Mirren on Fundamentalists

Among the many beauty-pageant questions lobbed at winners tonight from the parking lot behind the Shrine: Actress Helen Mirren, who won an Emmy for playing Elizabeth I in HBO's movie of the same name, was asked what the queen would have to say about the world today.

Mirren went into auto-pilot with a world-so-different-now-blah-blah-blah answer, then--snapping out of it and seeing opportunity-- said, "The one thing she did have to deal with was religious fundamentalism. It was a constant battle in her life trying to keep fundamentalists apart. I do believe this absolutely is going to be the major issue of our world."

Mirren was asked -- I know you see this coming -- "What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?" Surprisingly, the actress -- who forbid PBS publicists from mentioning that the day she appeared at the press tour to hawk "Prime Suspect" was her birthday -- responded that the best advice she ever got was from her mother, who told her: "Never be afraid of getting older, because as you get older, you find you love being what age you are."

By Lisa de Moraes  |  August 27, 2006; 11:18 PM ET 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
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