Helen Mirren pretends to be a ghost to scare Holly Willoughby

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    Daily Mail Reporter
    Last updated at 1:22 AM on 4th March 2011

    Dame Helen Mirren showed her mischievous side yesterday when she teased This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby.

    After the pregnant host, 30, admitted having a phobia of ghosts earlier in the show, the actress threw her white pashmina over her head and pretended to be a spirit.

    Dame Helen, 65, had been larking around with Holly and co-host Phillip Schofield during the advert break so when the camera returned, the Oscar winner was seen throwing shapes under her scarf.

    Spooky: Dame Helen Mirren covers herself with her white pashmina as she pretends to be a ghost on This Morning

    Spooky: Dame Helen Mirren covers herself with her white pashmina as she pretends to be a ghost on This Morning

    Willoughby, 30, said: ‘That is so mean… Dame Helen,’ as Schofield laughed at the spectacle.

    Obviously somewhat of a party piece for Dame Helen, she said: ‘There was always someone like me under a cloak…’

    After composing themselves, Schofield turned to camera and started introducing a montage of Mirren’s work, before talking to her about her latest film The Tempest.

    Mirren’s ghost trick stemmed form Willoughby’s confession earlier in the show that she was terrified of ghosts as the show featured an item on the afterlife.

    What a tease: Phillip Schofield was highly entertained by Dame Helen trying to scare Holly Willoughby

    What a tease: Phillip Schofield was highly entertained by Dame Helen trying to scare Holly Willoughby

    Dishevelled: Dame Helen ended up with messy hair after her impromptu piece of ghost performance

    Dishevelled: Dame Helen ended up with messy hair after her impromptu piece of ghost performance

    She said: ‘If I was at home I’d have to switch over – I can’t listen to anything
    like that! I honestly think I have a proper ghost phobia…

    ‘To try and help you understand – I went to see the play Woman In Black –
    which was scary and the next morning I went downstairs, said goodbye to
    my husband and shut the door… and it was the middle of the day, and I
    said to myself “I can’t go upstairs, I can’t go to the loo!”

     

    ‘So I drove
    to Sainsbury’s to use their loo… all because I was too scared to go
    upstairs in my own house because I thought the Woman In Black was gonna
    be up there.’

    Dame Helen is back in England promoting The Tempest after attending last Sunday’s Oscars.

    All white: The shade appeared to a dominant wardrobe choice for Dame Helen as she left the ITV studios

    All white: The shade appeared to a dominant wardrobe choice for Dame Helen as she left the ITV studios

    Having won an Academy Award herself in 2006, she knew exactly what this year’s Best Actor winner Colin Firth was going through.

    She said: ‘The lead up is quite a long time, it takes a month or two even because
    when you have a film or a role that begins to get a buzz around it, it
    starts with all these different award ceremonies… so by the time
    someone like Colin Firth gets to stand there with the Oscar, he’s
    actually sat through and received many awards before that moment.

    ‘For the rest of your life you will be – as far as the American film
    industry is concerned – you will be known as the Oscar winning actor.

    Glam: Mirren later joined co-star Felicity Jones at a screening of The Tempest at the May Fair Hotel

    Glam: Mirren later joined co-star Felicity Jones at a screening of The Tempest at the May Fair Hotel

    ‘But let’s not forget that the Kings Speech winning those three awards is
    incredible, it was a great night for British film and for our creative
    people.’

    Discussing her new role as Prospera – a female version of Shakespeare’s character Prospero – in The Tempest, Mirren hopes the film will be used by future schoolchildren.

    She said: ‘I think the sense of vengeful woman is quite a strong image. The
    wonderful thing about doing a film about Shakespeare is that you know it
    will be watched in 20, 30, 40 years time and people now can reference
    it and think about the play in a new way as a tool for teachers.’

    Following her TV appearances on This Morning and Daybreak, Mirren joined Tempest co-star Felicity Jones, who plays her on-screen daughter Miranda for a screening of the film at the May Fair Hotel.

     

    Excerpt from:
    Helen Mirren pretends to be a ghost to scare Holly Willoughby