Helen Mirren received the SCAD Savannah Film Festival’s 2026 Legend of Entertainment Award Saturday, as the Savannah event continues through Oct. 31.
Mirren also walked the festival’s red carpet. She is known for her Oscar-winning performance as Queen Elizabeth in the 2006 film “The Queen.”
Mirren described Savannah as a city she loves and said her only earlier visit was in the late 1980s. She also said she knows Stratton Leopold, owner of Leopold’s Ice Cream, and wanted to stop at the shop after spotting it for the first time while speaking.
In advice to SCAD students and other young creatives, Mirren said talent is only part of success; luck and the way people approach their work and collaborators matter, too. She cautioned against treating “follow your dream” as a guarantee, saying some dreams can be fantasies, and stressed the value of hard work.
When jobs are hard to find, Mirren advised young people to create their own opportunities, such as starting a theater company or writing a play.
Yolonda Harris
News Now Georgia
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