Helen Mirren: The Biography of Britain's Greatest Actress (Paperback)

~ Ivan Waterman (Author) "Nobody, least of all Helen Mirren, ever expected to see her trooping up the aisle with her lover, American film director Taylor Hackford, to become..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

One of the best-loved and most highly respected actresses in the world today, Dame Helen Mirren is a chameleon of an actress who has turned her hand to a huge variety of roles. Unearthing the amazing woman behind the professional, this biography traces how a struggling actress with a passion for Shakespeare quickly made her mark on the stage, and went on from there to impress audiences and critics with a host of challenging and varied screen roles, from The Cook, The Thief, and His Wife and Her Lover to her more recent appearances in Calendar Girls, the Prime Suspect television series, her acclaimed performance in The Queen, and the multiple award-winning Elizabeth I, for which she won an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy. Truly a must-have for fans and film buffs alike, this fascinating read charts an incredible woman through her struggle to the top, her relationships with fellow actors including Liam Neeson, and her marriage to film director Taylor Hackman.

About the Author

Ivan Waterman was a journalist for over twenty years, regularly reviewing West End theatre and cinema. He now writes regularly for newspapers such as The Independent and the Sunday Times.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: John Blake (September 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844543978
• ISBN-13: 978-1844543977
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #404,469 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Beware of inaccuracies, January 29, 2004

By	City Of Evanston "djpauly" (EVANSTON, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Helen Mirren: The Biography (Hardcover)

Just thumbing through this I found two errors. Russell Crowe
did not win back to back Oscars and Helen did not lose to
Susan Sarandon but to Dianne Wiest in 1994. Don't know how many
more there are. Too bad the author did this because it makes
me suspect that there are other inaccuracies. Dame Helen
deserves better. There are a lot of nice photographs included.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Truly amateurish biography, April 1, 2007

By	D. Noel "filmscholar" (Victoria, BC Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Helen Mirren: The Biography (Hardcover)

The greatest actress in the world deserves a masterpiece of a biography-and this book is no masterpiece. Aside from many inaccuracies, it's weirdly short on information about it's subject. Entire sections are about other people (eg. the inspriration for Jane Tennison-interesting, but not appropriate in a book about someone else!) The author seems to be trying desperately to fill his book, and too much of it is useless information. A real disappointment. While I collect every movie and item I can get my hands on that has Helen Mirren in it, not even I would buy this book (thankfully I found it at my library). Any pertinent information it contains can be found easily on the internet. I hope a good writer out there is planning on honoring this divine woman with a stellar biography. It's long overdue.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars As Bad as the First Version He Wrote, February 21, 2008

By	Kathleen Mccarthy "BetteFan" (NYC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Victoria is so right-----Helen deserves a masterpiece and this is as lousy as his first go -- this one is supposedly updated, yet again, full of errors and loads of info about people other than Helen ! For now we must settle for the marvelous "In the Frame," and maybe someday we might get the real deal----but this is not it !