Years before he became famous, first for his role as Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List,” and then became an action star with “a special set of skills” in “Taken,” Liam Neeson was an Irish actor living in London.
He was years away from meeting his future wife, Natasha Richardson, but he wasn’t living in the city by himself. On the set of the 1981 film “Excalibur,” Neeson had gotten to know his co-star, Helen Mirren, and the two began a relationship. While it didn’t last, they parted amicably. Forty years later, and Mirren still has only kind things to say about her old love.
Helen Mirren Remembers Neeson’s 80s Ambitions
Mirren recalled to “The New York Times” that she and Neeson were living in London in the early ’80s, and that Neeson was drawn to a painting in a secondhand store. Neeson wanted to be in American films, and the painting depicted a cowboy riding a horse through the plains. She recalled that he told her that he wanted to be that cowboy.
âWhen we had our talks about our dreams, and that was very much Liamâs dream, it was highly unlikely at that point to ever come to fruition,â Mirren said. âBut thatâs what Liam would talk about, and itâs extraordinary to see it happen for him.â
She ended up buying him the painting as a gift.
âI will love Liam until the day I die,” she added.
The On Set Meeting That Made Liam Neeson Smitten
When Neeson and Mirren appeared on “The Graham Norton Show” in 2018, he recalled meeting her on set for the first time while hanging out with actor Ciaran Hinds.
“I remember being out of the set — this was Ardmore Studios, Dublin — and Helen had a break,” the “Naked Gun” actor said. She was filming. But she was in costume, and we were there just visiting; we hadn’t started work yet. And the first AD or the second AD said, ‘Would you like to meet Helen Mirren?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’”
“She walked from like, a hundred yards away, dressed as Morgana le Fay,” he continued. “And Ciaran’s my oldest friend, and we both went, ‘[expletive].’ I was smitten.”
Mirren looked flattered and told him, “I never knew that! You never told me that before, that’s amazing.”
Mirren met director Taylor Hackford a year after she and Neeson split up, and they began dating shortly after. After a decade together, they got married in 1997.
Neeson went on to star in the revival of “Anna Christie” in 1993, where he met Natasha Richardson. “It was great doing it every night with her and falling in love,” he said. They married in 1994 and welcomed two sons before she died in 2009.
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