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Tuesday, 9 October 2007

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Helen Mirren: Queen's drab clothes made me weep

Oscar winner didn't understand a woman who wore such dowdy fashion

Helen Mirren says the idea of wearing the Queen's frumpy wardrobe to play Her Majesty reduced her to tears.

'There were brown shoes, tweed skirts, Barbour jackets and handmade scarves,' says Dame Helen.

'I cried, literally cried. I thought, "I can't pretend to be someone I don't understand who would choose these clothes".'

Luckily, the 62-year-old changed her mind and went onto win a Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Queen.

But it was only after she discovered the beauty hidden underneath the Monarch's plain garb.

'If it was a tweed skirt, it was the best you could get,' she explained at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

'I grew to love portraying someone so unlike me, who is not vain. She has no vanity. She has all the jewellery in the world but she is happiest in an old skirt and wellies.'


Phil Boucher