I was never that kind of star

"There's a scary moment when you realise you're no longer the youngest person in the room. Especially if you've been a successful young person. That's followed, of course, by the realisation that you're actually the oldest person in the room."

"I still have a Gypsy sense of adventure. I don't think I have slept in the same bed for more than three or four months my whole life. I am always planting vegetables that I never get to eat and flowers that I never see flower. I have always moved around the world."

"Two phrases I hate in reference to female characters are 'strong' and 'feisty.' They really annoy me. It's the most condescending thing. You say that about a three-year-old. It infantilises women."

"Sometimes nudity is sexy. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes being clothed is more sexy than being nude."

"I was never that kind of star. I was never cast because I was gorgeous."

The utterly magnificent Dame Helen Mirren is seventy years old today - all hail!

And - just because - here she is singing Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow with Peter Sellers (in bad "Fu Manchu drag"):

Helen Mirren - Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-Wow

Many happy returns, Dame Helen Lydia Mirren DBE (née Mironoff, born 26th July 1945)