We didn’t need another reason to love Dame Helen Mirren, but a recently re-surfaced clip, which shows the legendary actress shutting down sexist comments on a TV chat show, has given us just that.
Back in 1975, Mirren had already garnered critical acclaim for her stage career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The then 30-year-old was preparing to take on the iconic role of Lady Macbeth – and was subjected to her first ever TV interview with host Michael Parkinson.
The interview hit an uncomfortable note from the start, with Parkinson introducing the actress as a ‘sex queen’ before quoting one theatre critic who describes Mirren as ‘especially telling in projecting sluttish eroticism.’ Grim.
Things get worse from there on in, with Parkinson describing Mirren as, in air quotes, “a serious actress”’ (because how could a woman actually understand Shakespeare?) before going on to ask whether her ‘equipment’ and ‘physical attributes’ hinders this pursuit.
Non-plussed, Mirren forces Parkinson to explain exactly what he is referring to before shutting down the host with the quip, ‘Because serious actresses can’t have big bosoms is that what you mean?’
‘I think it might detract from the performance,’ Parkinson counters, ‘If you know what I mean.’
(Gif via Upworthy)
Cue a perfect ‘Ugh!’ from Mirren (which will become our go-to ‘exasperation’ GIF henceforth) and an equally perfect response.
‘What a crummy performance if people are obsessed with the size of your bosom or anything else. I would hope that the performance, and the play, and the living relationship between all the people on the stage and all the people in the audience overcome such boring questions.’
Advantage, Mirren.
Looking back on the experience in a 2011 interview with The Telegraph, Mirren was suitably impressed with her own performance – and suitably outspoken in her criticism of Parkinson. ‘That's the first talk show I'd ever done. I was terrified. I watched it and I actually thought, ‘Bloody hell! I did really well,’ she said. ‘I was so young and inexperienced. And he was such a f**king sexist old fart. He was. He denies it to this day that it was sexist, but of course he was.’
Helen Mirren: anti-sexism crusader since 1975…
Watch Helen’s interview below…
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