Mirren to receive Chaplin Award

Helen Mirren will receive Chaplin Award Photo: Giles Keyte

The 72-year-old, who received a BAFTA fellowship in 2014, joins previous winners of the award, including Robert De Niro, Bette Davis and Sidney Poitier, which was inaugurated in 1972, when Charlie Chaplin returned to the US from exile to accept the commendation.

The society's board chairman Ann Tenenbaum said: “It is an honour and a pleasure for us to present Helen Mirren with our 45th Chaplin Award. From housemaid to Queen and everything in between, Ms. Mirren has delivered masterful performances of complex characters, upending stereotype after stereotype along the way.”

Executive director Lesli Klainberg added: “Ever since her debut in Michael Powell’s Age Of Consent in 1969, Helen Mirren has been lighting up screens with one finely crafted performance after another.

“From her Oscar-winning role in The Queen to her brilliant work in The Long Good Friday, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife And Her Lover, The Madness Of King George, Gosford Park, The Tempest, The Last Station, Red, Hitchcock, Woman In Gold, and Eye In The Sky, she has shown her exquisite range and proven her commitment to excellence and the art of cinema. The Film Society is honoured to present the 45th Chaplin Gala Award to Helen Mirren.”