Honorary Graduates
Orations and responses
Dame Helen Mirren
Oration given on 14 July 2004
Chancellor, the Senate of the University has resolved that the degree of
Doctor of the University be conferred upon DAME HELEN MIRREN
When I was first asked to write this oration for Helen Mirren, I
immediately thought of the words of St. Luke and Wayne’s World – "I am not
worthy ........" but then, as I read more and more about Helen Mirren’s
roots and career I realised that, impressive and intimidating as her career
has been, every published interview with her talks of her lack of pomp, her
warmth, her natural charm and her openness.
She is a quintessentially British actress who has managed to conquer two
continents.
She is an artist who is at home on the stage as she is on the screen. For
nearly 40 years, she has continued to stay at the top of her profession. If the
international awards circuit is anything to go by, she must have spent much of
those years at awards events – with nominations for every major prize going
including five for The Golden Globes, six for the Emmys, two for the Oscars,
five for the BAFTAs, three for the Tonys, two for the Oliviers, three for Screen
Actors Guild and two at Cannes – to mention but a few.
And along the way – she also went home with some booty – winning The Golden
Globe in 1997, two Emmys in 1996 and 1999, three BAFTAs in 1992, 1993 and 1994,
the Screen Actors Guild in 2002, the New York Film Critics Circle Award in 2001,
the London Film Critics Circle in 2002 and Best Actress Awards at the Cannes
Film Festival in 1984 and 1995, and there were more.
But none of this success has gone to her head. In a recent interview in a Los
Angeles newspaper, the reporter was much taken by this British actress who, he
said "lends an adult air to an otherwise infantile industry more interested in
comic books than class acts."
The reporter then goes on to be amazed at her personal life. He says "In a
town filled with as many serial marriers as there are murderers, she’s been in
the same relationship with the same guy for twenty years. How does Helen do it?"
It is perhaps a sad commentary on Hollywood culture that a journalist should be
amazed by a hugely successful actress having a stable personal life. But then,
Helen Mirren has always been fiercely conscientious in both her own life and in
her work.
And, of course, she is an Essex girl by birth. She was born in Ilford,
educated in Westcliffe-on-Sea, and hardened up in Southend, where she worked as
a "blagger" – rounding up punters to go on the rides at Kursaal Park. She is a
walking advert for a multi-cultural Britain – the daughter of a Russian
immigrant, raised in a family who knew the meaning of hard work with a father
who knew that fascists had to be dealt with in one’s own neighbourhood, and not
merely on battlefields across a continent.
Despite her talent for acting in her younger days, her parents encouraged her
to be practical and to enter teacher training, which she did. But fortunately
for the theatre world, Helen Mirren joined the National Youth Theatre, for whom
she played Cleopatra in 1965, and within a few years she was in the Royal
Shakespeare Company, thus beginning an extraordinary career.
But, indicative of her adventurous and serious nature, in 1972 she joined
Peter Brook’s extraordinary experiment in international theatre, travelling
8,500 miles through remote villages in Africa, performing "Conference of the
Birds" and sharing stories and culture with African tribes people. This was no
theatrical "luvvie" seeking publicity, but a serious artist exploring the bounds
of her craft.
She returned to the UK, continuing her career and her success. In 1974, the
great drama critic Harold Hobson wrote of her performance in Trevor Nunn’s
Macbeth. He said:
"An increase in our delight is the civilised, controlled, intelligent
and irresistible sexuality of Helen Mirren’s Lady Macbeth. It would be mere
male chauvinism to deny that Miss Mirren plays everyone else off the stage.
When the stage was only occupied by Macbeth himself, McDuff and so on, I was
wishing the author would get on with it, would get rid of them and let us see
what was happening to this marvellous actress. I really do regret that
Shakespeare never knew Miss Mirren. We would have had a very different play
then."
During the 1970’s and 1980’s, she continued to throw herself into interesting
projects, such as Dennis Potter’s remarkable TV production of "Blue Remembered
Hills". And then there was her wonderful performance in "Cal", a phenomenally
risky, disturbing and yet beautiful film based on the tragedies engulfing
Northern Ireland, a performance which won her the best actress award at the
Cannes Film Festival in 1984.
And her career just seems to go on, with remarkable performances of
Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams and Chekhov on stage, and her immense popularity
with "Prime Suspect" which made her a household name on both sides of the
Atlantic. In all, she has performed in some 130 theatre productions, films and
TV plays, most recently in "Gosford Park" and "Calendar Girls" which won her
even more acclaim. But typical of her spirited approach to her art, with these
two huge film successes under her belt, she then chose last year to perform on
stage in the three and a half hour epic "Mourning Becomes Electra."
She has worked with some of the world’s most famous leading actors and
directors, Peter Brook, Trevor Nunn, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Sean Penn,
Robert Altman, Ian McKelan, Nicholas Hytner, and thus it is perhaps indicative
that in one of her latest films, with Robert Redford and Willem Dafoe, she put
herself into the hands of a new writer and a first-time director.
In every way possible she is a "star", but she is also an artist who has
never lost touch with her roots or her convictions.
She has become an active campaigner internationally in support of Oxfam’s
crusade against the small arms trade, even being invited to address the United
Nations. She has also actively supported Action Aid, trying to stop the Asian
sex slave trade, and she has no hesitation in railing publicly in the press
about the ways in which rich societies such as America can tolerate the abuse of
trust which resulted in the Enron collapse.
As an artist she is courageous, pushing herself to find truth in her
performances, often laying bare soul in her work. She has brought integrity to
her art and to her profession. She has brought honour to the ideal of being an
actor. It was perhaps inevitable that in 2003 she was awarded the title Dame of
the British Empire, one of the few British actresses to be so honoured.
And thus it is only right and proper that the University of Essex, in the
County in which she grew up, that we pay tribute to her achievements today, and
we are all grateful that she should join us today to accept this tribute.
It is my great honour to say, Chancellor, I present to you HELEN MIRREN
Orator: Mr John Baraldi