Presumably now that’s Helen Miren has won an Oscar for portraying (and humanizing) QEII, the latter will show some appreciation for that – and for the other fine work she’s done – and give her an OBE.
Whaddya think – this year? next year?
December 5, 2003.
Oops.
How come she’s never called “Dame Helen Mirren” then? It’s always “Dame Judi Dench.”
Given that her parents were rabidly antimonarchical, I suspect that she might still have some kind of residual distaste for the structure of royal honours. She’s pretty low-key, and may just not want to flaunt a title. But I think she’s due for an upgrade… not the Garter, surely, but something a bit more elevated than an OBE.
CNN.com now reports that Mirren and The Queen’s director and screenwriter may be sipping tea with Her Majesty as early as next week. Her first question to them is sure to be, “What was the deal with that stag, anyway?”
They ought to invite Tony Blair, too…
She’s a Dame, the female equivalent of a knighthood. That’s a bit more elevated than an OBE. FWIW, over here she’s referred to as Dame Helen all the time. I don’t know her parents views on the monarchy but her grandfather was a Russian aristocrat who left after the Revolution.
In several interviews I’ve seen or heard - including on NPR several months ago, and the Barbara Walters special just before the Oscar broadcast - Mirren said that her parents were very anti-monarchy, and thought the House of Windsor was a parasite on the British body politic, or words to that effect.
Someone should film a scene of Queen Elizabeth II knighting Det. Chief Supt. Jane Tennison for service to the realm, standing before a painting of Queen Elizabeth I, while the famous actress Dame Helen Mirren looks on. Mirren could play all four - and has! 
But it will never be as satisfying to use her title and name when you bark your shin as it is with “Dame Judy Dench.”
There is nothing like a Dame.
I don’t find her portrayal of Helen Mirren that convincing.
Good point. Raul Julia did a much better Helen Mirren.
Well, she’s already a broad, so…
Darn you…
Huh. I only saw clips from the Oscars, but I seem to remember her referred to as Dame Helen quite a few times.
Okay, I’m an idiot. It was proven I was an idiot with the first response. Could we let this thread die now so I don’t have to be re-humiliated every time I see it?
Google is your friend Twix. Don’t feel bad, I’ve spouted off before checking my facts too, kinda’ smarts though, don’t it.
BTW, Mirren can eat crackers in my bed any time she wants to. She defintely does it for me.
She ain’t just a Dame, she’s a doozy.
Sailboat
When she stars in a revival of South Pacific?
Damn!