Mirren to reprise <i>Prime Suspect</i> role

Dame Helen Mirren is set to reprise her role as DS Jane Tennison for Prime Suspect 7! The last installment of the ITV crime drama had 9 million viewers.
Scripts are being written for a new two-part drama, reports The Sun. An ITV spokeswoman told the paper that Helen was keen to go ahead.

HMAS Founder Peter Wright dies

Founder Peter Wright died suddenly on May 22, 2004. The Helen Mirren Appreciation Society sends our deepest sympathies to Peter's family and friends. He will be greatly missed.

Dame Helen's investiture today

Helen Mirren has been invested as a dame during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. After receiving her honour from Prince Charles, the 58-year-old star said: "It is just the greatest theatre I have ever been in."

Dame Helen, daughter of an exiled Russian aristocrat, said she had never believed she would receive the award. "It was just lovely. I just felt my mouth go ever so slightly dry. I just thought, 'Don't be so silly'. I am incredibly proud. I am amazed."
Dame Helen was accompanied by her husband, US director Taylor Hackford, her sister Kate Mirren and her grandniece Natasha Fitzgerald.

Helen Mirren returns to PBS in a new Prime Suspect

Will she or won't she? Great news for fans of television drama: She will.

Helen Mirren will reprise her Emmy Award- winning role as tough-talking Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison in a new two-part episode of Prime Suspect for PBS's ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre.

"Countless fans have asked if Helen Mirren will do another Prime Suspect, said Masterpiece Theatre Executive Producer Rebecca Eaton. "Now, we can answer with a resounding 'yes'-and assure them that this new Prime Suspect will be worth the wait."

Filming begins in London next month for Prime Suspect 6, a Granada and WGBH Boston co-production in association with the CBC. In the new series, Tennison's determination to get justice for victims at all costs conflicts sharply with the politics of her new high-ranking position as overseer of all murder investigations.

During its 1992-97 run on PBS, the enormously popular Prime Suspect won the Emmy for Best Mini-Series three times, while its star twice took home the statue for Best Actress. "Mirren has brought off the most sustained example of great acting in the history of television," Esquire wrote.

"Prime Suspect has always been a cultural zeitgeist, and this new series is no exception, tackling contentious issues of the moment. Helen Mirren is one of our greatest stars and we can't wait to work with her again,"

said Andy Harries, Controller of Granada Drama.

Prime Suspect 6 will be produced by David Boulter (The Forsyte Saga 2), written by Peter Berry (The Luzhin Defense), and directed by Tom Hooper (Cold Feet, Daniel Deronda, Love in a Cold Climate). The Executive Producers are Rebecca Eaton for WGBH Boston and Andy Harries for Granada. ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre has been presented on PBS by WGBH for thirty years. Rebecca Eaton is Executive Producer. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Russell Baker is series host. The series is fully funded by ExxonMobil. Additional funding for Prime Suspect 6 is provided by PBS.

Emmy nominations

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
For best actress in a mini series or movie made for tv Helen was up against Maggie Smith in My House in Umbria (winner), Jessica Lange in Normal, Helena Bonham Carter in Live in Baghdad, and Thora Birch in Homeless to Harvard.

Door to Door
For best supporting actress in a mini series or movie made for tv Helen was up against Kathy Baker, also for Door to Door, Anne Bancroft for The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, Juliette Lewis for Hysterical Blindness, Gena Rowlands for Hysterical Blindness (winner).

Oscar nomination for Mirren in <i>Gosford Park</i>

Helen Mirren has been nominated for an Academy Award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role for her portrayal of Jane Wilson in Robert Altman's Gosford Park. Other nominees are Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind, Maggie Smith, also in Gosford Park, Marisa Tomei in In the Bedroom and Kate Winslet in Iris.

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2001 will be presented on Sunday, March 24, 2002.

Emmy for <i>Ayn Rand</i>

Helen Mirren won the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Emmy award for Best Actress in a Mini-series of Movie for her p

ortrayal of novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand in Showtime's production of Barbara Branden's biography The Passion of Ayn Rand.

"Helen looked stunning in a silver spangled velvet gown (by Badgley Mischka, ed.), a month after saying she was dreading the Emmy's because of problems over what to wear. Two years ago, Miss Mirren was reduced to tears when comedienne Joan Rivers called her the worst dressed award winner at the Golden Globes" This is London

Helen Mirren portrait unveiled at National Portrait Gallery

The portrait, painted by Ishbel Meyerscough, was commissioned by NPG Trustees. The unveiling took place at a dinner for Ms. Mirren and Michael Caine, whose portrait was unveiled at the same occasion. The gallery states that the portrait is oil on board and measures 13.74 x 13.58.

The Wedding

After claiming for years that she was not the marrying kind, Helen Mirren surprised her fans and delighted the town of Ardersier, Scotland when she stood before the altar in Ardersier Parish Church, New Year's Eve 1997. Surrounded by a small gathering of family and close friends, Helen and Taylor exchanged vows and then headed off down the road to a reception at the 400-year old Castle Stuart.



Up until the last minute, Helen has been quoted as saying that she did not believe in marriage. "I might get married," Helen stated in a recent interview, "but it would be a backward step. The reason I never wanted to marry is because I've never wanted to be divorced."

Now, a year later, Helen says that the "best thing she had ever done in her life was to become a wife.
"All my life I hated the idea of getting married. I thought it would always be a massive mistake for me. Then one day almost exactly a year ago i just felt it would be the right thing for me to do. I had been with Taylor for 15 years. He'd given me respect and loyalty and I trusted him 100% but still I was terrified it would change our relationship. I told him I would marry him on the condition that nothing would change. But when I woke up on the morning after the wedding I realised everything had changed and I loved it. I felt totally and utterly different. I was his wife and he was my husband and it was such an enormous thing to me. It was wonderful. Even after almost a year I still feel a shiver when I hear him say 'my wife' and I get this enormous sense of pleasure when I say 'my husband'. "