Few have caught a glimpse of the early photos that give an insight into how Helen Mirren’s showbiz journey began.
Pictured here are the moments captured in time by photographers’ lenses, following her as the star of Cleopatra at London’s Old Vic theatre, which she took part in at the tender age of 20.
Although the 76-year-old made her acting debut as a teenager with a Hamlet performance in 1963 and a role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1964, it was the 1965 performance of Anthony and Cleopatra that many view as her big break.
Helen herself has described the theatre show as the “role that launched my career”.
Talking in her book, Helen Mirren: My Life In Words and Pictures, she joked: “It’s always good to be Queen… [in a world when] the word sexist had not yet been invented.”
She recalled the challenges of being in “an environment full of testosterone and chaotic male hormones” and the endurance test of suffering from flu at the same time – and in those days, she even did her own hair and make-up.
The unveiled photos might be a far cry from the Helen Mirren followers know and love today, but they are an intriguing glimpse into how her glittering career began.