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.
Mirren was born Helen Lydia Mironoff in Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Chiswick, West London. 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. 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. 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. Mirren considers her upbringing to have been "very anti-monarchist".
Plot
Junior League of Raleigh to Host North Carolina's 2005 Inaugural Ball Events will celebrate newly elected governor, Council of State RALEIGH, (December 8, 2004) - The 1600 member Junior League of Raleigh is planning the 2005 Inaugural Ball for the governor, lieutenant governor and the members of the Council of State. The League, which is the only Junior League in the country to sponsor an inaugural ball, has hosted North Carolina's since 1933. This year's events will take place Jan. 14 and 15. Friday's events include a luncheon for First Lady Mary Easley and a reception for Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue. A reception, gala presentation and ball honoring Governor Mike Easley will be held Saturday evening, January 15. "The Junior League of Raleigh is privileged to help North Carolina celebrate its newly elected and re-elected officials," said Susan McAllister, Junior League of Raleigh president. "For 75 years our League has been committed to training volunteers to improve the community. The funds generated by the Inaugural Ball festivities will help us further this important mission and continue to make a difference in the lives of many North Carolina citizens." Proceeds from past balls have funded programs and projects sponsored by the Junior League of Raleigh in Wake County and statewide, including Communities in Schools of North Carolina, Heritage Park Community Learning Center and SAFEchild. This year's theme "North Carolina Firsts" highlights the state's unique firsts including: the first state-funded art museum in the country in Raleigh, the first Pepsi - created and served in New Bern in 1898 and the famous "first flight" in Kitty Hawk in 1903. The events will feature many of the state's prominent musicians and entertainers, and food will be provided by numerous North Carolina vendors.
Plot
This film details the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, as played by Cate Blanchett. The main focus is the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.
Keywords: 1550s, 16th-century, advisor, allegiance, anne-boleyn, assassination, assassination-attempt, assassination-plot, axe, bare-breasts
Declared illegitimate aged 3. Tried for treason aged 21. Crowned Queen aged 25.
Absolute power demands absolute loyalty.
Lord Robert: Remember who you are. Do not be afraid of them.
Sussex: Princess Elizabeth. You are accused of conspiring with Sir Thomas Wyatt and others against Her Sovereign Majesty, and are arrested for treason. I have been commanded to take you hence from this place... to the Tower.
[Offering Elizabeth his coat before putting her in the tower]::Arundel: Madam, you are cold.::Elizabeth: I do not need your pity.::Arundel: Accept it, then, for my sake.::Elizabeth: Thank you. I shall not forget this kindness.
Queen Mary: Why will you not confess your crimes against me?::Elizabeth: Because, Your Majesty, I have committed none.::Queen Mary: You speak with such sincerity. I see you are still a consummate actress. My husband is gone. They have poisoned my child. They say it is a tumor.::[Moans in pain]::Elizabeth: Madam, you are not well.::Queen Mary: They say this cancer will make you queen, but they are wrong. Look there, it is your death warrant. All I need do is sign it.::Elizabeth: Mary, if you sign that paper you will be murdering your own sister.
Queen Mary: When I look at you I see nothing of the king, only that whore, your mother. My father never did anything so well as to cut off her head.::Elizabeth: Your Majesty forgets he was also my father.
Sir Francis Walsingham: All Norfolk need do is sign this paper and treason will have been committed.::Elizabeth: Then let him sign it, and let it all be done.
Elizabeth: I have rid England of her enemies. What do I do now? Am I to be made of stone? Must I be touched by nothing?
Elizabeth: Aye, but marry who, Your Grace? Would you give me some suggestion? For some say France and others Spain, and some cannot abide foreigners at all. So I am not sure how best to please you unless I married one of each.::[laughter]::Noble: Now Your Majesty does make fun of the sanctity of marriage.::Elizabeth: I do not think *you* should lecture me on that, my lord, since you yourself have been *twice divorced*... and are now upon your third wife!::[laughter]
Elizabeth: This is the Lord's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes.
Elizabeth: When I am queen, I promise... to act as my conscience dictates.::Queen Mary: Well do not think to be queen at all!
If you're feeling lonely and if you're feeling blue and
things are at their worst/If you know your history then
just what I do: Sing a song about Elizabeth the First/
Some say she was a tyrant. She was mean to all her
vassals/But then hey, I wasn't there. Maybe her vassals
all were assholes/And her daddy left four step moms with
the women that he wedded/And he got a little paranoid and
had her mom beheaded/And her cousin tried to kill her so
she locked her in a garrison/It makes your folks divorce
seem pretty minor by comparison/Oh, Elizabeth, get some
sleep/Take that crazy crown on off your head/The Spanish
armada has been battled back to Spain/And now you run the
middle ages from the middle of your bed/She had a lot of
suitors. Lots of princes made a pass at her/I bet that
once or twice she would make out with an ambassador/But
the couriers and courtiers were uppity and boring/She had
crushes on explorers but they always went exploring/So
she never kept a king. She held her independence higher
and/Her sexual frustration, she just took it out on
Ireland/Oh, Elizabeth, get some sleep/Wipe that crazy
frown on off your head/The Catholic insurgents are all
lying in a ditch/And now you run the middle ages from the
middle of your bed/And they named a colony after her/And
they called it Virginia cuz she's the Virgin Queen/Which
seems to me awfully personal/Oh, Elizabeth, get some
sleep/Wipe those crazy tears on off your head/Your poets
and your pirates they all like you as a friend/And you