Queen Elizabeth II of England passed away yesterday at the age of 96. The monarch herself had an intense and long life, with a reign that spanned seven decades. A life of responsibility for the position not exempt from family scandals that has fueled stories that have made their way into the cinema and television series. We review the career of Isabel II in some of the most outstanding productions on the big and small screen.
A huge Helen Mirren embodied the monarch in the Stephen Frears film that narrated the political consequences that occurred after the tragic death in a car accident of Diana of Wales. The film focused mainly on the talks between the Queen and Prime Minister Tony Blair to reach an agreement on the popular demand for a national mourning. The queen earned six Oscar nominations and won best actress for an incredible Mirren who also won the Golden Globe and the Bafta. In 2013, the actress played her again in Peter Morgan’s play The Audience, which traces 60 years of weekly “audiences” or meetings at Buckingham Palace between the British monarch and her prime ministers.
Based precisely on the successful play by Peter Morgan, Netflix was in charge of signing this succulent and acclaimed series that tells the story of Elizabeth II from her childhood to the present day, where she reviews the relationship between two of the most famous addresses in the world: Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street, with the intrigues, love affairs and machinations behind the events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. The first season of The Crown opens with a 25-year-old princess facing the daunting task of running the world’s most famous monarchy, while also forging a relationship with a domineering Winston Churchill.
Actress Claire Foy is fantastic in her skin in the first two seasons, as is Olivia Colman as a mature woman. The British performer also previously took on the role of the monarch’s mother in Hyde Park on Hudson (2012). Currently, it is veteran Imelda Staunton (The Secret of Vera Drake) who plays her in the fifth season, which premieres next November.
Tom Hooper’s Oscar-winning film focused on the stuttering of George VI, father of Elizabeth II, and his relationship with an expert speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush. The film presented us with a little princess Elizabeth who was only eleven years old with the face of Freya Wilson.
Scottish actress Stella Gonet took on the role accompanying a lonely Lady Di as Kristen Stewart in Pablo Larraín’s fable that tells the story of a pivotal weekend for the Princess of Wales in the early 1990s.
Playing a historical figure like Queen Elizabeth II is not a task within the reach of any actress. The aforementioned ones are fantastic in their respective performances, but if there is an actress who has earned herself the chance to be her official film double, that is Jeannette Charles. She is credited as ‘the queen’, ‘queen of England’ or ‘queen Elizabeth’ in more than 30 works.
Austin Powers in Gold Member, Grab it any way you can or A wacky American family’s European vacation are just some of the productions in which he appears in a brief cameo. He has also appeared on Saturday Night Live. Currently he is 94 years old. Even in longevity he resembles her.
