los Angeles
Hollywood Location within Western Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34°6′0″N 118°20′0″W / 34.1°N 118.333333°W / 34.1; -118.333333
Country	United States
State	California
County	County of Los Angeles
City	City of Los Angeles
Incorporated	1903
Government
• City Council	Eric Garcetti, Tom LaBonge
• State Assembly	Mike Feuer (D), Vacant
• State Senate	Curren Price (D), Gilbert Cedillo (D)
• U.S. House	Xavier Becerra (D), Diane Watson (D), Henry Waxman (D)
Area[1]
• Total	24.96 sq mi (64.6 km2)
Population (2000)[1]
• Total	123,435
• Density	4,945/sq mi (1,909/km2)
ZIP Code	90027, 90028, 90029, 90038, 90046, 90068
Area code(s)	323

Hollywood is a district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles.^[2] Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema. Today, much of the movie industry has dispersed into surrounding areas such as the Westside neighborhood,^[3] and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, but significant auxiliary industries, such as editing, effects, props, post-production, and lighting companies remain in Hollywood, as does the backlot of Paramount Pictures.

On February 16, 2005, California Assembly Members Jackie Goldberg and Paul Koretz introduced a bill to require California to keep specific records on Hollywood as if it were independent, although it is not the typical practice of the City of Los Angeles to establish specific boundaries for districts or neighborhoods. For this to be done, the boundaries were defined. The bill was unanimously supported by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles City Council. Assembly Bill 588 was approved by the Governor of California on August 28, 2006, and now the district of Hollywood has official borders. The border can be loosely described as the area east of West Hollywood, south of Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon, Cahuenga Boulevard, and Barham Boulevard, and the cities of Burbank and Glendale, north of Melrose Avenue and west of the Golden State Freeway and Hyperion Avenue. This includes all of Griffith Park and Los Feliz^{[citation needed]} – two areas that were hitherto considered separate from Hollywood by most Angelenos.^[4] The population of the district, including Los Feliz, as of the 2000 census was 123,436 and the median household income was $33,409 in 1999.^[1]

As a district within the Los Angeles city limits, Hollywood does not have its own municipal government. There was an official, appointed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, who served as an honorary "Mayor of Hollywood" for ceremonial purposes only. Johnny Grant held this position from 1980 until his death on January 9, 2008.^[5] However, no replacement has ever been named after Grant's death.

History[link]

In 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished in the area with thriving crops of many common and exotic varieties. The area was known to these residents as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. Soon thereafter, land speculation led to subdivision of the large plots and an influx of homeowners.

In spite of the area's short history, it has been filled with events driven by optimistic progress. The name Hollywood was coined by H. J. Whitley, the "Father of Hollywood".^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]} Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre (2.0 km²) E.C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date. Before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Mr Hurd's wife, Mrs. Daeida Wilcox, and numerous others through the mill of gossip and land speculation.

Daeida learned of the name Hollywood from her neighbor in Holly Canyon (now Lake Hollywood), Ivar Weid, a prominent investor and friend of Whitley's.^[12][13] She recommended the same name to her husband, H. H. Wilcox. On February 1, 1887, Harvey filed a deed and map of property he sold with the Los Angeles County Recorder's office. Harvey wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that same year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth.

By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, and two markets. Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479^[14] lay 10 miles (16 km) east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent and the trip took two hours. The old citrus fruit-packing house would be converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood.

Glen-Holly Hotel, first hotel in Hollywood, at the corner of what is now Yucca Street. It was built by Joakim Berg, a famous artist back in the 1890s.

Hollywood Hotel 1905

The intersection of Hollywood and Highland 1907

The famous Hollywood Hotel, the first major hotel in Hollywood, was opened in 1902, by H. J. Whitley, then President of the Los Pacific Boulevard and Development Company, of which he was a major shareholder. Having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers, and was eager to sell these residential lots among the lemon ranches lining the foothills. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, which, still a dusty, unpaved road, was regularly graded and graveled. The Hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years.^[15] His company was developing and selling one of the early residential areas, the Ocean View Tract.^[16][17][18] Whitley did much to promote the area. He paid many thousands of dollars for electric lighting, including bringing electricity and building a bank, as well as a road into the Cahuenga Pass. The lighting ran for several blocks down Prospect Avenue. Whitley's land was centered on Highland Avenue.^[19][20][21]

Hollywood was incorporated as a municipality on November 14, 1903. The vote was 88 for incorporation and 77 against. On January 30, 1904, the voters in Hollywood decided, by a vote of 113 to 96, for the banishment of liquor in the city, except when it was being sold for medicinal purposes. Neither hotels nor restaurants were allowed to serve wine or liquor before or after meals.

By 1910, because of an ongoing struggle to secure an adequate water supply, town officials voted for Hollywood to be annexed into the City of Los Angeles, as the water system of the growing city had opened the Los Angeles Aqueduct and was piping water down from the Owens River in the Owens Valley. Another reason for the vote was that Hollywood could have access to drainage through Los Angeles' sewer system. With annexation, the name of Prospect Avenue was changed to Hollywood Boulevard and all the street numbers in the new district changed.^[22] For example, 100 Prospect Avenue, at Vermont Avenue, became 6400 Hollywood Boulevard; and 100 Cahuenga Boulevard, at Hollywood Boulevard, changed to 1700 Cahuenga Boulevard.

Motion picture industry[link]

Nestor Studio, Hollywood's first movie studio, 1912

The film patent wars of the early 20th century led to the spread of film companies across the U.S. Many worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights, and thus filming in New York could be dangerous; it was close to Edison's Company headquarters, and to agents the company set out to seize cameras. By 1912, most major film companies had set up production facilities in Southern California near or in Los Angeles because of the location's proximity to Mexico, as well as the region's favorable year-round weather.^[23]

The Biograph Company filmed the short film A Daring Hold-Up in Southern California in Los Angeles in 1906.^[24] The first studio in the Los Angeles area was established by the Selig Polyscope Company in Edendale, with construction beginning in August 1909.^[25]

Prolific director D. W. Griffith was the first to make a motion picture in Hollywood. His 17-minute short film In Old California, which was released on March 10, 1910, was filmed entirely in the village of Hollywood for the Biograph Company.^[26][27][28] Although Hollywood banned movie theaters—of which it had none—before annexation that year, Los Angeles had no such restriction.^[29] The first film by a Hollywood Studio, Nestor Motion Picture Company, was shot on October 26, 1911.^[7] The Whitley home was used as its set, and the unnamed movie was filmed in the middle of their groves on the corner of Whitley Ave and Hollywood Boulevard by directors Al Christie and David and William Horsley.^[30]

Various producers and filmmakers moved bases from the east coast to escape punitive licensing from the Motion Picture Patents Company.^{[citation needed]}

The first studio in Hollywood was established by the New Jersey–based Centaur Co., which wanted to make westerns in California. They rented an unused roadhouse at 6121 Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Gower, and converted it into a movie studio in October 1911, calling it Nestor Studio after the name of the western branch of their company.^[31] The first feature film made specifically in a Hollywood studio, in 1914, was The Squaw Man, directed by Cecil B. DeMille and Oscar Apfel,^[32] and was filmed at the Lasky-DeMille Barn among other area locations.

By 1911, Los Angeles was second only to New York in motion picture production,^[33] and by 1915, the majority of American films were being produced in the Los Angeles area.^[34]

Hollywood movie studios, 1922

Four major film companies – Paramount, Warner Bros., RKO and Columbia – had studios in Hollywood, as did several minor companies and rental studios. Hollywood had begun its dramatic transformation from sleepy suburb to movie production capital. The residential and agrarian Hollywood Boulevard of 1910 was virtually unrecognizable by 1920 as the new commercial and retail sector replaced it. The sleepy town was no more, and, to the chagrin of many original residents, the boom town could not be stopped.

1920s–1940s[link]

By 1920, Hollywood had become world-famous as the center of the United States film industry. In 1918, HJ Whitley commissioned architect A.S. Barnes to design Whitley Heights as a Mediterranean-style village on the steep hillsides above Hollywood Boulevard, and it became the first celebrity community.^[35][36] The neighborhood is roughly bordered on the north and east by Cahuenga Boulevard, on the west by Highland Avenue, and on the south by Franklin Avenue. Among Whitley Heights' many famous residents have been Rudolph Valentino, Barbara Stanwyck, W.C. Fields, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, William Powell. Tyrone Power, Gloria Swanson, Rosalind Russell, Judy Garland, and Marlene Dietrich.^{[37][38][39][40][40][41][42][43][44][45]}

From the 1920s to the 1940s, a large percentage of transportation to and from Hollywood was by means of the red cars of the Pacific Electric Railway.

Modern Hollywood[link]

Hollywood Boulevard, taken from the Dolby Theatre

On January 22, 1947, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, KTLA, began operating in Hollywood. In December of that year, The Public Prosecutor became the first network television series to be filmed in Hollywood. In the 1950s, music recording studios and offices began moving into Hollywood. Other businesses, however, continued to migrate to different parts of the Los Angeles area, primarily to Burbank. Much of the movie industry remained in Hollywood, although the district's outward appearance changed.

In 1952, CBS built CBS Television City on the corner of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard, on the former site of Gilmore Stadium. CBS's expansion into the Fairfax District pushed the unofficial boundary of Hollywood farther south than it had been. CBS's slogan for the shows taped there was "From Television City in Hollywood..."

During the early 1950s the famous Hollywood Freeway was constructed from Four Level Interchange interchange in downtown Los Angeles, past the Hollywood Bowl, up through Cahuenga Pass and into the San Fernando Valley. In the early days, streetcars ran up through the pass, on rails running along the central median.

The famous Capitol Records Building on Vine St. just north of Hollywood Boulevard was built in 1956. The building houses offices and recording studios, which are not open to the public, but its circular design looks like a stack of 7-inch (180 mm) vinyl records.

The now derelict lot at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Serrano Avenue was once the site of the illustrious Hollywood Professional School (1935-1984), whose alumni reads like a Hollywood Who's Who of household "names". Many of these former child stars attended a "farewell" party at the commemorative sealing of a time capsule buried on the lot.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame was created in 1958 as a tribute to artists and other significant contributors within the entertainment industry. Official groundbreaking occurred on February 8, 1960, and the first star to be permanently installed was that of director Stanley Kramer (not Joanne Woodward, as commonly related).^[46][47] A detailed history of the Walk can be found in the Walk of Fame main article. Honorees receive a star based on their achievements in motion pictures, live theatre, radio, television, and/or music, as well as their charitable and civic contributions.

During the 1980s, Hollywood was the heart of a new Hard rock movement known as Glam metal. The most known Hollywood glam metal and hard rock bands include Mötley Crüe, Poison, RATT, W.A.S.P, Quiet Riot, Guns N' Roses and Van Halen. These bands were notorious for their debauched and promiscuous lifestyle of late-night parties, drug and alcohol abuse, casual sex and backstage groupie antics. A haven for the pulsating music scene of the time, Hollywood also saw a number of popular bands from different genres emerge, such as Jane's Addiction, Metallica and various others.

In 1985, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places protecting important buildings and ensuring that the significance of Hollywood's past would always be a part of its future.

In June 1999, the Hollywood extension of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail Red Line subway opened, running from Downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley, with stops along Hollywood Boulevard at Western Avenue, Vine Street and Highland Avenue.

The Dolby Theatre (known as the Kodak Theatre up until 2012)

The Dolby Theatre, which opened in 2001 on Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue, where the historic Hollywood Hotel once stood, has become the new home of the Oscars.

While motion picture production still occurs within the Hollywood district, most major studios are actually located elsewhere in the Los Angeles region. Paramount Pictures is the only major studio still physically located within Hollywood. Other studios in the district include the aforementioned Jim Henson (formerly Chaplin) Studios, Sunset Gower Studios, and Raleigh Studios.

While Hollywood and the adjacent neighborhood of Los Feliz served as the initial homes for all of the early television stations in the Los Angeles market, most have now relocated to other locations within the metropolitan area. KNBC began this exodus in 1962, when it moved from the former NBC Radio City Studios located at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street to NBC Studios in Burbank. KTTV (purchased by FOX) pulled up stakes in 1996 from its former home at Metromedia Square on Sunset Boulevard to relocate to the FOX Studio lot in West Los Angeles. KABC-TV moved from its original location at ABC Television Center (now branded The Prospect Studios) just east of Hollywood to Glendale in 2000, though the Los Angeles bureau of ABC News still resides at Prospect and still serves as an ABC Network studios facility. After being purchased by 20th Century Fox in 2001, KCOP left its former home on La Brea Avenue to join KTTV on the Fox lot. The CBS Corporation-owned duopoly of KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV moved from its longtime home at CBS Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard to a new facility at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. KTLA and KCET, both located on Sunset Boulevard, are the last broadcasters (television or radio) with Hollywood addresses. However, KCET has since sold its studios on Sunset and plans to move to another location.

In addition, Hollywood once served as the home of nearly every radio station in Los Angeles, all of which have now moved into other communities, especially Burbank, but a fair number also relocated to Wilshire Center and Miracle Mile district with the latter being home to many TV production companies including Mark Goodson and the E! network. KNX was the last station to broadcast from Hollywood, when it left CBS Columbia Square for a studio in the Miracle Mile in 2005. While Hollywood was home to several foreign-language radio stations, they too moved to many of the same areas as their English language counter-parts. In fact, today, not a single L.A. market radio station has operations in Hollywood.

In 2002, a number of Hollywood citizens began a campaign for the district to secede from Los Angeles and become, as it had been a century earlier, its own incorporated municipality. Secession supporters argued that the needs of their community were being ignored by the leaders of Los Angeles. In June of that year, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors placed secession referendums for both Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley on the ballots for a "citywide election." To pass, they required the approval of a majority of voters in the proposed new municipality as well as a majority of voters in all of Los Angeles. In the November election, both referendums failed by wide margins in the citywide vote.

Hollywood is served by several neighborhood councils, including the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council (HUNC)^[48] and the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council.^[49] These two groups are part of the network of neighborhood councils certified by the City of Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.^[50] Neighborhood Councils cast advisory votes on such issues as zoning, planning, and other community issues. The council members are voted in by stakeholders, generally defined as anyone living, working, owning property, or belonging to an organization within the boundaries of the council.^[51]

The Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, with mural by Richard Wyatt titled Hollywood Jazz featuring prominent jazz artists Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington.

Revitalization[link]

After many years of serious decline, when many Hollywood landmarks were threatened with demolition,^[52] Hollywood is now undergoing rapid gentrification and revitalization with the goal of urban density in mind.^{[citation needed]} Many developments have been completed, typically centered on Hollywood Boulevard. The Hollywood and Highland complex (site of the Kodak Theater) has been a major catalyst for the redevelopment of the area. In addition, numerous fashionable bars, clubs, and retail businesses have opened on or surrounding the boulevard, returning Hollywood to a center of nightlife in Los Angeles. Many older buildings have also been converted to lofts and condominiums. The W Hollywood Hotel is now open at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.

Hollywood neighborhoods and communities[link]

The Hotel Roosevelt has long sat on Hollywood Boulevard near Hollywood High School and Grauman's Chinese Theater.

• Cahuenga Pass
• Hollywood Hills
  • Beachwood Canyon
  • Hollywood Heights
  • Laurel Canyon
  • Mount Olympus
  • Nichols Canyon
  • Outpost Estates
  • Sunset Hills
  • Whitley Heights
• East Hollywood
  • Little Armenia
  • Thai Town
  • Virgil Village
• Melrose District
• Melrose Hill
• Sierra Vista
• Spaulding Square
• Yucca Corridor.

Government[link]

Fire services[link]

Los Angeles Fire Department operates four fire stations – Station 27, 41, 52, and 82 – in the area.

Fire Station 27

County representation[link]

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Hollywood-Wilshire Health Center in Hollywood.^[53]

Federal representation[link]

The United States Postal Service operates the Hollywood Post Office,^[54] the Hollywood Pavilion Post Office,^[55] and the Sunset Post Office.^[56]

Demographics[link]

As of the 2000 census, there were 210,777 people residing in the Community Plan Area of Hollywood. The population density was 8,443 people per square mile (3,261/km²). The racial makeup of the community was 59.84% White (47.27% White Non-Hispanic), 9.44% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 4.28% Black, 0.62% Native American, 19.10% from other races, and 6.59% from two or more races. 34.51% of the population were Hispanic of any race. 49.63% of the population was foreign born; of this, 46.24% came from Latin America, 32.73% from Asia, 17.80% from Europe and 3.23% from other parts of the world.^[57]

Education[link]

Hollywood High School

Students who live in Hollywood are zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The area is within Board District 4.^[58] As of 2008 Marlene Canter represents the district.^[59] Canter announced that she will not seek re-election after her term expires in June 2009.^[60]

Elementary schools:

• Cheremoya Elementary School
• Vineyard Street Elementary School
• Ramona Elementary School
• Gardner Elementary School
• Valley View Elementary School
• Grant Elementary School
• Selma Ave. Elementary School

Middle schools:

• Le Conte Middle School
• Bancroft Middle School

Hollywood High School and Helen Bernstein High School are public high schools in the Hollywood area.

Christ the King Elementary School is a private school in the area.

For many years, the motion picture Industry had its own private Industry-run institution for child actors, the Hollywood Professional School (1935-1984).

Public libraries[link]

The Will and Ariel Durant Branch and the Frances Howard Goldwyn – Hollywood Regional Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library are in Hollywood.

Landmarks[link]

The Hollywood Bowl, on opening night in 2005

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

The Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium

• Barnsdall Art Park
• Capitol Records Tower
• CBS Columbia Square
• Charlie Chaplin Studios
• Cinerama Dome
• Crossroads of the World
• Dolby Theatre
• Earl Carroll Theatre (currently Nickelodeon on Sunset)
• El Capitan Theatre
• Frederick's of Hollywood
• Gibson Amphitheatre
• Gower Gulch
• Grauman's Chinese Theatre
• Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
• Guitar Center
• Hollywood & Western Building
• Hollywood and Highland Center
• Hollywood and Vine
• Hollywood Bowl
• Hollywood Forever Cemetery
• Hollywood Heritage Museum
• Hollywood High School
• Hollywood Palladium
• Hollywood Masonic Temple
• Hollywood Sign
• Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Hollywood Wax Museum
• KCBS-TV
• KCET
• Knickerbocker Hotel
• KTLA
• Pantages Theatre
• Paramount Pictures
• Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Odditorium
• Rock 'n' Roll Ralphs
• Roosevelt Hotel
• Runyon Canyon Park
• Sunset Gower Studios
• Sunset Strip
• The Laugh Factory
• The Magic Castle
• The Prospect Studios
• Universal Studios Hollywood
• Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
• Whitley Heights

Special events[link]

Crossroads of the World

• The Academy Awards are held in late February/early March (since 2004) of each year, honoring the preceding year in film. Prior to 2004, they were held in late March/early April. Since 2002, the Oscars have been held at their new home at the Kodak Theater at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
• CINECON Classic Film Festival & Exposition (Annual timing is five days—connected to Labor Day weekend) Classic film memorabilia, expert presentations, author signings, and movie screenings with celebrity guests.
• The annual Hollywood Christmas Parade: The 2006 parade on Nov. 26 was the 75th edition of the Christmas Parade. The parade goes down Hollywood Boulevard and is broadcast in the LA area on KTLA, and around the United States on Tribune-owned stations and the WGN superstation.^[61]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

See also[link]

Los Angeles portal

• Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
• 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike
• Cinema of the United States
• Hollywood cerise
• Hollywood Pictures
• Hollywood Principle
• Hollywood Subway
• Hollywood Walk of Fame
• History of cinema
• List of Hollywood novels
• List of movie-related topics
• List of movies set in Los Angeles
• List of television shows set in Los Angeles
• West Hollywood, California

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hollywood

• Hollywood at the Open Directory Project
• AboutHollywood.com – Top Hollywood Area Resource

Coordinates: 34°06′N 118°20′W / 34.1°N 118.333°W / 34.1; -118.333

	Laurel Canyon	Cahuenga Pass - Hollywood Hills - Hollywood Sign	Los Feliz	v t e
	West Hollywood	Hollywood [1]	East Hollywood & Virgil Village - Silver Lake
	Melrose	Hancock Park	Wilshire, Los Angeles

v t e Greater Hollywood Districts and neighborhoods Beachwood Canyon Cahuenga Pass East Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood Dell Hollywood Heights Hollywood Hills Laurel Canyon Little Armenia Melrose District Melrose Hill Nichols Canyon Outpost Estates Spaulding Square Sunset Hills Thai Town Virgil Village Whitley Heights Yucca Corridor Points of interest Dolby Theatre Griffith Park Grauman's Chinese Theatre Hollywood and Highland Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Sign Walk of Fame See also Beverly Hills Los Feliz West Hollywood Downtown Eastside/Northeast Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Northwest of Downtown San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys South Los Angeles Westside Wilshire

v t e City of Los Angeles Topics History Transportation Culture Landmarks Historic sites Skyscrapers Demographics Crime Sports Media Music Notable people Lists Government Flag Mayors City Council Other elected officials Airport DWP Fire Department Police Public schools Libraries Port Transportation Regions Downtown Eastside/Northeast Harbor Area Greater Hollywood Areas north and west of downtown San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys South Los Angeles Westside Wilshire

Helen Mirren
Mirren at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011.
Born	Helen Lydia Mironoff (1945-07-26) 26 July 1945 (age 66) Chiswick, Middlesex, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1965–present
Spouse	Taylor Hackford (1997–present)
Partner	Taylor Hackford (1986–1997)
Website
Official site

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.

Early life and family[link]

Mirren was born Helen Lydia Mironoff^[1][2] in Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Chiswick, West London.^[3] Her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov (1913–1980), was of Russian origin, and her mother, Kitty (née Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda Rogers; 1909–1996), was English.^[4] Mirren's paternal grandfather, Colonel Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov, was in the Tsarist Army and fought in the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. He later became a diplomat, and was negotiating an arms deal in Britain, when he and his family were stranded during the Russian Revolution.^[5] The former diplomat became a London cab driver to support his family.

His son, Helen Mirren's father, changed the family name to the Scottish-sounding Mirren in the 1950s and became known as Basil Mirren. He played the viola with the London Philharmonic before World War II, and later drove a cab and was a driving-test examiner, before becoming a civil servant with the Ministry of Transport. Mirren's mother was from West Ham, East London, and was the 13th of 14 children born to a butcher whose father had been the butcher to Queen Victoria.^[4] Mirren considers her upbringing to have been "very anti-monarchist".^[6]

The first house she remembers living in was in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, when she was two or three years old, after the birth of her younger brother, who was named Peter Basil after his grandfather and great-great-grandfather. Mirren was the second of three children, born two years after her older sister Katherine ("Kate"; born 1942). She later lived in Leigh-on-Sea.

Education[link]

Mirren attended St Bernard's High School for Girls in Southend-on-Sea, where she acted in school productions, and subsequently a teaching college, the New College of Speech and Drama in London, "housed within Anna Pavlova's old home, Ivy House" on the North End Road – which leads from Golders Green to Hampstead, N. London. At age eighteen, she auditioned for the National Youth Theatre and was accepted. By the time she was 20, she was Cleopatra in the NYT production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Old Vic, which led to her signing with the agent Al Parker.^[7]

Theatre[link]

Early years[link]

Her work for the NYT led to Mirren joining the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), playing Castiza in Trevor Nunn's 1966 staging of The Revenger's Tragedy, Diana in All's Well That Ends Well in 1967, Cressida in Troilus and Cressida and Phebe^[8] in As You Like It in 1968, Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1970, and Tatiana in Gorky's Enemies at the Aldwych and the title role in Miss Julie at The Other Place in 1971. She also appeared in four productions, directed by Braham Murray for Century Theatre at the University Theatre in Manchester between 1965 and 1967.^[9]

In 1970 Director/producer John Goldschmidt made the documentary film Doing Her Own Thing about Mirren at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The film was made for ATV and shown on the ITV Network in the UK.

In 1972–73 Mirren worked with Peter Brook's International Centre for Theatre Research, and joined the group's tour in North Africa and the US which created The Conference of the Birds. Returning to the RSC she played Lady Macbeth at Stratford in 1974 and at the Aldwych Theatre in 1975.

As reported by Sally Beauman in her 1982 history of the RSC, Mirren, while appearing in Nunn's Macbeth (1974) and in a highly publicised letter to The Guardian newspaper, attacked both the National Theatre and the RSC for their lavish production expenditure, declaring it "unnecessary and destructive to the art of the Theatre," and adding, "The realms of truth, emotion and imagination reached for in acting a great play have become more and more remote, often totally unreachable across an abyss of costume and technicalities..." There were no discernible repercussions for this rebuke of the RSC.^[10]

West End and RSC[link]

At the Royal Court in September 1975 she notably played rock star Maggie in Teeth 'n' Smiles, a musical play by David Hare, which was revived at Wyndham's Theatre in May 1976 winning her the Plays & Players Best Actress award, voted by the London critics.

From November 1975 Mirren played in West End repertory with the Lyric Theatre Company as Nina in The Seagull and Ella in Ben Travers' new farce The Bed Before Yesterday ("Mirren is stirringly voluptuous as the Harlowesque good-time girl": Michael Billington, The Guardian, 10 December 1975). At the RSC in Stratford in 1977, and at the Aldwych the following year, she played a steely Queen Margaret in Terry Hands' production of the three parts of Henry VI, while 1979 saw her 'bursting with grace' with an acclaimed performance as Isabella in Peter Gill's otherwise unexceptional production of Measure for Measure at Riverside Studios.

In 1981 she returned to the Royal Court for the London premiere of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. In the same year she also received acclaim for her performance in the title role of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, a production of Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre which transferred to The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London. Reviewing her portrayal for The Sunday Telegraph, Francis King wrote: "Miss Mirren never leaves it in doubt that even in her absences, this ardent, beautiful woman is the most important character of the story."

Her performance as Moll Cutpurse in The Roaring Girl at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in January 1983, and at the Barbican Theatre April 1983), "swaggered through the action with radiant singularity of purpose, filling in areas of light and shade that even Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker omitted." – Michael Coveney, Financial Times, April 1983.

After a relatively barren sojourn in the Hollywood Hills, she returned to England at the beginning of 1989 to co-star with Bob Peck at the Young Vic in the London premiere of the Arthur Miller double-bill, Two Way Mirror, performances which prompted Miller to remark: "What is so good about English actors is that they are not afraid of the open expression of large emotions" (interview by Sheridan Morley: The Times 11 January 1989). In Elegy for a Lady she played the svelte proprietress of a classy boutique, while as the blonde hooker in Some Kind of Love Story she was "clad in a Freudian slip and shifting easily from waif-like vulnerability to sexual aggression, giving the role a breathy Monroesque quality" (Michael Billington, The Guardian).

Broadway debut[link]

A further stage breakthrough came in 1994, in an Yvonne Arnaud Theatre production bound for the West End, when Bill Bryden cast her as Natalya Petrovna in Ivan Turgenev's A Month in the Country. Her co-stars were John Hurt as her aimless lover Rakitin and Joseph Fiennes in only his second professional stage appearance as the cocksure young tutor Belyaev. "Instead of a bored Natalya fretting the summer away in dull frocks, Mirren, dazzlingly gowned, is a woman almost wilfully allowing her heart's desire for her son's young tutor to rule her head and wreak domestic havoc....Creamy shoulders bared, she feels free to launch into a gloriously enchanted, dreamily comic self-confession of love." (John Thaxter, Richmond & Twickenham Times, 4 March 1994).

Mirren was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Actress (Play): in 1995 for her Broadway debut in A Month in the Country, now directed by Scott Ellis ("Miss Mirren's performance is bigger and more animated than the one she gave last year in an entirely different London production", Vincent Canby in the NY Times, 26 April 1995). Then again in 2002 for August Strindberg's Dance of Death, co-starring with Sir Ian McKellen, their fraught rehearsal period coinciding with the terrorist attacks on New York on September 11, 2001 (as recorded in her In the Frame autobiography, September 2007).

National Theatre[link]

Mirren had an unhappy experience at the National Theatre in 1998 when she played Cleopatra to Alan Rickman's Antony. In 2000 Nicholas Hytner, who had worked with Mirren on the film version of The Madness of King George, cast her as Lady Torrance in his revival of Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Michael Billington, reviewing for The Guardian, described her performance as "an exemplary study of an immigrant woman who has acquired a patina of resilient toughness but who slowly acknowledges her sensuality."

At the National Theatre in November 2003 she again won praise playing Christine Mannon ("defiantly cool, camp and skittish", Evening Standard; "glows with mature sexual allure", Daily Telegraph) in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra directed by Howard Davies.

“This production was one of the best experiences of my professional life, The play was four and a half hours long, and I have never known that kind of response from an audience ... It was the serendipity of a beautifully cast play, with great design and direction, It will be hard to be in anything better.” (In the Frame, September 2007).

She played the tragic title role in Jean Racine's Phèdre at the National in 2009, in a production directed by Nicholas Hytner. The production was also staged at the amphitheater of Epidaurus on 11 and 12 July 2009.

Selected stage credits[link]

• Cleopatra, Anthony and Cleopatra, Old Vic Theatre, London, 1965
• Cathleen, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Century Theatre, Manchester,England 1965
• Kitty, Charley's Aunt, Century Theatre, Manchester, 1967
• Nerissa, The Merchant of Venice, Century Theatre,Manchester, 1967
• Castiza, The Revenger's Tragedy, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, 1967
• Diana, All's Well That Ends Well, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1967
• Cressida, Troilus and Cressida, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1968
• Hero, Much Ado about Nothing, Aldwych Theatre, 1968–1969
• Win-the-Fight Littlewit, Bartholomew Fair, Aldwych Theatre, 1969
• Lady Anne, Richard III, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970
• Ophelia, Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970
• Julia, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970
• Tatyana, Enemies, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
• Harriet, The Man of Mode, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
• Title role, Miss Julie, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
• Elayne, The Balcony, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1971
• Isabella, Measure for Measure, Riverside Studios Theatre, London,1974
• Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1974, then Aldwych Theatre, 1975
• Maggie, Teeth 'n' Smiles, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1975, then Wyndham's Theatre, London, 1976
• Nina, The Seagull, Lyric Theatre, London, 1975
• Ella, The Bed before Yesterday, Lyric Theatre, 1975
• Queen Margaret, Henry VI, Parts I, II and III, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1977, then Aldwych Theatre, 1978
• Title role, The Duchess of Malfi, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1980, then The Roundhouse, London, 1981
• Grace, Faith Healer, Royal Court Theatre, 1981
• Cleopatra, Antony and Cleopatra, Pit Theatre, London, 1983
• Moll Cutpurse, The Roaring Girl, Barbican Theatre, London, 1983
• Marjorie, Extremities, Duchess Theatre, London, 1984
• Madame Bovary, 1987
• Angela, "Some Kind of Love Story," and dying woman, "Elegy for a Lady," in Two-Way Mirror (double-bill), Young Vic Theatre, *London, 1989
• Sex Please We're Italian, 1991
• Natalya Petrovna, A Month in the Country, London, 1994, then Criterion Theatre, New York City, 1995
• Antony and Cleopatra, Royal National Theatre, London, 1998
• Collected Stories, London, 1999
• Lady Torrance, Orpheus Descending, Donmar Warehouse, London, 2000
• Alice, Dance of Death, Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 2001–2002
• Mourning Becomes Electra, Lyttelton Stage, Royal National Theatre, 2003
• Phedre, National Theatre, 2009
• Also appeared as Susie Monmican, The Silver Lassie; in Woman in Mind, Los Angeles.

Film[link]

Mirren at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego, 22 July 2010

Mirren has also appeared in a large number of films throughout her career. Some of her earlier film roles include Age of Consent, O Lucky Man!, Caligula, Excalibur, 2010, The Long Good Friday, White Nights, When the Whales Came and The Mosquito Coast. She appeared in Some Mother's Son, Painted Lady, The Prince of Egypt and The Madness of King George. One of her other film roles was in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, as the eponymous thief's wife, opposite Michael Gambon. Her favourite film is Teaching Mrs. Tingle, in which she plays sadistic History teacher, Mrs Eve Tingle.^{[citation needed]}

Mirren continued her successful film career when she starred more recently in Gosford Park with Maggie Smith and Calendar Girls where she starred with Julie Walters. Other more recent appearances include The Clearing, Pride, Raising Helen, and Shadowboxer. Mirren also provided the voice for the supercomputer "Deep Thought" in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. During her career, she has portrayed three British queens in different films and television series: Elizabeth I in the television series Elizabeth I (2005), Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006), and Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, in The Madness of King George (1994). She is the only actress ever to have portrayed both Queens Elizabeth on the screen.

Mirren's title role of The Queen earned her numerous acting awards including a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award, among many others. During her acceptance speech at the Academy Award ceremony, she praised and thanked Elizabeth II and stated that she had maintained her dignity and weathered many storms during her reign as Queen. Mirren later appeared in supporting roles in the films National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Inkheart, State of Play, and The Last Station, for which she was nominated for an Oscar.^[11]

In preparation for her role as a retired Israeli Mossad agent in the film The Debt, Mirren reportedly immersed herself in studies of Hebrew language, Jewish history, and Holocaust writing, including the life of Simon Wiesenthal, while in Israel in 2009 for the filming of some of the movie's scenes. The film is a remake of a 2007 Israeli film of the same name (Hebrew: Ha-khov).^[12]

Television[link]

Mirren is known for her role as detective Jane Tennison in the widely viewed Prime Suspect, a multiple award-winning television drama that was noted for its high quality and popularity. Her portrayal of Tennison won her three consecutive BAFTA awards for Best Actress between 1992 and 1994.

Some of Mirren's other television performances include Cousin Bette (1971); As You Like It (1979); Blue Remembered Hills (1979); The Twilight Zone episode "Dead Woman's Shoes" (1985); Losing Chase (1996); The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999), where her performance won her both the Emmy and the Golden Globe; Door to Door (2002); and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003). In 1976, she appeared with Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates and Malcolm McDowell in a production of Harold Pinter's The Collection as part of the Laurence Olivier Presents series. She also played Elizabeth I in 2005, in the television serial Elizabeth I, for Channel 4 and HBO, for which she received an Emmy Award. Mirren won another Emmy Award on 16 September 2007 for her role in Prime Suspect: The Final Act on PBS in the same category as in 2006.

Mirren hosted Saturday Night Live on 9 April 2011.^[13]

Awards and recognition[link]

Film awards[link]

Mirren at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards

In 1984, Mirren won Best Actress for her role in the film Cal at the Cannes Film Festival and the 1985 Evening Standard British Film Awards. In 1994 and 2001, she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her roles in The Madness of King George and Gosford Park, respectively. In 1995, she had also been awarded for Best Actress once again in Cannes for playing Queen Charlotte in The Madness of King George.^[14] In 2002, she received the SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Gosford Park. Mirren is the first female actress to be nominated for three acting performances at the Golden Globe Awards in the same year. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Leading Role in the movie drama category for Stephen Frears' The Queen in 2006 (along with two nominations in the Actress in a Mini-series or TV Movie category for Elizabeth I, and Prime Suspect: Final Act). She won both Golden Globes for The Queen and Elizabeth I and also won two SAG awards the same year for the same roles. Mirren is the third actor to win two Golden Globes in the same year, and the first ever to win for both leading roles in TV and film in the same year. She is one of only three actresses (the first was Liza Minnelli in 1973 and then decades later Helen Hunt) to win a Golden Globe, an Oscar and an Emmy for performances given in the same year.

Along with the Golden Globe, Mirren's acclaimed performance in The Queen won her the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actress.^[15] She also received Best Actress awards from the Venice Film Festival, Broadcast Film Critics, National Board of Review, Satellite Awards, Screen Actors Guild and a BAFTA, as well as critics awards from all over the world. Entertainment Weekly recently ranked her Number 2 for Entertainer of the Year for 2006 and also won the award for best actress in film at the new Greatest Britons Awards for her role in The Queen. In 2007, Mirren became an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin.

She won the Best Actress award at the 2009 Rome International Film Festival for her performance as Tolstoy's wife in The Last Station.^[16]

Academy Award nominations[link]

• Best Actress
  • 2006 – The Queen
  • 2009 – The Last Station

• Best Supporting Actress
  • 1994 – The Madness of King George
  • 2001 – Gosford Park

Television awards[link]

Mirren won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Mini-series or TV Movie in 1997 for her role in Losing Chase. She received two nominations in the Actress in a Mini-series or TV Movie category for Elizabeth I, and Prime Suspect: The Final Act, where she only won the Golden Globe for her title role performance in Elizabeth I. In that same year she won an SAG award for that same role. Mirren also won an Emmy for her role in Elizabeth I in category Lead Actress in a Mini-Series or a Movie in 2006. She had previously won an Emmy twice before, in that same category, in 1996 for her role in Prime Suspect: Scent of Darkness and in 1999 for The Passion of Ayn Rand.^[17]

At the end of a triumphant year of awards for her acclaimed movie performance as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen, Dame Helen also collected a 2007 Emmy Television award as Best Actress in a Mini-Series for her performance as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect: The Final Act. She now has four Emmy awards. This seventh, and apparently concluding instalment, of the Prime Suspect saga portrayed Tennison as an alcoholic destined for retirement. It was screened in the US on the public service network PBS.

Emmy Awards[link]

Awards won are indicated by bold lettering.

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

• 1993 – Prime Suspect 2
• 1994 – Prime Suspect 3
• 1996 – Prime Suspect 4: "Scent of Darkness"
• 1997 – Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment
• 1999 – The Passion of Ayn Rand
• 2003 – The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
• 2004 – Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness
• 2006 – Elizabeth I
• 2007 – Prime Suspect: The Final Act

• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie

• 2003 – Door to Door

Critics' Circle Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts[link]

Mirren at The Critics' Circle Awards Luncheon in April 2007

Each year, since 1988, The Critics' Circle has presented an award for Distinguished Service to the Arts voted for by all members of the Circle embracing: Dance, Drama, Film, Music, Visual Arts and Architecture. At a celebratory luncheon, on 10 April 2007 in the National Theatre's Terrace Restaurant, the award for 2006 was presented to Dame Helen Mirren.^[18] As David Gritten, chairman of the Film section made clear, the decision to make the award was voted on in November 2006, well in advance of the awards hubbub that surrounded her performance in The Queen. Accepting the award, an engraved crystal rose bowl, Mirren described it as the most useful she has ever received, while reflecting poignantly that this now "might be the last award I will win in my life. It has been a most incredible year. You do the work and then....." Previous recipients include Peter Hall (1988), Judi Dench (1997) and Ian McKellen (2003).

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire[link]

On 5 December 2003, she was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). When she received the honour, Mirren commented that Prince Charles was "very graceful" but forgot to give her half of the award. Another person had to remind him to give Mirren the star. She also said that she felt wary about accepting the award and had to be persuaded by fellow comrades to accept the DBE. In 1996, she had declined appointment as a Commander of the order (CBE).^[19]

Personal life[link]

Mirren married American director Taylor Hackford (her partner since 1986) on 31 December 1997, his 53rd birthday. The ceremony took place at the Ardersier Parish Church near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.^[20] The couple had met on the set of White Nights. It is her first marriage, and his third (he has two children from his previous marriages). Mirren has no children and says she has "no maternal instinct whatsoever."^[21]

In the August 2011 issue of Esquire magazine, Mirren said, "I am quite spiritual. I believed in fairies when I was a child. I still do sort of believe in the fairies. And the leprechauns. But I don't believe in God."^[22]

Mirren's autobiography, In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures, was published in the UK by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in September 2007. Reviewing for The Stage, John Thaxter wrote: "Sumptuously illustrated, at first sight it looks like another of those photo albums of the stars. But between the pictures there are almost 200 pages of densely printed text, an unusually frank story of her private and professional life, mainly in the theatre, the words clearly Mirren's own, delivered with forthright candour."^[23]

In 1990, Mirren stated in an interview that she is an atheist.^[24]

In a GQ interview in 2008, Mirren stated she had been date raped as a student and had often taken cocaine at parties during the 1980s.^[25][26] She stopped using the drug after reading that Klaus Barbie made a living from cocaine dealing.^{[25][26][27][28]}

On 11 May 2010, Mirren attended the unveiling of her waxwork at Madame Tussauds London. The figure reportedly cost £150,000 to make and took four months to complete.^[29]

Criticism[link]

In July 2010, during the Anglo-American BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Mirren declared herself to be "embarrassed and mortified at being British" had England defeated the US at football during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. "I was so relieved it was a draw because, you know, if Britain had beaten America, what with BP, which to my mind stands for bloody p***-poor."^[30][30]

This provoked an angry response in the UK, where the tabloid The Daily Mail accused her of being disloyal and cynically playing up to her American audience.^[31]

References in pop culture[link]

• The Mars Volta on their 2008 album The Bedlam in Goliath have a song called "Ilyena" that is named after Mirren.^[32] Mars Volta lyricist/singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala has stated an affinity for Mirren.^[33]

Filmography[link]

Further reading[link]

• Command Performance, a profile of Helen Mirren written by John Lahr in The New Yorker magazine, 2 October 2006
• In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures (autobiography) by Helen Mirren, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2007 ISBN 978-0-297-85197-4.
  • Rather than writing an autobiography Helen Mirren was commissioned by Alan Samson at Orion Books to write about her life in a series of chapters based on pictures from her extensive personal collection of photography and memorabilia. Edited by Chris Worwood, with whom she worked on the Award-winning HBO series Elizabeth, the book covers every aspect of her life from her aristocratic Russian heritage to her days with Peter Hall's RSC company to her Academy Award for The Queen.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Helen Mirren

• Official website
• Helen Mirren at the Internet Movie Database
• Helen Mirren at the TCM Movie Database
• Helen Mirren at the Internet Broadway Database
• Helen Mirren at the MBC Encyclopedia of Television
• Helen Mirren Biography at Tiscali
• The Helen Mirren Appreciation Society, official fan club
• Helen Mirren on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Helen Mirren in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Helen Mirren collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Helen Mirren collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Arifa Akbar, "Helen Mirren: The good, the bad and The Queen", (interview), The Independent (London), 27 May 2007
• Kevin Maher, Dame Helen Mirren: I'm an Essex Girl (interview), The Times (London), 12 February 2010
• Morley Safer profile of Helen Mirren on CBS 60 Minutes, 7 January 2007