10 Films That Got Actors Taken Seriously
2. The Long Good Friday - Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren noted that the 70s were the worst time to be taken seriously as a woman in Hollywood, and you need look no further for evidence than Michael Parkinson painfully interviewing Mirren where he introduced as the 'sex queen' of the Royal Shakespeare Company and of possessing a 'sluttish eroticism'.
Having to conform to the precedent of scantily clad leading ladies before her who were given little to do and even less to wear, Mirren began her career playing nude model Cora Ryan in Age of Consent. While she was also required to take her kit off for Savage Messiah and Caligula she delivered solid performances in both but unsurprisingly critics chose to focus on - as Parkinson so gracefully called it - "her equipment" rather than her acting.
Battling this tide of misogyny, Mirren managed to defy expectations in 1980 British gangster film The Long Good Friday where she was able to start the new decade with a breakout performance. Even the harshest critic could not dismiss her as eye candy which marked the start of her successful career which is still going four decades later.