The “Queen” actress has been in a relationship with the director for three decades. Find out everything you need to know about Helen Mirren’s marriage to Taylor Hackford.
Helen Mirren, 76 years old, is the queen of acting! The Hitchcock star has appeared in thousands of popular and critically acclaimed films throughout her career. From starting her career as Hermia in a 1967 adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to more recent roles in mystery dramas like 2019’s The Good Liar, the British star hasn’t let up. She’s had one man by her side for most of her career: her husband Taylor Hackford, 77, who she’s been with since 1986 and married since 1997. Find out more about Taylor and her marriage her with Helen.
How did Helen and Taylor meet?
Both Helen and Taylor were well established in the film industry when their paths first crossed in 1985. Helen had recently made her acting debut in The Long Good Friday in the 1980s and Taylor had recently in An Officer and a Gentleman and The Idol Maker. The couple met when Helen was cast in Taylor’s 1985 film White Nights. Taylor talked about meeting Helena for the first time in a 2006 profile of the actress for AARP. He revealed that he made her wait a long time for her audition. “It was a strange way to get to know Helena, because she’s a nice person, but she didn’t hold her anger,” he said.
Before meeting Taylor, Helen thought she would never get married, but she really liked marrying the director. She explained that she especially likes to call him her husband in this AARP interview. “I can’t wait to be able to say … you know, ‘My husband is in the moment.’ I absolutely love it,” she said. The couple eventually married on New Year’s Eve 1997.
Taylor is a director and producer
Like his wife, Taylor has been in the entertainment industry for decades, but has mostly remained behind the camera throughout his nearly 50-year career. He made his directorial debut in 1973 with the television film Economic Love-In, and in the same year he published a documentary on the transgressive poet Charles Bukowski. He has directed and produced a variety of genres throughout his career, but perhaps his best-known film is the 2004 biopic Ray Charles, starring Jamie Foxx as the iconic musician. His most recent directing work came in 2016, when he directed The Comedian, starring Robert De Niro, written by Jeff Ross.
Taylor has two children from previous marriages
Although Helen has no children of her own, she is the stepmother of Taylor’s two children from her first two marriages. Taylor was married to Georgie Lowres from 1967 to 1972 and they have a son Rio, 51, who is also an actor and has been on numerous projects including The Mandalorian. His second marriage was to director Lynne Litman from 1979 to 1987, and the couple had a son, Alexander, 43, who heads PlayStation’s creative music business, according to LinkedIn.
Helen has directed three films with Taylor
Although Helen and Taylor have both had extremely busy careers since they met, the couple haven’t worked on many projects together. Aside from White Nights, when the couple first met, the couple only worked on two other films together. The couple didn’t start dating again until 25 years after their first movie together, when Helen starred opposite Joe Pesci in Taylor’s 2010 film Love Ranch. In the play, Helen and Joe play a couple doing business when they open the first legal brothel in Nevada.
The couple won’t reunite on screen for another 12 years, and the couple are working together on the upcoming Sniff movie, which is set to hit theaters in September 2022. In addition to Helen, Taylor has recruited a cast of stars including Al Pacino, Morgan Freeman. and Danny Devito. The film tells the story of a detective who comes out of retirement to take down a notorious criminal mastermind.
He also won an Oscar
Like his wife, Taylor also won an Oscar. In 1978 he received the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for the short film Teenage Father, which briefly told the story of a teenage pregnancy. Taylor received Oscar nominations again in 2005, when Ray was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
Taylor and Helen are tied for the Oscars, with the actress taking home the 2007 award for her lead role in The Queen. Helen has been nominated on three other occasions. Her first credit came in 1995 when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Madness of King George. In 2002 she received another Best Supporting Actress nomination for Gosford Park and in 2009 she was nominated again for Best Supporting Actress for The Last Station.
Helen and Taylor usually spend time apart because of their work
Given how wild the life of an actor and director can be, the couple often spent time apart from each other. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Helen felt this was a blessing in disguise as the couple was able to spend all nights together during the lockdown. “My husband and I have been married for about 30 years, you know, a long time.
But all that time, because of the nature of both of our jobs, we’ve always taken care of the suitcases, the packing. Suitcases are always ready to be packed and unpacked on the floor. We’ve literally never spent that much time together,” she told The Telegraph in an interview in March 2021. “It was really cool to have what most people have. You know, normal, regular, repetitive lives, but longevity. So it was great for both of us in a weird way. I think it was a very compelling experience.
