Dame Helen Mirren credited her success to her mantra of "be on time and don't be an a**" as she accepted a SAG Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dame Helen Mirren at the SAG Awards
The 76-year-old actress was honoured with the accolade for her lengthy career at Sunday's (27.02.22) ceremony and joked the honour sounded "grand", but didn't feel like she'd done anything particularly out of the ordinary.
Taking to the stage at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar following a career retrospective and introductions from Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett, she said: "Lifetime achievement? It sounds so grand. I guess I am still alive, so I am eligible. But honestly, any achievement that I've succeeded in, is a result of my mantra, which is basically, be on time and don't be an a**."
She then quipped: "I hate to say the word 'sag' at my age, it's always S.A.G. for me."
The 'Duke' star dedicated her win to her fellow "rogues and vagabonds" in the acting industry.
Name-checking performers she has admired over the years, she said: "Of course, we know it takes a myriad of people to make a drama... but now, it is the actors I address...
I joined a tribe of rogues and vagabonds years ago, and it is you, you actors, that I want to thank, for you wit and humour. I've laughed my whole life, honestly... Together we laugh, we weep, we worry, we change clothes, we throw up and we suffer diarrhoea. Don't you? I do.
"This is for the actors. Thank you."
Speaking on the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, Helen admitted it was "absolutely amazing" for her to be recognised by her fellow actors.
She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "I have to say, it's absolutely amazing. I joined SAG when I first came to America to make a film in the late '70s... and it's not just that it's coming from my peers, it's the fact that it's coming from American actors, I have to say, is particularly important for me.
"When I was in England doing theatre, I was a great admirer of American film acting, and I still am. I just find what American actors do on film is extraordinary, and we all watch that and try to learn from it so, so receiving it from my fellow American actors is very important.
"We come and go, all of us as actors. you know, and you have your moment in the sun if you're lucky.
"The great thing about film acting is that your performances can live for a long time... I just want to have been a respectful and a creative member of the acting profession in the time that was allotted to me."
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