Stars Out In Force For Evening Standard Theatre Awards, Helen Mirren Wins Big [Pictures]

Dame Helen Mirren won again for her portrayal of the Queen at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards on Sunday evening (Sunday 17, 2013). The actress, who won an Oscar for Stephen Frears' The Queen in 2007, was named best actress for her performance as the monarch in the West End stage play The Audience.

__

The best actor prize was shared between Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear for their performances in Shakespeare's Othello and Iago at the National Theatre.

"The audience, they loved it, but they were loving the Queen, not me," said a modest Mirren upon collecting her award.

Director Stephen Daldry confirmed they were "in negotiations" to take The Audience to New York's Broadway.

Before the ceremony, Dame Helen said she thought the praise she had received for The Audience was as much for the Queen as for herself.

"I did feel very much that the response to the play was as much a response to that person, that extraordinary woman, as it was to my performance," she told the BBC.

Elsewhere, Dame Maggie Smith received the Evening Standard Theatre Icon award by actress Kristin Scott Thomas. An emotional Dame Maggie received a standing ovation as she collected the honour.

"I know how long I've been working because I saw The Mousetrap before it came into London," observed the actress, who turns 79 next month.

The veteran performer - now starring in Downton Abbey - admitted to being "astonished" by the length of her career but that she was "very sad" not to have worked on the stage more often in recent years.

Next page: pictures of Hayley Atwell.

Other honours dished out on the night were presented to actor Kevin Spacey - the star of Netflix's recent hit House of Cards - for his work at London's Old Vic theatre, and to David Walliams for his performance as Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Little Britain star received his honour from Dame Edna Everage who congratulated him on "overcoming a difficult background - parents who couldn't spell Williams."

The best musical went to a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, toppling the big favourite The Book of Mormon and well-fancied The Light Princess, at the National.

Former National Theatre director Sir Richard Eyre was named best director for his staging of Ibsen's Ghosts at the Almeida.

Homeland actor Damian Lewis hosted the glitzy evening at London's Savoy Hotel, attended by the likes of Hugh Grant, Tori Amos, Sir David Attenborough and star of Thor 2: The Dark World, Tom Hiddleston.

Next page: pictures of Amber Le Bon and Hugh Grant.

"Theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture," said Dame Helen Mirren. "It's something we should all be very proud of.It is genuinely recognised all over the world as the best in the world."

Former Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens was a little more direct, saying, "In a climate in which the government seems to ban even peaceful protests, we may need theatre more than ever to question authority, to interrogate the status quo and to remember the human stories behind the red tape and the barbed wire."

Andrew Lloyd-Webber insisted that it wasn't just the government's responsibility to safeguard theatre's future.

"The thing I passionately believe we all must do is give something back," said the composer. "It can't just be the government - it's got to be us as well".

See all our pictures from the London Evening Standard Awards.

Hey, it's Hugh Grant!

Helen Mirren Was The Big Winner At The Evening Standard Awards

Man of the Moment, Tom Hiddleston, At The London Evening Standard Awards