Happy Birthday, Queen V.

Because today is Victoria Day, and because theatres recently screened "Young Victoria," with Emily Blunt as young Victoria, we began thinking of other performers who have portrayed Britain's longest-reigning monarch (longest-reigning so far--her great-great-granddaughter is gaining on her).

So, here is the list:  Judi Dench, Irene Dunne, Helen Hayes, Anna Neagle, Kathy Bates (Kathy Bates!), Pauline Collins, Margaret Mann, Fay Compton, Prunella Scales (Ms. Scales may be the only actress to have played both Victoria and Elizabeth II) and Mrs. Henry Lytton. Wonderfully quaint, one might say VIctorian, to identify an actress by her husband's name.

The prize performer in the role, however, had to be--wait for it--Peter Sellers.  It's true, or, as Jack Paar used to say, I kid you not.  Sellers appeared as Queen Victoria in the 1976 film "The Great McGonnagal."

We're ready for yet another run at the story, with Dolly Parton as Victoria (hey, if Kathy Bates could do it...), Arnold Schwarzenegger as Prince Albert, and, as their piano-playing pal Felix Mendelssohn, Michael Kaeshammer.

(Somewhere out there in the mists of time the regal voice of Queen Victoria is heard declaring "We are not amused.")