(Born
1934)
Judi Dench
was born on the 9th December 1934 in York, can fairly be described
as our greatest living actress by popular and professional consent.
Her father
worked as a doctor in Tyldesley where she lived with her family
for a while before moving back to Yorkshire.
She attended
Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech
and Drama in London.
She made
her stage debut as Ophelia in the Old Vic Company's Liverpool
production of 'Hamlet' in 1957 and soon established herself
as one of Britain's most distinguished classical actresses.
Performances
included 'Twelfth Nigh', 'Henry V', 'Measure for Measure',
'The Importance of Being Earnest', 'The Double Dealer', 'A Midsummer
Night's Dream', 'She Stoops to Conquer' and 'Romeo &
Juliet'. Later she worked atthe Nottingham Playhouse and
the Oxford Playhouse .
In 1961
she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (the RSC), and appeared
in her first film 'The Third Secret' in 1964, followed
by 'A Study in Terror' in 1965, 'Four in The Morning',
'He Who Rides A Tiger' and 'Days to Come' in 1966.
She was
first seen by American audiences as Titania in the RSC's 1968
TV production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
During the
1970's apart from raising a family with husband Michael Williams,
she made two films - 'Luther' in 1973 and 'Dead Cert'
in 1974.
A long line
of television appearances followed, which introduced her to
a wider audience - these included 'The Comedy of Errors',
'On Giant's Shoulders', 'Macbeth', ' Love in a Cold Climate'
and 'A Fine Romance' (opposite her husband Michael) which
earned her the BAFTA Best TV Actress Award in 1981.
Other appearances
included Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard', 'Saigon: Year of
the Cat', 'Talking To A Stranger', 'The Browning Version', '
Mr and Mrs Edgehill', 'Ghosts', 'Behaving Badly', 'Can You Hear
Me Thinking?' and 'Absolute Hell'.
More recently,
she appeared in the extremely popular television comedy series
'As Time Goes By' (with Geoffrey Palmer) - the series
ran from 1993 to 1999.
Other films
have included 'Wetherby' in 1985, '84 Charing Cross
Road' in 1986, 'A Room with a View' in 1986 (which
won her a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress), 'A Handful
of Dust' in 1988, 'Henry V' in 1989, and 'Jack and
Sarah' in 1995.
In 1995
she took over the role of 'M' in the James Bond films 'Golden
Eye' and 'Tomorrow Never Dies'. This was followed
by the lead role as Queen Victoria in 'Mrs Brown' in
1997 for which she won a BAFTA award for Best Actress, a Scottish
BAFTA award for Best Actress, and a Golden Globe award for Best
Actress.
In 1998
she played Arabella in the film 'Tea with Mussolini' and
as Queen Elizabeth I for an Oscar-winning cameo role in 'Shakespeare
in Love'.
In 1970
she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was
created Dame of the British Empire in 1988. She has been awarded
Honorary Doctorates by the Universities of Birmingham, Loughborough,
Warwick, York and the Open University.
In 2000
Dame Judi received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters
from Oxford University. Also in 2000 she played Amande Voizin
in the film 'Chocolat', and in 2001 portrayed novelist
Irish Murdoch in the film 'Iris'.
Her husband
Michael sadly died on 12th January 2001 after a long battle
with lung cancer.
Judi Dench
remains one of the nations most respected and beloved dames
of the stage, television and screen.
She appeared
in Noel Coward's 'The Importance of Being Erarnest' which
opened in the UK in September 2002.
Her latest
film appearances have included her reprise role as 'M' in the
Bond film "GoldenEye", as well as leading roles
in "Ladies in Lavender" and "Chronicles
of Riddick".
