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Usherette at the Everyman
Gerald Isaaman finds that a black dress and a torch were Helen Mirren’s essential kit in one of her first cinematic roles in Hampstead
IN THE FRAME: MY LIFE IN WORDS AND PICTURES. By Helen Mirren.
Weidenfeld and Nicolson £20 order this book
OSCAR-winning actress Dame Helen Mirren has revealed the role that Hampstead played in her past. It was there that she slept in her coat because she couldn’t afford to feed the gas meter. It was there that she worked as an usherette in the Everyman cinema.
And it was in Hampstead that she learnt about sex – and to this day does not have a high regard for the men who solely and selfishly wanted to enjoy her company so that they could end up in bed with her.
Those were the days when Helen was a student at the New College of Speech and Drama, based at Ivy House, North End, Hampstead – the old home of the Russian ballerina Pavlova – and a member of Michael Croft’s National Youth Theatre in St Pancras.
It was in London that the Essex girl from Southend found sex – “or rather it found me,” she writes in her picture book autobiography, In the Frame. “It was not a wonderful discovery or one sought out by me.
“It became the source of much heartache as I experienced the calumny of young men. I had arrived an innocent in mind and body, with very romantic notions that somehow sat side by side with my vehement feminism. It turned out to be a lethal mix.
“My trustful romantic nature was badly let down, my feminism confronted. I felt worthless and shamed, and became suspicious, hurt and angry, until I found someone who really cared for me.
“I am still pissed off, actually.”
Living on a small local authority grant made life difficult, she explains. “We had absolutely no money. I often went to bed wearing my coat as I could not afford to feed the gas-fire meter. Pubs cost money too, but at least they were warm and you could pretend to be drinking by getting lost in the crowd.
“There was also a coffee bar in Hampstead called the Coffee Cup, where the owners kindly let you sit for hours with one cup of coffee… It was hard enough to eat, let alone pay for hot water.
“As a supplement to my income, I got a job as an usherette in the Everyman art cinema in Hampstead. I had a torch and a black dress.
“I loved both the costume and the role. There I got to see some of the greatest films of all time. In particular I remember Citizen Kane, which I saw many times.”
Dame Helen, now 62, was 17 when she auditioned for the National Youth Theatre, certain that she would be rejected as she had been for the Royal Ballet School. But she won a place, and lived for a while with her Auntie Gwen in nearby Hampstead Road.
After walk-on parts she played Helena in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wearing a costume with Diana Rigg’s name-tag sewed into it. The following year, 1965, she starred in a production of Cleopatra. And that launched her career, with agents queuing up to represent her.
Dame Helen’s dip into the past displays her remarkable talent and determination, and brings it to nostalgic life with a wonderful array of photographs and memorabilia, including her post-war ration book.
She reveals too why it was not until late in life that she finally married the American film director Taylor Hackford a decade ago.
“I don’t mean to flippant, but I think a part of it was that I did not need to wear the [wedding] dress,” she insists. “Maybe a lot of women get married because they are longing to wear that big white dress and the beautiful tiara, look lovely and get their make-up done. They crave to be the centre of attention for a day at least.
“I had had the opportunity to experience all that by being an actress.
“I had beautiful dresses handmade for me, make-up done on me, people looking at me and so forth as a part of my profession.
“So that particular reason for getting married was not pertinent. I was also happy not to be particularly responsible to anyone or for anyone except my work and myself...
“In fact I had a recurring nightmare about getting married. I could be walking down the aisle, big dress, veil, church full of well-dressed people, knowing that in some hotel there was a vast, expensive banquet arranged, knowing it was a horrible mistake but not being brave enough to say so.”
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