Elizabeth (1997)
In 1558, the Roman Catholic Queen Mary dies of a cancerous tumour in her uterus, leaving her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) as queen. Elizabeth had previously been jailed for a supposed conspiracy to murder Mary but has now been freed for her coronation. The film shows Elizabeth being courted by suitors, including Henry, Duc d'Anjou, the future King Henry III of France, whom she rejects, and urged by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley to marry, which, as he states, would secure her throne. Instead, she has a secret affair with her childhood sweetheart, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The affair is, however, no secret from Cecil, who makes it clear that a monarch has no private life. Elizabeth deals with various threats to her reign, including Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk; her Catholic cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who conspires to have her murdered; Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, who brings French troops into Scotland to attack Elizabeth's forces when they invade.
Elizabeth permanently banishes Dudley from her private presence when she finds out that he is married. Elizabeth feels that such relations could give a man too much power over her. Moreover, cutting off her relations with Dudley is part of the process by which she becomes increasingly tough and assertive, in one scene she carefully prepares and rehearses the speech she would deliver to a recalcitrant Parliament and force through her religious reforms, the Act of Uniformity. She also becomes capable of occasional ruthless behaviour as in unflinchingly ordering the execution of those who she considers dangerous to her rule. After Elizabeth's advisor Francis Walsingham discovers Norfolk and De La Quadra plotting with King Philip, she orders their arrest and execution. Mary of Guise is assassinated by Walsingham, who acted on unofficial orders from Elizabeth. All this is a considerable change from the warm-hearted, rather romantic girl which Elizabeth was in the early parts of the film; remaining such would have been incompatible with being a queen who actually ruled and dominated the men around her, and her transformation is a major theme of the film. The film ends with Elizabeth having her hair cut by Kat Ashley and assuming the vanilla-faced and gowned persona of the 'Virgin Queen', and initiating England's Golden Age. She sits down on her throne, and the screen cuts to black.
Jenny Shircore was the hair and make-up designer (and later won an Oscar for the make-up) and Anita Burger was the make-up artist. In the film, Cate Blanchett (who played Elizabeth) agreed to having her hairline shaved to achieve the authentic Elizabethan look.
Fire Over England
The film is a historical drama set during the reign of Elizabeth I, focusing on England's victory over the Spanish Armada. In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), English privateers such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen bringing gold from the New World.
Elizabeth's chief advisers are the Lord Treasurer, Lord Burleigh, and her longtime admirer, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Burleigh's beautiful granddaughter Cynthia is one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, and the ageing queen is plagued by jealousy of the girl's attractiveness and vitality.
In a sea battle between the Spanish, led by Don Miguel, and the English, led by his old friend Sir Richard Ingolby the English are captured. Miguel allows Richard's son Michael to escape. Michael washes ashore on Miguel's estate, and his wounds are tended to by Miguel's daughter Elena, who quickly becomes enamoured of the handsome Englishman. As the months pass, Michael recovers and laments being apart from Cynthia, his sweetheart, but is nonetheless impressed by Elena's charms.
Miguel brings Michael the sad news that Sir Richard, his father, has been executed as a heretic. The grieving Michael denounces his rescuers and flees to England in a small fishing boat. When he is granted an audience with the Queen he urges her to fight the Spanish menace by whatever means necessary, and swears undying loyalty to her. Elizabeth is flattered by the young man's fervent devotion and later has an opportunity to take advantage of his offer of service when Hillary Vane, an Englishman spying for Spain, is killed before the names of his English co-conspirators can be uncovered.
Michael, disguised as Vane, goes to the court of King Philip II of Spain to get the letters that will set into motion a plan to assassinate Elizabeth. At the palace Michael meets Elena. Her father has been killed by the English and she is now married to Don Pedro, the palace governor. Elena keeps Michael's identity a secret as long as she can, but finally must tell her husband out of loyalty to him.
Philip sees through Michael's disguise and orders his arrest. Pedro helps him escape so that it will not be discovered that his wife aided a heretic. While Michael is returning home, the Spanish Armada sails against England and Elizabeth addresses her army in Tilbury. Michael meets her there and reveals the names of the traitors. Elizabeth knights Michael before confronting the six traitors, inviting them to fulfill their plot and kill her. Overwhelmed with shame, they agree to accompany Michael on a mission to deploy fire ships in a night attack on the Armada, massed off the coast of England. The tactic succeeds, and Elizabeth allows Michael and Cynthia to be wed.
Elizabeth was played by Flora Robson, some say because she lacked the glamorous looks of a leading lady with her high forehead, wide mouth and imposing nose.
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
The Earl of Essex returns in triumph to London after having dealt the Spanish a crushing naval defeat at Cadiz. In London, an aging Queen Elizabeth (Bette Davis) awaits him with love, but also with fear, because of his popularity with the commoners and his consuming ambition. His envious rivals include Sir Robert Cecil, Lord Burghley, and Sir Walter Raleigh. His only friend at court is Francis Bacon.
Instead of the praise he is expecting, Essex is stunned when Elizabeth criticises him for his failure to capture the Spanish treasure fleet as he had promised. When his co-commanders are rewarded, Essex protests, precipitating a break between the lovers. He leaves for his estates.
Elizabeth pines for him, but refuses to degrade herself by recalling him. But when Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone revolts and routs the English forces in Ireland, the Queen has the excuse she needs to summon Essex. She intends to make him Master of the Ordinance, a safe position at court. However, his enemies goad him into taking command of the army to be sent to quash the rebellion.
Essex pursues Tyrone, though his letters to Elizabeth begging for much-needed men and supplies go unanswered. Unbeknownst to him, his letters to her, and hers to him, are being intercepted by Lady Penelope Grey, a lady-in-waiting who loves him herself. Finally, Elizabeth, believing herself to be scorned, sends him an order to disband his army and return to London. Furious, Essex ignores it, orders a night march and thinks he has finally cornered his foe. However, at a parley, Tyrone points out the smoke rising from the English camp, signifying the destruction of the food and ammunition the English army needs. With no alternative, Essex accepts Tyrone's terms; he and his men disarm and sail back to England.
Thinking he has been betrayed, he leads his army in a march on London, to seize the crown for himself. Elizabeth offers no resistance to his forces, but once alone with him, convinces him that she will accept joint rule of the kingdom. He then naively disbands his army and is quickly arrested and condemned to death.
The day of his execution, Elizabeth can wait no longer. She summons him, hoping he will abandon his ambition in return for his life (which she is eager to grant). However, Essex tells her that he will always be a danger to her, and walks to the chopping block.
Perc Westmore was the makeup artist. Bette Davis (who played Elizabeth) aged thirty-one, courageously agreed to have her appearance drastically transformed for the role of the older queen: her hairline was shaved back three inches; her eyebrows were completely shaved and replaced by thinly penciled lines; her lips were made to seem thinner and pouches were drawn under her eyes. A pasty white Elizabethan ‘beauty’ makeup finished the transformation. Strangely, she looked far more like images of the older Queen Elizabeth than she did when she played her again some twenty-five years later in The Virgin Queen (1955) when her real age much more closely matched that of the Elizabeth she was portraying.
The Virgin Queen
In 1581, Walter Raleigh, recently returned from the fighting in Ireland, pressures unwilling tavern patrons into freeing from the mud the stuck carriage of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. When Leicester asks how he can repay the kindness, Raleigh asks for an introduction to Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis), to whom Leicester is a trusted adviser. Leicester grants the request.
Elizabeth takes a great liking to Raleigh and his forthright manner, much to the disgust of her current favorite, Christopher Hatton. As the court ventures outside, Raleigh graciously drapes his cloak (an expensive item borrowed from a reluctant tailor) over some mud so that the Queen need not soil her shoes. At dinner, Raleigh reveals his dream of sailing to the New World to reap the riches there. Elizabeth decides to make him the captain of her personal guard. He enlists his Irish friend, Lord Derry.
Meanwhile, Beth Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies in waiting, very forwardly makes Raleigh's acquaintance. Raleigh's relationship with both ladies is stormy. Beth is jealous of his attentions to Elizabeth, while the Queen is often irritated by his independence and constant talk of the New World. Hatton does his best to inflame her annoyance, but she is too clever to be taken in.
When Hatton informs Elizabeth that an Irishman is a member of her guard, Raleigh is stripped of his captaincy when he protests that his friend is loyal and refuses to dismiss him. Banished from court, Raleigh takes the opportunity to secretly marry Beth. Soon after, however, he is restored to Elizabeth's favour.
Finally, Elizabeth grants Raleigh not the three ships he desires, but one. He enthusiastically sets about making modifications. In private, however, Elizabeth reveals within Beth's hearing that her intentions do not include him actually leaving England. When so informed, Raleigh makes plans to sail to North America without royal permission.
Hatton tells the Queen not only of Raleigh's plot, but also that he is married to Beth. Elizabeth orders the couple's arrest. Raleigh delays those sent to take him into custody so that Derry can try to take Beth into hiding in Ireland, but they are overtaken on the road, and Derry killed. Raleigh and Beth are sentenced to death, but in the end, Elizabeth releases them. They set sail for the New World.
Bette Davis, once again, plays Elizabeth and Perc Westmore was Bette’s make-up artist again. He reportedly persuaded her to shave back her hairline and she wore the nightcap for the Oscars.
Elizabeth R (BBC)
Elizabeth R hit the BBC airwaves 40 years ago on 17 Feb 1971. It adopted a prize-winning formula: six different screenwriters each taking a different slice of the monarch’s life and each writing a 90-minute drama. It capitalised on the new arrival of glorious colour TV, and it was graced at its centre by the towering performance of Glenda Jackson as The Virgin Queen.
In 1971 Glenda Jackson endured physical agonies with costumes that were so heavily padded she had trouble breathing and was unable to bend her arms. Some were also so heavy that she had to remain seated, others so big she had trouble walking through doors. Glenda Jackson endured an arduous makeup (not to mention having her head partially shaved) to imitate Elizabeth’s bizarre appearance. Dawn Alcock was responsible for her make-up.
The Virgin Queen (BBC)
The Virgin Queen is a 2005 BBC and Power co-production, four-part miniseries based upon the life of Queen Elizabeth I, starring Anne-Marie Duff. As a drama, it focused heavily on Elizabeth's private life - particularly her relationship with Robert Dudley, and explored the politics of her reign in rather less depth.
Despite being a biopic of Elizabeth's life and reign, the series presented its main character with particular interest in several themes, most notably the emotional impact of her mother's execution and her love for Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.
The drama played up the ambiguity of Elizabeth's virginity, featuring a scene where Elizabeth fantasises about making love to Dudley. However, Anne-Marie Duff later stated that the director and scriptwriter explicitly told her to play the queen as a lifelong virgin.
Anne Marie’s transformation is as dramatic as that of some of her predecessors in the role: besides the prosthetics and period makeup her hairline has been shaved and her eyebrows and lashes bleached. She commented:
“I wanted to be a woman of her various ages and have integrity within it, not be doing an impression of something … I knew that with the makeup and costume I would look good – the prosthetics not only looked amazing but they gave my face restrictions that it wouldn’t normally have – and we worked on obvious things like vocal differences and the physicality … What I wanted to do was to try and find an old brittle bones approach … I hope I’ve achieved that. I kept thinking in my head, ‘Why on earth have they cast one actress, not two?’ but I just went for it and I hope that it works.”
Neill Gorton was responsible for the prosthetic makeup; Lauge Voigt – Lauge also sculpted the old Elizabeth’s stomach and breasts for her dressing-room confrontation with Essex – and Vicky Bancroft did the on-set application. Karen Hartley-Thomas was makeup designer; Laura Schiavo was makeup artist; Maureen McGill & Anna Morena were hair stylist/makeup artists. FangsFX provided the prosthetic dentures.
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I is a two-part 2005 British historical drama television miniseries.
Part 1
By 1579, Elizabeth I has reigned for about 20 years and has refused to marry. Her chief advisor Lord Burghley and her spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham plan to have her marry the Duke of Anjou, brother of Henry III of France, to make an alliance against Spain. Elizabeth's favourite the Earl of Leicester strongly opposes the match because of his own longstanding affections for her. The Duke of Anjou eventually comes to court Elizabeth, but despite him being to her liking, she is later convinced by Burghley not to marry him because of negative popular opinion towards the match.
Over time, Walsingham gathers evidence to prove that Elizabeth's Catholic cousin Mary, Queen of Scots is plotting to have her killed. Elizabeth is reluctant to have Mary executed because of the war it would likely ignite between England and Spain. During a secret meeting, Mary gives Elizabeth her word that she does not want her dead. Elizabeth hesitantly gives Leicester command of the English campaign to assist the Dutch against Spain, which fails. Once it is proven that Mary has in fact been conspiring against Elizabeth's life, Mary is judged guilty of treason and later executed.
After negotiations between England and Spain fail, a fleet of Spanish ships are sent for England. Elizabeth gives Leicester command of the land forces and rides with him and his stepson the Earl of Essex to Tilbury, where they expect the Spanish to attempt a landing and where Elizabeth delivers a speech to the troops. The Spanish Armada is ultimately defeated, but Leicester falls gravely ill just as they learn of the English victory. Later, on his deathbed, Leicester bids Essex to take care of Elizabeth.
Part 2
By 1589, Elizabeth has made a favourite of Essex and falls in love with him. She is openly outraged when he takes part in an English military expedition to Lisbon against her wishes, but she forgives him in spite of his failure to take the city from the Spanish. She grants him 10 percent of a tax on sweet wines and a seat on the Privy Council, of which Lord Burghley's son Robert Cecil was also recently made a member. Essex and Cecil develop a rivalry, as illustrated by the affair of Elizabeth's physician Dr. Lopez, who is hanged based on evidence brought forth by Essex of his participation in a Spanish plot against Elizabeth, evidence proven questionable after the fact by Cecil.
Essex's political ambitions begin to clash with his devotion and loyalty to Elizabeth. As Elizabeth finds her young lover's behavior becoming increasingly worrisome, she draws closer to Cecil, who is named Secretary of State following the death of Walsingham. Essex is publicly hailed upon his return to England after taking Cadiz from the Spanish, but his relationship with Elizabeth begins to deteriorate. She and Cecil suspect Essex of secretly communicating with James VI of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, a potential successor to the English throne. After Burghley's death, Elizabeth sends Essex to Ireland to put down a rebellion but he instead makes a truce and returns to England alone. Elizabeth puts Essex under house arrest.
Essex and his followers fail to start a rebellion in London and are captured. At his trial, Essex accuses Cecil of collaborating with Spain but has no evidence to prove this, and he is found guilty of treason and beheaded. Some time later, Elizabeth becomes listless, going for three weeks without eating before making her way to her bed and requesting a priest, saying she is minded to die.
Fae Hammond was the make-up designer, Su Westwood, Gemma Richards & Jane Hope-Kavanagh were hair and make-up artists.
Shakespeare In Love
In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and poor playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Shakespeare is working on a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. Suffering from writer's block, he has barely begun the play, but starts auditioning players. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a wealthy merchant who has seen Shakespeare's plays at court, disguises herself as "Thomas Kent" to audition, then runs away. Shakespeare pursues Kent to Viola's house and leaves a note with the nurse, asking Thomas Kent to begin rehearsals at the Rose. He sneaks into the house with the minstrels playing that night at the ball, where her parents are arranging her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an impoverished aristocrat. While dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless, and after being forcibly ejected by Wessex, uses Thomas Kent as a go-between to woo her. Wessex also asks Will's name, to which he replies that he is Christopher Marlowe.
When he discovers her true identity, they begin a secret affair. Inspired by her, Shakespeare writes quickly, with help from his friend and rival playwright Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, completely transforming the play into what will become Romeo and Juliet. Viola is appalled when she learns he is married, albeit long separated from his wife, and she knows she cannot escape her duty to marry Wessex. After Viola learns that Will is married, Will discovers that Marlowe is dead, and thinks he is the one to blame. Lord Wessex deep down knew about the affair between Shakespeare and his bride-to-be. Because Wessex thinks that Will is Marlowe, he thinks of Kit's death as a good thing, and tells Viola the news. It is later learned that Marlowe was killed by accident. Viola finds out that Will is still alive, and expresses that she loves him. Then, Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for the match of her and Lord Wessex. Shakespeare dons a woman's disguise to accompany her as her cousin. There, he persuades Wessex to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the exact amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlain's Men. Queen Elizabeth I declares that she will judge the matter, as occasion arises.
When Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels, is informed there is a woman player at The Rose, he closes the theatre for breaking the ban on women. Viola's identity is exposed before the company, leaving them without a stage or lead actor, until Richard Burbage, owner of the Curtain, offers them his theatre. Shakespeare takes the role of Romeo, with a boy actor as Juliet. Following her wedding, Viola learns that the play will be performed that day, and runs away to the Curtain. Planning to watch with the crowd, Viola overhears that the boy playing Juliet cannot perform, and offers to replace him. While she plays Juliet to Shakespeare's Romeo, the audience is enthralled, despite the tragic ending, until Master Tilney arrives to arrest everyone for indecency due to Viola's presence.
But the Queen is in attendance and restrains Tilney, instead asserting that Kent's resemblance to a woman is, indeed, remarkable. However, even a queen is powerless to end a lawful marriage, and she orders Kent to fetch Viola because she must sail with Wessex to the Colony of Virginia. The Queen also tells Wessex, who followed Viola to the theatre, that Romeo and Juliet has won the bet for Shakespeare, and has Kent deliver his £50 with instructions to write something "a little more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night”.
Viola and Shakespeare say their goodbyes, and he vows to immortalise her, as they improvise the beginnings of his Twelfth Night, Or What You Will, imagining her as a castaway disguised as a man after a voyage to a strange land. "For she will be my heroine for all time, and her name will be…Viola.”
Elizabeth was a minor (but important) character in the movie Shakespeare in Love and was played by Judi Dench. But even for a cameo role she was required to undergo an extensive makeup job. Lisa Westcott was the film’s hair and makeup designer and Veronica Brebner was senior hair and makeup artist.
