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Helen Mirren named recipient of American Cinematheque Award
The Industry Jun 06, 2023
Helen Mirren. | Photo courtesy of Harald Krichel/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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Helen Mirren was named Monday the 37th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award, honoring a career that has brought her Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards.
American Cinematheque Board Chair Rick Nicita called Mirren “an unparalleled icon among actors.”
“She has portrayed characters from queens to seductresses with a singular skill that has never lost its freshness or appeal,” Nicita said in a statement. “She brings a savvy intelligence and emotional strength to all her roles because, as movie stars do, the camera shows us the essence of who they are. Movie audiences eagerly embrace her talents in a career that glows brighter with every captivating performance. The American Cinematheque is proud and honored to present Helen Mirren with the 37th American Cinematheque Award.”
The award will be presented Nov. 4 at a gala event at the Beverly Hilton. The event is American Cinematheque’s annual fundraising event that supports its film programming in Santa Monica, Los Feliz and Hollywood.
The American Cinematheque Award has been presented annually since 1986, honoring an “extraordinary artist currently making a significant contribution to the art of the moving picture.”
Previous winners include Eddie Murphy, Bette Midler, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Bradley Cooper, Charlize Theron, Amy Adams, Ridley Scott, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Downey Jr., Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Martin Scorsese and Scarlett Johansson. Last year’s honor went to Ryan Reynolds.
Born on July 26, 1945, in the London suburb of Chiswick, Mirren won a best actress Academy Award in 2007 for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen.”
Mirren received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of another queen, Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, in the 1994 film “The Madness of King George.”
Her other Academy Award nominations were for her roles as a housekeeper in the 2001 mystery comedy-drama “Gosford Park” and the wife of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy in the 2009 biographical drama “The Last Station.”
She won two Emmys for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie for her portrayal of Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in the British series “Prime Suspect.”
Mirren won two other Emmys in the category for her portrayals of Queen Elizabeth I in the 2005 HBO two-part miniseries “Elizabeth I” and novelist Ayn Rand in the Showtime made-for-television movie “The Passion of Ayn Rand.”
Other Mirren films include “Hitchcock,” “Calendar Girls,” “State of Play,” “Some Mother’s Son,” “The Debt,” “Arthur,” “Teaching Mrs. Tingle,” “The Tempest,” “Love Ranch” and “The Long Good Friday.” More recently she appeared in “Fast X” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”
Mirren began her acting career portraying Cleopatra in a 1965 National Youth Theatre production of “Antony and Cleopatra” and has continued to work extensively on the London stage. She received best actress Tony Award nominations for her appearances on Broadway in “A Month in the Country” and “The Dance of Death,” and she won a Tony in 2015 for “The Audience.”
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