'I'm too old - but it would have been great!' Dame Helen Mirren, 72, insists she's missed her chance to play James Bond but would have loved to do it... after Halle Berry says 007 shouldn't be female

On Tuesday, Hollywood actress and former Bond Girl Halle Berry insisted that the role of James Bond is best left as it is - a man.

But Dame Helen Mirren has waded into the debate and disagreed with her.

The 72-year-old actress has admitted she would have relished the role in her younger years, but that she thinks that ship has sailed now.

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'I'm too old - but it would have been great!' Dame Helen Mirren, 72, insists she's missed her chance to play James Bond but would have loved to do it

'I'm too old - but it would have been great!' Dame Helen Mirren, 72, insists she's missed her chance to play James Bond but would have loved to do it

Iconic: Halle starred as Jinx Johnson alongside 007 Pierce Brosnan in the 2002 Bond movie Die Another Day, and appeared in one of the most memorable Bond girl scenes when she emerged from the sea in an orange two-piece bikini

'I'm too old,' she has declared of the prospect of there ever being a female Bond - which has been a matter of gossip for some time and only heightened by the recent casting of Jodie Whittaker as a female Doctor Who.

'In my youth, that would have been great of course. But that time was different; we could never even have imagined a woman playing that role,' Helen went on, speaking to the Daily Telegraph.

Just a day before, it was revealed that Halle Berry doesn't think a woman should play the iconic role of 007.

The 50-year-old actress, who was in the 2002 film Bond movie Die Another Day, joined the debate about the iconic British spy.

Joining the debate: Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, Halle Berry, 50, revealed that she doesn't think a woman should play James Bond

Joining the debate: Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, Halle Berry, 50, revealed that she doesn't think a woman should play James Bond

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, Halle admitted: 'I want women to be tough but I don't know if Bond should be a woman.' 

'I mean, that series is steeped in history, you know from Ian Fleming's stories. I don't think you can change Bond to a woman. 

'We can create a new Bond character that's a woman, and give her a new name, based on that theory, but I don't know if Bond should be a woman.'  

Halle starred as NSA agent Giacinta 'Jinx' Johnson alongside 007 Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day.

Steeped in history: She added that because the series is 'steeped in history', from Ian Fleming's classic novels, it wouldn't be apt to change the gender of the main character, 'I don't think you can change Bond to a woman'

She appeared in one of the most memorable Bond girl scenes when she emerged from the sea in an orange two-piece bikini complete with a white belt and knife. 

The scene was a homage to the white bikini Ursula Andress wore as Honey Ryder in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No, a swimsuit so iconic it has its own Wikipedia page.

Meanwhile, Dame Helen spoke about her own success, which comes as a shock to her to this day, thanks to her upbringing, she said: 'Of course, it's wonderful to have success, and the thing I love most about it is economic freedom.

'Coming from a background where there was no money - and if you didn't work, there was nothing to live on - to have bought my own house and to have never been in debt or on welfare is something I feel proud of.

'But there's a part of me that thinks I should have been a struggling artist.' 

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