London, Sept 23 (ANI): Legendary actress Dame Helen Mirren has given an insight to her racy past in her autobiography 'In The Frame'.

In the book, Mirren speaks about her early days with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.

Talking about sex and relationships, the 62-year-old said that 'sex was private and personal, and almost always between established partners'.

"There was a sweetness and kind of prudish innocence about it all, at least whenever I was around. My first night there I shared a bed with a large hairy Irish gentleman in the form of an Irish wolfhound called Murphy, who was outraged I had been given his bed,' the Daily Mail quoted her, as saying.

"He spent the night trying to oust me, sometimes successfully," she said.

Dame Helen, who has been married to American film director Taylor Hackford for a decade now, also spoke about stripping for roles.

"Stripping for the camera is as easy as drinking a glass of orange juice on set," she said.

"I follow the straightforward school of acting - when you're taking your clothes off, just drop 'em," she said. (ANI)