Helen Mirren

Actress Helen Mirren owns a lavish mansion valued at $10 million which she purchased way back in 1986. The mansion served as the residence for the actress and her director husband Taylor Hackford for more than two decades before Helen leased it out in 2007 for a reported rental price of $40,000 per month. The house was built more than a century back in the year 1911 and was once owned by the iconic silent film Hollywood actor Dustin Farnum.

Location: Mirren’s dream home is located in the iconic Sunset Hills neighborhood in Hollywood Hills in the Californian city of Los Angeles.

Accommodation: The two storied villa offers a total living space of 6700 square feet and is situated in the middle of a 6.5 acre estate. It has been equipped with 5 bedrooms, a big living room, one medium sized dining area, a modern kitchen, 7 bathrooms and two covered parking spaces capable of holding four big cars simultaneously. The guest house measuring about 2,700 square feet is separate from the main villa. The luxury mansion offers great views Los Angeles city and the design conforms to the Mediterranean style of architecture.

Features: The villa boasts of a huge outdoor swimming pool equipped with a stone paved deck area. The flooring of the house has been completed using costly materials like hardwood and marble. The mansion has been equipped with a gravity heating system. Three of the bathrooms have been fitted with Jacuzzis and there is also an indoor spa. Round the clock security has been provided along with a newly installed state of the art electronic surveillance system. The indoor bar possesses some of the most expensive wine selections from around the world.

Neighborhood: Top bracket Hollywood stars like Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz and Halle Berry own homes in Mirren’s immediate neighborhood.

Dame Helen Mirren purchased a heritage farmhouse five years back in a deal estimated to be close to the half a million dollar mark. The house was built over 500 years back and once served as a medieval Prince’s residence. It was abandoned and in complete disarray and not fit for habitation when Mirren bought it. The actress spent close to $400,000 to renovate the villa and make it fit for human occupation which now serves as Mirren’s and her director husband Taylor Hackford’s holiday home. The couple occasionally spends their vacations in their new home.

Location: The farmhouse is situated in Puglia, Italy just one mile off the Mediterranean coast.

Accommodation: The house possesses two bedrooms, one living room, a dining room and two bathrooms. It even boasts of a creepy medieval underground dungeon!

Features: The farmhouse is surrounded by a well maintained courtyard housing native olive trees, rose bushes and a small vineyard. It is surrounded by a mediaeval stone wall and several turrets. A moat runs through the entire length and breadth of the estate. Mirren provided the ancient home with an ecofriendly touch when she installed solar panels for heating purposes.

Helen Mirren owns a holiday home in Southern Italy so its not a surprise that she chose to vacation here. Anyone who saw her in her red bikini, enjoying in the waters and taking photographs would find it hard to believe that she is past 60 years of age! She is a regular here and she loves it too. That is why she bought her holiday home too!

Location: The term 'Southern Italy' is used to describe southern regions of the European sovereign nation Italy. It is constituted by the two major islands, Sardinia and Sicily.

Accommodation: Italy is a very tourist-friendly country. All the major brand-hotels have their bases here. One could avail of inns, hotels, resorts and villas based on one's budget.

Main Attractions: Being home to the largest number of UNESCO sites in the world, Italy has no dearth of attractions. The cities of Florence, Rome and Venice are complete tourist destinations by themselves. One could start off by exploring the canals of Venice before visiting the historic Colosseum in Rome. The beautiful cathedral, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, should never be missed and it will present a photographer's delight. Those with a taste in history could choose to spend time at the Piazza del Campo in Tuscany or explore the ruins of the city of Pompeii which was destroyed by the eruption of the volcano, Mt.Vesuvius. Lovers of nature and scenery must visit the Amalfi Coast which boasts of an amazingly rugged coastline or Lake Como where one could stay amidst nature in villas. The Leaning tower of Pisa and the towers at San Gimignano are other edifices worth spending time at. Naples too is located in Southern Italy and one would have to keep aside days to explore it.

Mirren has campaigned heavily for this charity. It is an independent non-profit organization which is dedicated to the people of UK residing in the most deprived communities. It inspires children and their families to raise their literacy levels in order to help them build a literate nation.

The actress raised a lot of funds for this charity which is an international amalgamation of organizations in more than 90 countries which works together as part of a global movement for change. It believes in helping to find permanent solutions for problems like poverty, injustice and suffering.

Helen has campaigned for this charity. It is non-partisan diverse faith foundation helping to build friendship, reconciliation and trust between young Palestinian and Israeli children and their communities. Their mission is to develop trust through education and other extracurricular programs so that the future generation will live in a peaceful manner.

Among the various couturiers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Jacques Azagury stands as a cut above the rest with his exciting and rich evening wear which have been the dresses of choice for many celebrities who have chosen to walk the red carpet. It was the same story in the case of stalwart, Helen Mirren too who chose the golden Fall 2010 dress for the European premiere (London) of ‘Brighton Rock’.

When it came to stylishly adorning her feet, ms. Mirren chose the platform sandals from tyhe Italian women's specialist footwear company, Sergio Rossi. These sandals have been constituted in plush suede and has been dotted all along with Swarovski crystals. The 1.5 inch platform seems perfect in height.

Helen Mirren looked like a luscious apple as she donned the rich crimson-red, stretch-jersey dress from Michael Kors. With a zip fastening and concealed hook, the long-sleeved dress comes with a ruched knot in the draped front side from the American fashion-designer famous for women's sportswear.

In an event to showcase the jewels of brand Cartier, Helen Mirren picked the dainty yet strong diamond-drop earrings made from 18K white gold. The earrings, measuring 7 cms in height, feature black ceramic, onyx, mother of the pearl and paved diamonds.

When Helen Mirren was spotted at the 83rd Academy awards, she was sporting a satin clutch from the world-famous Salvatore Ferragamo. The grey clutch comes with arrives with a silver-metal frame and a crystal-covered gancio. It is from the Italian shoe-designer who has today specialized into fashion accessories as well.

During the 69th annual Golden Globe awards, Ms.Mirren wore a blue semi-flowing dress with floral accents on the skirt. The gorgeous dress arrives from the house of the American fashion pair, Badgley Mischka who design clothes for many celebrities including oprah Winfrey and Melissa Etheridge.