December 9, 2009. Copyright 2009, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Best-loved British actress Judi Dench, as popular as ever at 75
By Susan Shepherd

LONDON, December 9, Graphic News:  When researchers from Britain's Sheffield University set out to find the perfect female voice, the instantly recognisable -- and distinctly croaky -- tones of Dame Judi Dench were found to be central to the ideal blend. When the UK held a memorial service for its citizens killed in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it was Dame Judi the British relatives requested to read at Westminster Abbey. Yet the York-born actress, whose Juliet, back in 1960, was regarded as the definitive portrayal of her generation, once felt compelled to hang a sign outside a theatre advising audiences that she was not suffering from a cold. 
 
Four decades on from those English repertory seasons, Dench's voice -- and face -- is known the world over. She has crowned a prestigious stage and television career with a crop of hugely successful film roles, from James Bond's boss, M, in GoldenEye (1995) onwards, to her Oscar-winning eight minutes on screen as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998). Dench had been nominated for an Academy Award the previous year, when she had played another British queen, the widowed Victoria, opposite Billy Connolly in Mrs Brown (1997) and more were to follow for her performances in Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006). In fact, Dench holds the record for the most Oscar nominations among actors over 60, well ahead of such legendary names as Katharine Hepburn, Laurence Olivier and Paul Newman.
 
A graduate of London's Central School of Speech and Drama -- where Vanessa Redgrave was a classmate -- Dench joined the Old Vic Company in 1957 and, over the next 20 years, worked at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing all the big, classical roles.  But she had to be coaxed into some of them. Slightly built, she initially refused director Peter Hall's attempt to cast her as Cleopatra, insisting she would come across as a "menopausal dwarf".  A nervous singer, Dench was shocked to land the lead role of Sally Bowles in the West End musical, Cabaret, in 1968. Yet she drew positive reviews for projecting the show's big numbers "with great feeling". In 1996, she won an Olivier award for her performance in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. 
 
Dench was married for 30 years to actor Michael Williams, who died from lung cancer in 2001. The pair starred together in a gentle TV sitcom -- A Fine Romance -- in the early 1980s and had a daughter, Finty, who followed her parents into acting. On the fifth anniversary of Williams' death, Dench said she had dealt with her grief by working constantly. In 2007 she gave a poignant portrayal of Miss Matty Jenkyns in the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, Cranford, in which her character suffers a double bereavement. The popular costume drama is returning for a two-part special this Christmas. Early next year, Dench will reunite with director Peter Hall to reprise a classical role -- Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Night's Dream -- which she first played as a schoolgirl.
/ENDS