We’ve uncovered these long lost photos of a huge Hollywood star.

It won’t take you long to figure out who the blonde bombshell is, pictured in the modest living room of her Leigh home back in 1968.

It was two days before Christmas in 1968 when a photographer from the Southend Standard – the Echo’s predecessor – visited Dame Helen Mirren, then aged 23, to take some snaps of the blossoming actress.

Echo: A young Helen Mirren works the cameraA young Helen Mirren works the camera

She was about to jet off to America with the Royal Shakespeare Company, so such a feat would naturally make the local newspaper.

Who could have known back then just how successful she would become as an actress, dominating the stage and screen?

Dame Helen, now 78, would go on to become a household name playing detective Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect - for which she won three BAFTAs - while she would also earn Olivier and Tony Awards, numerous SAG and Golden Globes and even an Oscar for her starring role in The Queen (2007).

Echo: Helen Mirren pictured at home in 1968Helen Mirren pictured at home in 1968

Born Helen Lydia Mironoff in Hammersmith in 1945, she was brought up in Queen’s Road, Leigh and attended Hamlet Court Primary School and then St Bernard’s High School for Girls in Westcliff.

To earn pocket money growing up she ran a dart’s sideshow at the Kursaal fairground – a job she apparently loved.

Echo: Helen Mirren was off to USA with Royal Shakespeare CompanyHelen Mirren was off to USA with Royal Shakespeare Company

After leaving school she joined the National Youth Theatre before being invited to join the RSC.

Around the time the black and white photos in our gallery were taken Dame Helen had just performed as Cressida in the RSC’s ‘Troilus and Cressida’ opposite Michael Williams – the actor who would marry Judi Dench.

Echo: Helen Mirren was 23 years old at the timeHelen Mirren was 23 years old at the time

She had also been abroad filming alongside movie icon James Mason for the film, The Age of Consent.

But it was off to America for the young Helen Mirren and the rest is history.

Echo: Helen Mirren visits St Bernard’s in 1997. She also returned to the school in 2005 to open a new science suite Helen Mirren visits St Bernard’s in 1997. She also returned to the school in 2005 to open a new science suite

The other snaps in our gallery show Mirren returning to her old school, St Bernard’s, in 1997. She can be seen surrounded by adoring pupils and staff as she met pupils and gave a speech.