--- --- # Watch Helen Mirren Accept a Fake Award After Inhaling Helium by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 31, 2015 2:22 PM CUT by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 31, 2015 2:22 PM CUT Dame Helen Mirren may not have known what she was getting into when she stopped by _The Tonight Show,_ but that didn’t stop her from participating when Jimmy Fallon handed her a helium balloon and asked her to inhale. The 69-year-old _Woman in Gold_ star told Fallon she hadn’t sucked on a helium balloon since she was 12 years old, but she quickly got the hang of it. The Academy Award-winning actress then asked Fallon to give her a prize so she could make an acceptance speech. The actress is a true professional, and even when she started to get light-headed, she continued to play, struggling to rush oxygen to her brain before proudly answering Fallon’s question by loudly declaring, “Spotted dick!” Helen Mirren Inhaling Helium on Jimmy Fallon ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3765060/helen-mirren-helium-jimmy-fallon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3765060/helen-mirren-helium-jimmy-fallon/"},"headline":"Watch Helen Mirren Accept a Fake Award After Inhaling Helium","datePublished":"2015-03-31T14:22:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:18:12.465Z","description":"Helen Mirren deserves all the awards","url":"https://time.com/3765060/helen-mirren-helium-jimmy-fallon/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","jimmy fallon","The Tonight Show","Helen Mirren"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3765060/helen-mirren-helium-jimmy-fallon/","name":"Watch Helen Mirren Accept a Fake Award After Inhaling Helium"}}]}] ```