They spent their time drinking and behaving badly while making movies such as Room With A View.

Dench is the subject of a Bafta tribute to be shown by the BBC.

She has been awarded the Bafta Fellowship, one of the highest accolades in the British film industry.

Speaking ahead of the programme Judi Dench - A Bafta Tribute, which will be screened on BBC1 on January 12, Smith said: "When we were making Room With A View we laughed and shrieked so much I think we must have unnerved directors Merchant and Ivory. I think they were really appalled.

"During Tea With Mussolini we played Scrabble, drank and behaved badly again. The Italian film crew just thought we were more peculiar than the people we played in the film."

Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Palmer and Sir Richard Attenborough were among the stars who gathered in December to pay tribute to Dench on her 67th birthday.

Her next film Iris, based on the life of Iris Murdoch, is released in the UK on January 18.

She is being tipped as a possible Oscar nominee for the role.