| Judi Dench |

Dench at the 2007 BAFTAs |
| Born |
Judith Olivia Dench
9 December 1934 (1934-12-09) (age 75)
York, Yorkshire, England, UK |
| Occupation |
Actress |
| Years active |
1957–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Michael Williams
(1971–2001) (his death) |
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is an English film, stage and television actress.
Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer, however most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968.
During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.
Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).
Regarded by critics as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, and frequently named as the leading British actress in polls, Dench has received many award nominations for her acting in theatre, film and television; her awards include ten BAFTAs, seven Laurence Olivier Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award.
She was married to the actor Michael Williams from 1971 until his death in 2001. They are the parents of the actress Finty Williams.
Personal life
Dench was born in Heworth, York, North Riding of Yorkshire, the daughter of Eleanora Olave (née Jones), a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor who met Judi's mother while studying medicine at Trinity College.1 Dench was raised a Methodist until, at age 13, she attended The Mount School, a Quaker Public Secondary school in York, becoming a Quaker.23 Her brothers, one of whom is actor Jeffery Dench, were born in Tyldesley.23 Notable relatives also include her niece, Emma Dench, a Roman historian and professor previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In 1971, Dench married British actor Michael Williams and they had their only child, Tara Cressida Williams, known professionally as Finty Williams, on 24 September 1972.
Dench and her husband starred together in several stage productions, and the Bob Larbey British television sitcom, A Fine Romance (1981–84). Michael Williams died from lung cancer in 2001, aged 65.
Career
In Britain, Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, primarily through her work in theatre, which has been her forte throughout her career. She has more than once been named number one in polls for Britain's best actress.45 Research to find "the perfect voice" has indicated that Dench's voice is one of the best.6
Early years
Dench trained as a set designer, and was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays in the 1950s. Most famously, she played the role of the Virgin Mary in the 1957 production, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens.7
In September 1957, she made her first professional stage appearance with the Old Vic Company, at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, as Ophelia in Hamlet, then her London debut in the same production at the Old Vic. She remained a member of the company for four seasons, 1957–1961, her roles including Katherine in Henry V in 1958 (which was also her New York debut) and as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in October 1960, directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli. During this period, she toured the United States and Canada, and appeared in Yugoslavia and at the Edinburgh Festival.
She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in December 1961 playing Anya in The Cherry Orchard at the Aldwych Theatre in London, and made her Stratford-upon-Avon debut in April 1962 as Isabella in Measure for Measure. She subsequently spent seasons in repertory both with the Nottingham Playhouse from January 1963 (including a West African tour as Lady Macbeth for the British Council), and with the Oxford Playhouse Company from April 1964. That same year she made her film debut in The Third Secret.
Prominence
In 1968, she was offered the role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret. As Sheridan Morley later reported: "At first she thought they were joking. She had never done a musical and she has an unusual croaky voice which sounds as if she has a permanent cold. So frightened was she of singing in public that she auditioned from the wings, leaving the pianists alone on stage".8 But when it opened at the Palace Theatre in February 1968, Frank Marcus, reviewing for Plays and Players, commented that: "She sings well. The title song in particular is projected with great feeling."
After a long run in Cabaret, she rejoined the RSC making numerous appearances with the company in Stratford and London for nearly twenty years, winning several best actress awards. Among her roles with the RSC, she was the Duchess in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi in 1971. In the Stratford 1976 season, and then at the Aldwych in 1977, she gave two comedy performances, first in Trevor Nunn's musical staging of The Comedy of Errors as Adriana, then partnered with Donald Sinden as Beatrice and Benedick in John Barton's "British Raj" revival of Much Ado About Nothing. As Bernard Levin wrote in The Sunday Times: "...demonstrating once more that she is a comic actress of consummate skill, perhaps the very best we have."9
But one of her most notable achievements with the RSC was her performance as Lady Macbeth in 1976. Nunn's acclaimed production of Macbeth was first staged with a minimalist design at The Other Place theatre in Stratford. Its small round stage focused attention on the psychological dynamics of the characters, and both Ian McKellen in the title role, and Dench, received exceptionally favourable notices. "If this is not great acting I don't know what is", wrote Michael Billington in The Guardian. "It will astonish me if the performance is matched by any in this actress's generation", commented J C Trewin in The Lady. The production transferred to London, opening at the Donmar Warehouse in September 1977, and was adapted for television, later released on VHS and DVD. Dench won the SWET Best Actress Award in 1977.
She had a romantic role in the BBC television film Langrishe, Go Down (1978), with Jeremy Irons and a screenplay by Harold Pinter from the Aidan Higgins novel, directed by David Jones, in which she played one of three spinster sisters living in a fading Irish mansion in the Waterford countryside.
Dench made her debut as a director in 1988 with the Renaissance Theatre Company's touring season, Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, co-produced with the Birmingham Rep, and ending with a three month repertory programme at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Dench's contribution was a staging of Much Ado About Nothing, set in the Napoleonic era, which starred Kenneth Branagh and Samantha Bond as Benedick and Beatrice. In the same season, Geraldine McEwan and Derek Jacobi also made their directorial debuts.
She has made numerous appearances in the West End including the role of Miss Trant in the 1974 musical version of The Good Companions at Her Majesty's Theatre. In 1981, Dench was due to play the title role of Grizabella in the original production of Cats, but was forced to pull out due to a torn Achilles tendon, leaving Elaine Paige to play the role.10 She has acted with the National Theatre in London where, in September 1995, she played Desiree Armfeldt in a major revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, for which she won an Olivier Award.
Popular success
In 1995, she took over the role of M (James Bond's boss) with the James Bond film series, starting with GoldenEye. She is the only actor from Pierce Brosnan's Bond films to remain in the franchise. She has appeared in Casino Royale (2006) and its direct sequel Quantum of Solace (2008).
She has won multiple awards for performances on the London stage, including a record six Laurence Olivier Awards. She also won the Tony Award for her 1999 Broadway performance in the role of Esme Allen in David Hare's Amy's View. Alongside her numerous award winning performances, she has also managed to take on the role of Director for a number of stage productions. Dench won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Elizabeth I in the film Shakespeare in Love.
Judi Dench has frequently appeared with her close friend Geoffrey Palmer. They co-starred in the series As Time Goes By, where she played Jean Pargetter, becoming Jean Hardcastle after she married Lionel Hardcastle. The program spanned nine seasons. They also worked together on the films Mrs. Brown and Tomorrow Never Dies, both filmed in 1997. Dench has also lent her voice to many animated characters, narrations, and various other voice work. She plays the role of "Miss Lilly" in the children's animated series Angelina Ballerina (alongside her daughter, Finty Williams, as the voice of Angelina) and as Mrs. Calloway in the Disney animated film Home on the Range. She has narrated various classical music recordings (notably Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Britten's Canticles-The Heart of the Matter), and has appeared in numerous BBC radio broadcasts as well as commercials. Her many television appearances include lead roles in the series A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By. In the U.S., As Time Goes By has been repeated on PBS and on BBC America.
Recent years
Dench returned to the West End stage in April 2006 in Hay Fever alongside Peter Bowles, Belinda Lang and Kim Medcalf. She finished off 2006 with the role of Mistress Quickly in the RSC's new musical The Merry Wives, a version of The Merry Wives of Windsor.11
Dench's more recent film career has garnered six Academy Award nominations in nine years for Mrs. Brown in 1997; her Oscar-winning turn as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love in 1998; for Chocolat in 2000; for the lead role of writer Iris Murdoch in Iris in 2001 (with Kate Winslet playing her as a younger woman); for Mrs Henderson Presents (a romanticised history of the Windmill Theatre) in 2005; and for 2006's Notes on a Scandal, a film for which she received critical acclaim, including Golden Globe, Academy Award, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild nominations.
In 2007 the BBC issued The Judi Dench Collection, DVDs of eight television dramas: Talking to a Stranger quartet (1966), Keep an Eye on Amélie (1973), The Cherry Orchard (1981), Going Gently (1981), Ghosts (with Kenneth Branagh and Michael Gambon, 1987), Make and Break (with Robert Hardy, 1987), Can You Hear Me Thinking? (co-starring with her husband, Michael Williams, 1990) and Absolute Hell (1991).12
Dench, as Miss Matty Jenkins, co-starred with Eileen Atkins, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton and Francesca Annis, in the BBC One five-part series Cranford. The series began transmission in the UK in November 2007, and on the BBC's U.S. producing partner station WGBH (PBS Boston) in spring 2008.
Dench became the voice for the narration for the updated Walt Disney World Epcot attraction Spaceship Earth in February 2008.
In February 2008, she was named as the first official patron of the York Youth Mysteries 2008, a project to allow young people to explore the York Mystery Plays through dance, film-making and circus. This culminated on 21 June with a day of city centre performances in York.
She worked on the 22nd Bond adventure Quantum Of Solace and reprised her role as M.
She is interested in horse racing and in partnership with her chauffeur Bryan Agar owns a four-year-old horse, "Smokey Oakey", who won the 2008 Brigadier Gerard Stakes.13
She returned to the West End from 13 March-23 May 2009 playing Madame de Merteuil in Yukio Mishima's Madame De Sade, directed by Michael Grandage as part of the Donmar season at Wyndham's Theatre. A year later Dench renewed her collaboration with Sir Peter Hall at the Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames in A Midsummer Night's Dream which opened in February 2010, when she played Titania as Elizabeth I of England in her later years: Queen of the Forest of Arden.1415
Public life
Dench was awarded the OBE in 1970, became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1988, and a Companion of Honour in 2005.16
Dench is a patron of The Leaveners, Friends School Saffron Walden and the Archway Theatre, Horley, UK. She became president of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London in 2006, taking over from Sir John Mills, and is also president of the Questors Theatre. In May 2006, she became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She is also patron of Ovingdean Hall School, a special day and boarding school for the deaf and hard of hearing in Brighton and Vice President of The Little Foundation.
Dench is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. In 1996 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (D.Univ) from Surrey University17 and in 2000-2001 she received an Honorary DLitt from Durham University. On 24 June 2008, she was honoured by the University of St Andrews, receiving the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) at the university's graduation ceremony.18
Dench has worked with the non-governmental indigenous organization, Survival International, campaigning in the defense of the tribal people, the Bushmen of Botswana and the Arhuaco of Colombia. She made a small supporting video saying the Bushmen are victims of tyranny, greed and racism.1920
Filmography
She has also lent her likeness and voice for the role of M in James Bond video games:
Theatre work
Source: "Judi Dench: With a Crack in her Voice" by John Miller
As an actress
|
St Mary's Abbey
- York Mystery Plays - Virgin Mary
Old Vic Company
- Hamlet - Ophelia
- Measure for Measure - Juliet
- A Midsummer Night's Dream - First Fairy
- Twelfth Night - Maria (also USA tour)
- Henry V - Katharine (also USA tour)
- The Double Dealer - Cynthia
- As You Like It - Phebe
- The Importance of Being Earnest - Cecily
- The Merry Wives of Windsor - Anne Page
- Richard II - Queen
- Romeo and Juliet - Juliet (also Venice Festival)
- She Stoops to Conquer - Kate Hardcastle
- A Midsummer Night's Dream - Hermia
- Also walk-on roles in King Lear and Henry VIdisambiguation needed)
Royal Shakespeare Company RSC
- The Cherry Orchard - Anya, Aldwych Theatre
- Measure for Measure - Isabella, Stratford
- A Midsummer Night's Dream - Titania, Stratford
- A Penny for a Song - Dorcas Bellboys, Aldwych
Nottingham Playhouse Company
- Macbeth - Lady Macbeth (also West Africa tour)
- Twelfth Night - Viola (also West Africa tour)
- A Shot in the Dark - Josefa Lautenay, Lyric Theatre
The Oxford Playhouse Company
- Three Sisters - Irina
- The Twelfth Hour - Anna
- The Alchemist - Dol Common
- Romeo and Jeannette - Jeannette
- The Firescreen - Jacqueline
Nottingham Playhouse Company
- Measure for Measure - Isabella
- Private Lives - Amanda
- The Country Wife - Margery Pinchwife
- The Astrakhan Coat - Barbara
- St Joan - Joan
Oxford Playhouse Company
- The Promise - Lika
- The Rules of the Game - Silia
- The Promise - Lika, Fortune Theatre
Palace Theatre
- Cabaret - Sally Bowles
|
RSC
- The Winter's Tale - Hermione and Perdita, Stratford
- Women Beware Women - Bianca, Stratford
- Twelfth Night - Viola, Stratford
- London Assurance - Grace Harkaway, Aldwych
- Major Barbara - Barbara Undershaft, Aldwych
- The Merchant of Venice - Portia, Stratford
- The Duchess of Malfi - Duchess, Stratford
- Toad of Toad Hall - Fielfmouse, Stoat and Mother Rabbit, Stratford
No Company
- Context to Whisper - Aurelia, Royal, York
- The Wolf - Vilma, Oxford Playhouse (also at Apollo, Queen's & New London)
West End
- The Good Companions - Miss Trant, Her Majesty's
- The Gay Lord Quex - Sophy Fullgarney, Albery
RSC
- Too True to Be Good - Sweetie Simpkins, Aldwych
- Much Ado About Nothing - Beatrice, Stratford
- Macbeth - Lady Macbeth, Stratford (also Donmar Warehouse and Young Vic)
- The Comedy of Errors - Adriana, Stratford
- King Lear - Regan, Stratford
- Pillars of the Community - Lona Hessel, Aldwych
- The Way of the World - Millamant, Aldwych
- Cymbeline - Imogen, Stratford
- Juno and the Paycock - Juno Boyle, Aldwych
No Company
- A Village Wooing - Young Woman, New End
National Theatre
- The Importance of Being Earnest - Lady Bracknell, Lyttleton
- A Kind of Alaska - Deborah, Cottesloe
- Pack of Lies - Barbara Jackson, Lyric
RSC
- Mother Courage - Mother Courage, Barbican
- Waste Amy O'Connell, Barbican and Lyric
West End
- Mr and Mrs Nobody - Carrie Pooter, Garrick
|
National Theatre
- Antony and Cleopatra - Cleopatra, Olivier
- Entertaining Strangers - Sarah Eldridge, Cottesloe
- Hamlet - Gertrude, Olivier
RSC
- The Cherry Orchard - Ranevskaya, Aldwych
- The Plough and the Stars - Bessie Burgess, Young Vic
National Theatre
- The Sea - Mrs Rafi, Lyttleton
- Coriolanus - Volumnia, Chichester
Royal Shakespeare Company
- The Gift of the Gorgon - Helen Damson, Barbican and Wyndham's
National Theatre
- The Seagull - Arkadina, Olivier
- Absolute Hell - Christine Foskett, Lyttleton
- A Little Night Music - Desirée Armfeldt, Olivier
- Amy's View - Esmé, Lyttleton
- Amy's View - Esmé, Aldwych
West End and Broadway
- Filumena - Filumena, Piccadilly
- Amy's View - Esmé, Barrymore, New York
- The Royal Family - Fanny Cavendish, Theatre Royal Haymarket
- The Breath of Life - Frances, Theatre Royal Haymarket
RSC
- All's Well That Ends Well - The Countess, Stratford and Gielgud
West End
- Hay Fever - Judith Bliss, Theatre Royal Haymarket
RSC
- The Merry Wives - The Musical - Mistress Quickly, Stratford
Donmar Warehouse
- Madame de Sade - Madame de Montreuil, Donmar at Wyndham's
Rose Theatre, Kingston
|
As a director
Discography
Awards and nominations
Theatre
- Awards
Television
- Awards
- Nominations
References
- ^ Staff writers (6 September 2002). "The Importance of Dame Judi". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2241129.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ a b Michael Billington (12 September 2005). "Please God, not retirement". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/oscars2006/story/0,,1699880,00.html. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ a b Michael Billington (23 March 1998). "Judi Dench: Nothing like the Dame". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/Guardian/0,,44053,00.html. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ (18 August 2005)"Hopkins and Dench named best British actors". The Guardian. 18 August 2005. http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1551503,00.html. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ (25 February 2005)"Connery and Dench Top Legend Poll". Time Out Group. 25 February 2005. http://www.timeout.com/film/news/303/connery-and-dench-top-legend-poll.html. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ Staff writers (30 May 2008). "Formula 'secret of perfect voice'". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7426923.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ (18 September 2003)"Dame Judi speaks up for Mystery Plays". HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk. 18 September 2003. http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/CAMPAIGNS/2003/09sep/030918judi.shtml. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ Sheridan Morley (1986). The great stage stars: distinguished theatrical careers of the past and present. London: Angus & Robertson. ISBN 978-020714970-2.
- ^ Robert Tanitch (2007). London stage in the 20th century. London: Haus Publishing. ISBN 978-190495074-5.
- ^ Staff writers (15 January 2002). "Record-breaking Cats bows out". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/1761508.stm. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ "Merry Wives – The Musical". Royal Shakespeare Company. http://www.rsc.org.uk/WhatsOn/3537.aspx. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ Philip Fisher (2007). "Reviews: Absolute Hell". British Theatre Guide. http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/DVD-jdenchabshell-rev.htm.
- ^ (29 May 2008)"Dame Judi Dench lands Brigadier Gerard Stakes with Smokey Oakey". This is London. The Evening Standard. 29 May 2008. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-23488432-details/Dame+Judi+Dench+lands+Brigadier+Gerard+Stakes+with+Smokey+Oakey/article.do. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ White, Lesley (2010-02-14). "Peter and Judi play a Tug of Love". Sunday Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article7021949.ece.
- ^ "About the Rose". The Rose Theatre. http://www.rosetheatrekingston.org/about-us. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
- ^ "Dame Judi Dench". Shakespeare Schools Festival. http://www.ssf.uk.com/aboutus/patrons/damejudidench. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ "Doctor of the University". http://portal.surrey.ac.uk/calendar/hongrads/01doctor.jsp. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ (21 May 2008)"Distinguished actress to be honoured by University". University of St Andrews. 21 May 2008. http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/Title,21556,en.html. Retrieved 2009-02-16.
- ^ (2006-01-23)"Journalists need to leave the Stone Age". The Independent. 2006-01-23. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/journalists-need-to-leave-the-stone-age-524213.html. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ "News & Media". Survival International. http://www.survival-international.org/news/video. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
- ^ British Theatre Guide review
Further reading
- Herbert, Ian; Christine Baxter and Robert E. Finlay (1981). Who's Who in the Theatre (17th ed.). Detroit: Gale. ISBN 0273017179.
- Billington, Michael (1993). One Night Stands: A critic's view of British theatre from 1971-1991. London: Nick Hern Books. ISBN 1854591851.
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Dench, Judie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
Dench, Judith Olivia |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
English actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
9 December 1934 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
York, North Yorkshire, England, UK |
| DATE OF DEATH |
|
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|