Product Description

Helen Mirren has been an internationally acclaimed actress and the recipient of many awards, transferring without obvious effort from stage, cinema and television for over 40 years. Known in her youth for a forthright style, a liberated attitude and a bohemian outlook, she has never ceased to be out of the public eye, with legions of admiring fans all over the world. This illustrated memoir is an account of an extraordinary talent, and a life well lived. Helen's aristocratic Russian grandfather was sent to London by the Tsar and found himself stranded and penniless by the Bolshevik revolution, cut off from the family estate. He brought with him a trunk of papers and photographs. This delightful memoir starts with contents of the trunk, with evocative pictures of Helen's Russian antecedents. She has kept a rich seam of photographs and memorabilia from her life, and her parents, family life, childhood, teenage and early years as an actress living in insalubrious flats are vividly documented. Helen's many distinguished roles in theatre, cinema and television and the illustrious men and women she has encountered are commemorated, as well as her forays into Hollywood and her subsequent life in the US with her husband, film director Taylor Hackford. Golden Globe and Oscar ceremonies make their appearance, as do many stunning images of Helen by the world's leading photographers. IN THE FRAME is a book to savour, created and written by one of the great personalities of our age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #83185 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

THE OBSERVER
'her writing is gentle and Alan Bennettish, with tender, melancholy detail'

Review
"a witty, self-deprecating account stuffed with photographs and memorabilia" (Liz Jones MAIL ON SUNDAY )

"truly captivating...the book outclassed its rivals as utterly as a star turn by its author always does" (INDEPENDENT )

"an absolute delight" (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

Fiona Phillips, DAILY MIRROR
'a classy autobiography'

Customer Reviews

Great pictures, feeble writing
Five stars for the many photos Helen has included in this glossy production, but only two for her writing. Clearly the text comes direct from Mirren -- no ghost writer would write this awfully -- but it gives the biography the overall feel of a granny's boasting book.

Deservedly this is going to be a massive seller, because Mirren has put many unseen pictures into the public domain, but I just wish that all Shakespearian actors had as deep an inner life as implied by the words of bard that they mouth. This one doesn't.

It's revealing that Mirren, in her early years, idolised and imitated Brigitte Bardot.

Excellent stuff from a brilliant woman.
I throughly enjoyed this biography. It was refreshing to have acesss to many photographs which only served to enrich the writing. Photographs can say much more than words sometimes, and they brought her family alive to me. I felt Helen's writing was interesting, crafted and down-to-earth. I was left feeling that I knew a little more about one of my favourite actresses of all-time. Many thanks for this Helen, one of the most enlightening and engrossing biographies I've read for a very long time.

A very different autobiography but great unseen photos
Having just finished this book I can say that when I saw the layout I was a little dissapointed. The book is very informative and Mirren is very honest in her writing although a few chapters are not so interesting. A great selection of photos and images from the career of one of the countrys most treasured actresses.