Dame Helen Mirren enjoyed a romantic pre-Valentine’s Day date with her husband, director Taylor Hackford, in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.
The Oscar-winning actress, 78, wore a black coat over a stunning black lace dress and black boots as the couple headed home after dinner at Italian restaurant Funke.
The screen icon swept her hair out of her face in a sleek headband that has become her signature look and carried a dark gray bag.
Taylor, 79, wore a black bowler hat, a blue jacket and dark tan shoes. He was also wearing a black sweater with a white t-shirt.
The couple, who have been married for 27 years, sweetly linked arms as they left the luxurious restaurant after dinner.
Dame Helen Mirren enjoyed a romantic pre-Valentine’s Day date with her husband, director Taylor Hackford, in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.
Helen currently appears in the American western historical drama 1923 alongside Clint Eastwood.
The series follows the Dutton family through the Great Depression and its second series is expected to air in mid-2024.
Taylor is working on a film titled Sniff that will star Helen, Al Pacino, Morgan Freeman and Danny DeVito.
The last film Taylor directed was 2016’s The Comedian, which starred Robert De Niro in the lead role and received negative reviews.
Helen married Taylor, who previously chaired the Directors Guild Of America, in Scotland in 1997, after more than a decade of dating.
The two met in 1985 when Taylor directed Helen in the musical drama White Nights, but they did not get along and the actress was unusually cold towards him.
1985 was the same year that the star’s much-publicized five-year relationship with Liam Neeson sadly broke down.
Helen previously spoke about the quality time she and her husband spent together “for the first time in 30-odd years” during the peak of the Covid pandemic.
The Oscar-winning actress, 78, wore a black coat over a stunning black lace dress and black boots as the couple headed home after dinner at Italian restaurant Funke.
During a 2022 appearance on The Graham Norton show, she opened up about the effect of lockdown on their relationship.
Helen said: “For the first time in 30-odd years of marriage we sat across the table from each other and had dinner together every night for six months – it was fantastic, brilliant.”
He does not have children with Taylor, or even any, a decision he does not regret. She broke down in tears over the film Parenthood, admitting she ‘sobbed’ for 20 minutes after being moved by the message that being a mother is a lifelong job and never stops, even as a grandmother.
“I realized I would never experience that,” he said. The Sunday Times in 2016. ‘I cried for the loss of that and the fact that I never experienced it. Then I got over it and was happy again.”
Dame Helen describes the children as “fun” and “sweet” but never wanted to have her own and said that, apart from her emotional outburst over Parenthood, she never experienced a “moment of regret”.
“The truth is that I’m quite relieved,” the Emmy Award winner has said about her decision not to have children of her own.
“I can feel that kind of love for my extended family, and of course it’s not the same as ‘that lioness love,’ and I’m certainly not putting it down.” But I feel like I can be less critical as an aunt. You’re not that interested.
Through her marriage to Taylor, Helen had two sons from her first two marriages: Rio, who sadly passed away in 2022, and Alexander Hackford.
The couple have been married for 27 years and married in 1997 in Scotland (pictured in 2022 at the Cannes Film Festival)