Our Canadian friends are celebrating Victoria Day today,
a holiday commemorating the birthday of Queen Victoria and also in honor of the current Queen Elizabeth.  It also seems to be the unofficial opening of the summer season, when people head to their cottages for the first time, presumably thinking of England all the while.  Most of
us probably have a picture in our head of Queen Victoria, either taken from a history book or perhaps a movie, and Victoria Day is a great time to look at some of the ladies who brought this formidable monarch to life.

Queen Victoria, who was on the throne from 1837 until her death in 1901,
first turned up in several silent movies and many times since in movies
and perhaps even more television productions,
especially in Britain.  Her persona, honed by portrayals over the
years, makes her a character seen in both drama and often in a more
affectionate comic way, the way Abraham Lincoln, especially of all
our Presidents, is both the subject of serious drama and
raucous comedy.  All the love and respect Americans have for
Lincoln is mirrored in the way Queen Victoria is used over there as
beloved national figure with a unique personality eminently suited for
pop culture veneration.

Probably the best
known recent movie Victoria is Judi Dench’s humanized Queen in Mrs.
Brown, which tells the story of her late-in-life friendship
with Mr. Brown, played by comedian Billy Connolly, who tries to bring
the still-mourning Victoria back to life after the
death of her beloved husband Albert.  Dench was nominated for
an Oscar for her portrayal, too, and it was one of the
finest interpretations of the monarch ever on the
screen.  Though the character of Queen Victoria
often is relegated to a colorful cameo to give a little
kick to a story, there are many fine
Victoria-related movies out there.

American Irene Dunne gave a nicely-turned performance as Queen
Victoria in The Mudlark, which like Mrs.
Brown deals with the recent widowhood of the Queen and the efforts of
those around her to help ease her our of her sorrow.  Mr.
Brown turns up as a character here, too, as well as British
politician Disraeli, who would often appear with Victoria in movies
about their roles in British history.  In 1916′s silent
Disraeli as well as George Arliss’ triumph in the
1929 Disraeli, Queen Victoria was a strong
character brought to life by Mrs. Henry Lytton and Margaret Mann,
respectively.  The Queen was played by actress Fay Compton
in 1941′s The Prime Minister, in which John
Gielgud did his turn as Benjamin Disraeli.

While on stage celebrated actresses like Helen Hayes were
making their mark playing Victoria, onscreen the British actress Anna
Neagle made two films about her life, 1937′s Victoria the
Great and Sixty Glorious Years in 1938. 
In 1939 Queen Victoria turned up as a character in the sentimental Shirley Temple
drama The Little Princess, too.

In a slightly more lighthearted vein, the immensely talented
Peter Sellers even did a turn as Queen Victoria in
1974′s The Great McGonagall (about a poet in Victorian times) with
beloved Brit comic (The Goon Show) Spike Milligan as McGonagall.  Queen Victoria has
also turned up in episodes of popular British TV shows such as Red
Dwarf, Black Adder, and most recently actress Pauline
Collins (who was nominated for an
Oscar for her title role in 1989′s Shirley
Valentine) did her turn as the Queen in an episode of
the current Doctor Who.  Also in this vein would be
actress Prunella Scales (who will be most familiar to comedy fans as
the scathing Mrs. Sybil Fawlty in the John Cleese
favorite Fawlty Towers) who has played Victoria several
times in movies and on TV and also has a successful
touring play about the Queen that she has taken all over the
world. 

Quite recently, American
actress Kathy Bates played Queen Victoria in the Walt Disney 2004 version of
Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, an
ambitious and elaborate production starring British actor/comedian Steve
Coogan as Phileas Fogg and Jackie Chan as Passepartout which
unfortunately was a big flop at the box office. 

Victoria will again
be brought to the screen in The Young Victoria,
starring Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) as a young
and beautiful Princess Victoria.  The appeal of British royalty
never wears off in the movies — or in life — and it will be good see
the fascinating life of Queen Victoria highlighted again for new
audiences to discover. 

Happy Victoria
Day!