Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson were romantically involved in the early 1980s after meeting on the set of the 1981 fantasy film Excalibur, in which Mirren played Morgana and Neeson portrayed Gawain.

While they dated from 1980 to 1985, Helen Mirren has emphasized that they “didn’t just date, we lived together for four years.” They described themselves as a “serious item” during this period. Mirren, being the more established actress at the time, even helped Neeson get an agent.

Neeson then opened up about the sweet, yet bizarre, way he discovered she had fallen for him, “Before I met her and we worked together, I had read somewhere that if she fancied a guy she would imitate his walk behind his back. I turned around one day and she was doing that to me.”

Recounting the first time he set eyes on her, while filming the movie Excalibur, he said: “I remember being on the set and standing with Ciaran Hinds as Helen walked towards us dressed in her full Morgana Le Fey costume. We both went, ‘Oh, f***’ and I was smitten.

He added: “I think Ciaran was too but I was very smitten!”

Even decades later, both actors speak very fondly of their time together. Mirren has stated, “We were not meant to be together in that way, but we loved each other very, very much. I love him deeply to this day. He’s such an amazing guy.” Neeson has also called Mirren a “remarkable woman and actress” and said he was “honored to have spent three or four years with that lady.”

Their relationship ended in 1985. Mirren went on to meet director Taylor Hackford during her audition for his 1985 movie White Nights, whom she later married in 1997. Neeson would later meet and marry Natasha Richardson.