Rise to Fame
She spent four decades winning over British theatre before Hollywood noticed. The stage career was real: seven Olivier Awards, stints with the RSC, a career built the hard way. Mrs Brown in 1997 was the door. Then Shakespeare in Love arrived, and she played Queen Elizabeth I for roughly eight minutes of screen time before walking away with the Oscar. The Academy had been watching the wrong person in that film.
In the Spotlight
Now 91, she's been open about losing her sight to age-related macular degeneration, diagnosed in 2012. In November 2025, she told ITV she 'can't recognize anybody now' and can't see to read. She told Graham Norton in 2023 that acting 'has become impossible.' She still makes occasional public appearances. The way she talks about going blind without drama or self-pity is its own kind of performance.
Side Notes
Her father was the house doctor for the York Theatre Royal, so actors regularly stayed at the family home growing up. She became a Quaker at 14. She got her first tattoo at 81, 'Carpe Diem' on her wrist, a birthday gift from her daughter Finty. Her current partner is wildlife conservationist David Mills, who got her attention in 2010 by inviting her to open a squirrel enclosure at his wildlife centre.