Helen Mirren Plays Queen to Grant Dying Boy's Wish
Helen Mirren -- who won an Oscar for portraying Queen Elizabeth II in the 2006 film The Queen -- dressed up in her royal best again to fulfill the wish of a dying boy whose request to meet the actual queen was denied.
Mirren, 67, heard about 10-year-old British boy Oliver Burton -- who was born with Down syndrome and is currently facing a third battle with cancer -- and invited him and his family to a performance of her play The Audience in London's West End. In the play, she again portrays Queen Elizabeth.
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After the performance, Oliver -- who doctors have predicted only has weeks to live -- sat down with Mirren for tea and also played with a pair of Corgis featured in the show.
"She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that's good enough for us," the boy's father told Britain's Daily Mail. The actress even "knighted" the boy and "told everyone that they had to call him Sir Oliver," his father added. "He had a brilliant day."