Washington, Sept 26 : Dame Helen Mirren surprised U. K. TV hosts on Saturday night by conversing in Russian after learning the language for her new movie `The Debt'.

In the movie, the `Queen' star plays a Mossad spy searching for a Nazi war criminal, and appeared as a guest on Britain's The Jonathan Ross Show to promote the film.

She briefly spoke to the host in Russian after learning phrases for her role - but admitted her language skills are limited, despite her family links to the country.

"I haven't actually learnt much Russian. I had to learn a bit of Russian for the film I just did, The Debt, but I don't speak Russian which is sad considering my dad was Russian, but I didn't learn it at home," Contactmusic quoted her as saying. (ANI)