Judi Dench

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Judi Dench

Birth name Judith Olivia Dench
Born 9 December 1934 (1934-12-09) (age 73)
York, England
Spouse(s) Michael Williams (d.2001)
Children Finty Williams (born 1972)

Dame Judith Olivia Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA, (born 9 December 1934), usually known as Dame Judi Dench, is an Academy Award–, Golden Globe–, Tony–, three-time BAFTA–, and six-time Laurence Olivier Award–winning English actress.

Contents

Dench was born in York, North Yorkshire, England, the daughter of Eleanora Olave (née Jones), who was Irish and a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor who met Dench's mother while studying medicine at Trinity College.[1][2][3][4] Dench was raised a Quaker[5][6] and lived in Tyldesley, Greater Manchester. Notable relatives include the actor Jeffrey Dench, her older brother, and her niece Emma Dench, a Roman historian previously at Birkbeck, University of London,[7] and currently at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

When Dench was thirteen, she entered The Mount School, York. In 1971, Dench married British actor Michael Williams and they had their only child, Tara Cressida Williams (aka "Finty Williams"), on 24 September, 1972, who has followed the family's theatrical tradition to become an accomplished actress in her own right. Dench and Michael went on to star together in several stage productions, as well as separately, but then paired again to make television history with Bob Larby's hit British sitcom, A Fine Romance (1981-84).

Williams died, aged 65, in 2001.

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 main forte throughout her career. She has more than once been named number one in polls for Britain's best actress.[8][9]

Dench was awarded the OBE in 1970, became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1988, and a Companion of Honour in 2005.[10] She gained worldwide popular fame after taking over the role of M in the James Bond film series in 1995, and subsequently through many acclaimed film appearances. In 2000-2001 she received an Honorary DLitt from Durham University.

Dame Judi 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.

Before starting her professional career Judi Dench trained for the stage at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, and was involved 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.[11]

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 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.

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".[12] 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 over the next two decades, 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 outstanding 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."[13]

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" in Stratford. The small round stage focused attention on the psychological dynamics of the characters, and both Ian McKellen in the title role, and Judi Dench, received exceptionally favourable notices. "If this is not great acting I don't know what is.": Michael Billington, The Guardian. "It will astonish me if the performance is matched by any in this actress's generation.": J C Trewin, The Lady. The production transferred to London, opening at the Donmar Warehouse in September 1977, was filmed for television, and later released on VHS and finally DVD. She gained the SWET Best Actress Award (1977).

Dench made her directing debut 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 lively 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 directing debuts.

She has made numerous appearances in the West End including the role of Miss Trent in the 1974 musical version of The Good Companions at Her Majesty's Theatre, and 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.

In 1995 she became known to an international audience after taking over the role of 'M' (James Bond's boss) with the James Bond films. It could be argued that she helped reinvigorate the franchise with her fresh, sharp, and unexpected interpretation of the role.

She has won multiple awards for performances on the London stage, including a record six Laurence Olivier Awards. She also won the American 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, in the series As Time Goes By and in the films Mrs. Brown and Tomorrow Never Dies, both filmed in 1997. Judi Dench has also lent her incredible 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), as Mrs. Calloway in the Disney animated film "Home on the Range, she has narrated various classical music recordings (notably Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream", and Britten's "Canticles-The Heart of the Matter"), 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.

As she enters her seventies, Dame Judi remains one of the biggest draws on the London stage. She is often compared and contrasted with Dame Maggie Smith, another British actress of the same generation, with whom she has appeared in several movies, including the 2004 Ladies in Lavender, and on stage in David Hare's two-role play Breath of Life (Haymarket, October 2002). Judi returned to the West End stage in April 2006 in Hay Fever alongside Peter Bowles, Belinda Lang and Kim Medcalf.

She finished off a busy 2006 with the role of Mistress Quickly in the RSC's new musical The Merry Wives, a version of The Merry Wives of Windsor.[14] at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Dench's more recent film career has been extremely successful. She successfully garnered six Oscar nominations in nine years for Mrs Brown in 1997; her Oscar-winning turn 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 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).[15]

Dench, as Miss Matty Jenkins, co-stars 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 US producing partner station WGBH (PBS Boston) in Spring of 2008.

Dench narrates the updated Walt Disney World Epcot attraction Spaceship Earth.

In 2009 she will star in Madame De Sade in the West End.[16]

She has also lent her likeness, and sometimes her voice, for the role of M in four James Bond video games:

  • As at 2006, Judi Dench has been nominated for Academy Awards 6 times, winning once

  1. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2241129.stm
  2. ^ http://www.atgbcentral.com/ithend.html
  3. ^ JUDI DENCH BIOGRAPHY
  4. ^ Judi Dench Biography (1934-)
  5. ^ http://film.guardian.co.uk/oscars2006/story/0,,1699880,00.html
  6. ^ http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/Guardian/0,,44053,00.html
  7. ^ Birkbeck College - staff page accessed 10 Mar 2007
  8. ^ Hopkins and Dench named best British actors. Guardian News and Media Ltd. Retrieved on December 29, 2006.
  9. ^ Connery and Dench Top Legend Poll. Time Out Group Ltd. Retrieved on December 29, 2006.
  10. ^ Dame Judi Dench. Shakespeare Schools Festival. Retrieved on December 29, 2006.
  11. ^ Dame Judi speaks up for Mystery Plays. HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk. Retrieved on December 29, 2006.
  12. ^ The Great Stage Stars by Sheridan Morley, Angus and Newton (1986)
  13. ^ London Stage in the 20th Century by Robert Tanitch, Haus (2007) ISBN 9781904950745
  14. ^ Merry Wives - The Musical. Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved on December 29, 2006.
  15. ^ http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/DVD-jdenchabshell-rev.htm
  16. ^ http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/display?contentId=96419


Awards
Preceded by
Rosanna Arquette
for Desperately Seeking Susan		 BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1986
for A Room with a View		 Succeeded by
Susan Wooldridge
for Hope and Glory
Preceded by
Brenda Blethyn
for Secrets & Lies		 BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1997
for Mrs. Brown		 Succeeded by
Cate Blanchett
for Elizabeth
Preceded by
Brenda Blethyn
for Secrets & Lies		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1998
for Mrs. Brown		 Succeeded by
Cate Blanchett
for Elizabeth
Preceded by
Kim Basinger
for L.A. Confidential		 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1998
for Shakespeare in Love		 Succeeded by
Angelina Jolie
for Girl, Interrupted
Preceded by
Sigourney Weaver
for The Ice Storm		 BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1998
for Shakespeare in Love		 Succeeded by
Maggie Smith
for Tea with Mussolini
Preceded by
Marie Mullen
for The Beauty Queen of Leenane		 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
1999
for Amy's View		 Succeeded by
Jennifer Ehle
for The Real Thing
Preceded by
Julia Roberts
for Erin Brockovich		 BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
2001
for Iris		 Succeeded by
Nicole Kidman
for The Hours
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
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judi_Dench"
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