(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Dame Helen Mirren keeps her Oscar in England because "America has plenty of them".

The star is paving the way for European actors in a US-dominated Hollywood. Helen's best actress award for The Queen remains in her homeland where she says it belongs.

"In England, of course," she quipped when asked where she keeps her award. "America has plenty of them!"

Helen has starred in a range of movies during her career, but has also enjoyed success on the stage. The 66-year-old star says she learnt to appreciate patience for "important" roles through her theatre work.

"If you keep working as an actress for 40 and 50 years you realise that everything becomes easier. Due to the lack of roles, many actors become impatient and give up. What really saved me was the theatre to which I return to at least every four years," she explained in an interview with Italian magazine Flair.

"The public has the chance to appreciate you in a different way. We are continually reinventing ourselves on the stage. There is no room for stereotypes."

Helen is widely considered one of the most stunning women in the industry. She regularly features in the best dressed and most beautiful polls, but insists she doesn't care for such accolades.

"I'm flattered by such opinion but I do not pay much attention to it. You can lose the position very quickly," she said.

"The problem with the cinema? There's no way to hide wrinkles!" (C) Cover Media