Helen Mirren reigns at London film critic awards

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) Helen Mirren continued her regal progress towards a clean sweep of film awards after she won a Best British Actress award for her performance in ''The Queen'' from the London Film Critics' Circle.

Mirren's award was one of four handed out to the film during the awards at a ceremony in London yesterday.

The other awards were for Best British Film, British Director of the Year (Stephen Frears) and Screenwriter of the Year (Peter Morgan).

Mirren has already picked up a Golden Globe and is tipped for an Oscar later this month for her portrayal of the Queen.

In the film the 61-year-old actress depicts a monarch struggling to understand the public outpouring of grief in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The London Film Critics' Circle, which comprises 120 newspaper and magazine writers, praised the actress for her ''mesmerising performance''.

'''The Queen' gives us a tantalising insight into what life may have been like inside the Royal Family following the death of Princess Diana,'' said the awards chairwoman Marianne Gray.

'''The Queen' symbolises everything that is right with the British film industry at the moment and it is great to see that it can compete with the best that Hollywood can offer,'' Gray added.

The film ''United 93'', the haunting remake of events on United Airlines flight 93 on September 11, 2001, clinched Film of the Year and Director of the Year (Paul Greengrass).

Other winners included Forest Whitaker, who picked up Actor of the Year for his portrayal of the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in ''The Last King of Scotland'', and Meryl Streep, who won Actress of the Year for her performance in ''The Devil Wears Prada''.

She will compete against Mirren for an Oscar in Hollywood.

Rising British star Emily Blunt won British Actress of the Year in a Supporting Role for her showing in ''The Devil Wears Prada''.

Michael Caine took British Actor of the Year in a Supporting Role for his performance in ''The Prestige''.

Comic actor Leslie Phillips, star of ''Carry On'' films and most recently ''Venus'', was given the Dilys Powell prize for outstanding contribution to cinema.

REUTERS AKJ VV0918