Dame Helen Mirren wanted to be Brigitte Bardot.
The Oscar-winning actress used to dream of being as glamorous and successful as the iconic French film star when she was a "fat, spotty" insecure teenager growing up in Southend-on-Sea, South East England.
She told the Radio Times magazine: "It was the time of Brigitte Bardot as well, and I terribly wanted to be Brigitte Bardot. I was a fat, spotty girl in Southend-on-Sea so there wasn’t much chance of that, but I do remember sitting on the sea front and imagining, hoping, dreaming, wishing, being absolutely sure that a big producer would drive by in a car with a cigar and lean out of the window and say, ‘Hey, what’s your name? You’re the one I’ve been looking for!’ "
The 67-year-old actress admits that while she was drawn to playing challenging film roles, when she first started out the main appeal of becoming a Hollywood star was the fame and notoriety it would afford her.
The ‘Hitchcock’ star admitted: "I was very romantically taken by the idea of those great, powerful theatre actresses. But I think if I was to absolutely honest I just wanted to be a star – which is awful really!"