I’m not in good shape insists Mirren

Dame Helen dazzled on the red carpet in a sleek, burgundy Donna Karan dress, Chopard jewellery and bejewelled Rene Caovilla shoes.

But the Oscar-winning actress modestly played down her reputation as one of Britain’s sexiest leading ladies, just weeks after walking away with LA Fitness’s international title of Best Body against competition from younger celebrities including supermodel Elle Macpherson.

Speaking at London’s Curzon Mayfair cinema, Dame Helen said: “One of my secrets is that I’m actually not in great shape. I just cover it up well, mind over matter to a certain extent.

“I’m not nearly as in good shape as I should be, let’s put it that way.”

Dame Helen had earlier said the now famous photograph of her in a red bikini will “haunt” her for the rest of her life.

The actress was snapped by a photographer on a beach in Italy three years ago on holiday and the pictures went round the world –cementing her reputation as a sex symbol.

The 66-year-old, who has previously claimed she was sucking in her stomach at the time it was taken, said: “I think the thing that will haunt me for the rest of my life is that bloody photograph of myself in a bikini. In and of itself, it is a lie because I don’t actually look like that and I know that that is going to haunt me forever and I’ll be forever trying to bury it unsuccessfully.”

She was speaking a Press conference in central London for The Debt, in which she plays a retired Israeli secret agent.

The cast also includes Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds and Jessica Chastain who plays Mirren’s character in a flashback to the cold-war era where she is hunting a Nazi war criminal.

Dame Helen, who learned her trade in the theatre, has said the drama-thriller offered a rare opportunity for an actress of her age.

She added: ‘I’ve been very lucky, I got to do Red and the Tolstoy film and this and all of those roles have been very proactive, but all very different from each other. That was a good couple of years for me.”