Honors for Branagh and Winslet

Two of Britain's finest actors are being honored. Kenneth Branagh (or Sir Kenneth from now on) has been knighted. A respected Shakespearean actor and Shakespearean interpreter whose films as a director range from "Henry V" and "Hamlet" to the comic-book fantasy "Thor" Branagh said he felt "humble, elated, and incredibly lucky" to get the honor. 

Here he is performing as Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, who returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle.  In the following video clip, Hamlet is talking to the skull of Yorick, the deceased court jester:

Kate Winslet, who made her breakthrough as the feisty Rose in the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" and won a Best Actress Academy Award in 2009 for "The Reader," was also honored as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (or CBE). She said the honor made her "very proud to be a Brit."

Here is Kate (as Ophelia) in the same 1996 Hamlet movie, directed by Branagh: