Mirren 'strongest ever UK Oscars contender'

Hollywood is gearing up for the Oscars – with Helen Mirren the strongest British contender in awards history

Hollywood is gearing up for the Oscars – with Helen Mirren the strongest British contender in awards history.

So certain are bookmakers that she will scoop the best actress prize tomorrow night for The Queen, they have already paid out on her win.

The 61-year-old faces competition from fellow Brits Kate Winslet and Dame Judi Dench.

Winslet is nominated for Little Children, while Dame Judi earned her nomination for Notes On A Scandal.

The latter will miss the ceremony because she is having a knee operation in London, but has promised: “I shall watch and cheer from by bed.”

The trio are up against Penelope Cruz for Volver and Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada.

Ireland's Peter O'Toole also has a decent Oscar hope as he is nominated for best actor. The veteran star, 74, is in the running for his performance in Venus. This is his eighth Oscar nomination.

Forest Whitaker is favourite to take the prize for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Comic Ellen Degeneres will host the 79th annual Academy Awards ceremony from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

The Queen has a total of six nominations: best picture, best original screenplay, best original score, best costume design, best actress and best director for Stephen Frears.

Martin Scorsese’s gritty cop thriller The Departed is favourite to land the best picture prize, but the field is considered relatively open.

The Queen, Babel, Letters From Iwo Jima and Little Miss Sunshine are each in with a chance.

Frears is joined in the best director category by Briton Paul Greengrass for United 93, the harrowing depiction of the last hours aboard a doomed 9/11 flight.

The other nominees are Clint Eastwood for Letters From Iwo Jima, Martin Scorsese for The Departed and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel.

Hollywood insiders feel Scorsese will be rewarded with a long-overdue Oscar this year. He has been nominated for five previous films, including the acclaimed Raging Bull and Goodfellas, but never won.

Borat earned creator Sacha Baron Cohen a nomination for best adapted screenplay.

Dreamgirls, based on the story of Sixties girl group The Supremes, missed out on a shot at best picture but leads the field with eight nominations including best supporting actor for Eddie Murphy and best supporting actress for Jennifer Hudson.

Both are favourites in their respective categories.

Hudson faces competition from this year’s youngest Oscar nominee, 10-year-old Abigail Breslin, who plays a bespectacled beauty pageant hopeful in Little Miss Sunshine.

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