One face dominates the sixteenth century, at least for the English-speaking moviegoer: queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, is a recurrent favourite and has been played by: Sarah Churchill, Bette Davis (twice), Glenda Jackson (TV and movie), Flora Robson (three times), and Jean Simmons among others.
Recent movies and mini-series have featured Anne-Marie Duff, Helen Mirren, Cate Blanchett (with a sequel forthcoming) and Judi Dench in the role. Cate Blanchett has recently finished filming The Golden Age (the sequel to Elizabeth) and Elizabeth would have featured in the Bryce Dallas Howard Mary, queen of Scots movie if it had got off the ground.
The look of the character is somewhat constrained by surviving portraits; but these look almost bizarre to today’s eyes, and many screen Elizabeths have shied away from an appearance that might prevent audiences identifying with the character. In the UK, the aged Elizabeth was at one time an almost a standard makeup test for aspiring makeup artists. It’s easy to see why: the older queen involves a whole series of skills, ageing, bald-cap, wig, creating a likeness and the whole thing topped off with, what appears, to us at least, as an outlandish colour scheme.
For those who want to know more about the lady herself Gloriana is an interesting website which also reproduces some portraits of her.