In The Frame

Helen Mirren has been an internationally acclaimed actress for over 40 years. The recipient of many awards, her appeal traverses effortlessly from stage, cinema and television. 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, Pyotr Vasielivich Mironov, a military man, was sent to London by the Tsar and found himself stranded and penniless by the Bolshevik revolution, cut off from the family estate near Smolensk. He brought with him a trunk of papers and photographs. This delightful memoir starts with the contents of the trunk, with evocative pictures of Helen's Russian antecendents. She has kept a rich seam of photographs and memorabilia throughout her life, and her childhood, teenage and early years as an actress living in insalubrious flats are vividly documented.