Tony Awards 2015: Dame Helen Mirren wins theatre gong for Queen role

The star, who has already won an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II on the big screen, resumed the role for a stage play which imagines the private weekly meetings between the royal and Britain’s prime ministers over her six-decade reign.

It was also a big night for London-born Alex Sharp, who beat Bradley Cooper and Bill Nighy to win best lead actor in a play for his role in The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time at the prestigious US theatre event.

Sharp’s win was part of a five-trophy haul for the adaptation of Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel. It won best lighting, scenic design and earned its director Marianne Elliott a Tony, too. It was also named best play, beating Wolf Hall Parts One and Two, Hand To God and Disgraced.

Dame Helen beat fellow British actresses Carey Mulligan and Ruth Wilson, as well as Elisabeth Moss and Geneva Carr for the Tony for best performance by a leading actress in a play.

After her name was called by presenter Bradley Cooper she kissed her husband, director Taylor Hackford. Arriving at the microphone on stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York, she proclaimed: “Your Majesty, you did it again.”

She then dedicated her award to Hackford, saying: “What a massive, massive honour. Baby, this is for you and you know why.”

She continued: “The foundation upon which I stand is beautifully built by an elegant and fleet play by Peter Morgan, an elegant and theatrical production by Stephen Daldry, an elegant and imaginative set by the great Bob Crowley, a stage management team who are certainly not elegant and a crew who are stupendous, a dresser who is a rock, producers who rock and of course an incredible cast of British and American actors who make the Atlantic look like a little creek you can just pop across.

“This is an unbelievable honour and I am so thrilled.

Richard McCabe, who plays Prime Minister Harold Wilson in The Audience, was awarded best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play and charmed the American crowd when he proclaimed “oh my giddy aunt” as he collected his gong.

He added: “Were he alive today, I know Harold Wilson would be very tickled.”

Best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play was won by Annaleigh Ashford for You Can’t Take It With You, while best performance by an actor and actress in a featured role in a musical was won by Christian Borle for Something Rotten! and Ruthie Ann Miles for The King and I respectively.

The King and I was named best revival of a musical and David Hare’s drama Skylight, starring British actors Carey Mulligan, Matthew Beard and Bill Nighy and directed by Stephen Daldry, won best revival of a play.