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A couple of articles from Yours Magazine: first part of an old one, and another from the current issue.
Yours magazine 01 December 2009 This Christmas, Dame Judi Dench will be celebrating as she always does at home in London with family and friends. At some point, you imagine, they'll be gathered round the fireside to watch more helpings of the unmissable Cranford in which Dame Judi stars. She couldn't have wished for a more perfect Christmas present - the chance to film another two episodes of the hugely popular costume drama. The opportunity for a get-together with her Cranford pals, she says, was a delightful surprise. "None of us had expected to come back for another bash after the first series, so when two more episodes were commissioned we couldn't believe our luck," she says. No wonder, then, that a party mood prevailed during filming for the Christmas specials. She admits that since losing her beloved husband Michael she often takes refuge in the company and friendships of other actors. Cranford, then, of course, was a perfect gift because it meant reuniting her with fellow Cranford-ites Julia McKenzie, Barbara Flynn, Imelda Staunton and Deborah Findlay. Of course there was one notable absence - Eileen Atkins, who played Miss Deborah, on-screen sister of Judi's Miss Matty. Without the presence of domineering Miss Deborah, however, Judi admits her own character in Cranford has flourished. "She's had to assume a bit of backbone that she wouldn't have had if her sister were still alive. "Although the characters have shifted subtly, the relationships and sense of community at the heart of Cranford remains the same. It's still a place where people watch out for one another and know each other's business. "It takes me back to when I was a little girl in the Thirties and Forties. I remember friends of ours being blitzed in York and absolutely everybody rallied round bringing food and clothes, which was wonderful. Now we tend to shy away from that - and I'm always rather thrilled that people can't find my house on their sat nav. But still, there is something to be said for a community that cares and Cranford is a celebration of that." This time around, Miss Matty finds herself in the role of surrogate grandmother to her maid Martha's baby girl, Tilly. "She's finally experiencing something she feels she's missed out on - the joy of having a child around - and keeps Martha busy in the kitchen so that she can spend time with this lovely little girl. She's absolutely in her element." In real life, of course, Judi is mother to actress Finty Williams and grandmother to her 12-year-old son, Sam. "They are everything to me," she admits. "Family comes first and always has. If Finty and Sammy needed me, then that would be it, there's no question. But they've also got their own lives, which allows me to pursue mine. And I do still very much need and want to work." Now 75, she's more than used to reading that she looks a good 15 years younger; although she's delighted that Cranford doesn't just include actresses of a certain age, but positively revolves around them. "By `a certain age' do you mean old?" she laughs. "But yes, it's very nice indeed to be asked to play one of them, especially as we all get on so well." Miss Matty will, she knows, do nothing to diminish her status as a national treasure. "Oh no," she says, "please don't call me that - it's such a dusty old thing to be called!" Maybe it's a desire to shake off that dust that sometimes leads her to play less than sympathetic roles, like malevolent Barbara in Notes on a Scandal or tough nut M in the Bond movies. |
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Yours magazine by Sara Nathan 16 November 2011
 Dame Judi Dench has revealed that her greatest regret is not having more children. The Oscar-winning actress had her only child, daughter Finty, when she was 37. Now 76, she has also told how she and her late husband, actor Michael Williams, had tried to adopt a sibling for Finty, but were turned down because they were too old Dame Judi, who is filming the role of MI6 boss M in the new James Bond film Skyfall, said: 'I wish we'd had lots more children. That's the only regret I have. But I was older and it didn't happen. 'We tried to adopt a child and they didn't like it because we were over 40 -- and Michael was a Catholic and I was a Quaker. It obviously wasn't to be.' The star, who now has her 14 year-old grandson Sammy living with her, made her comments just weeks after David Cameron called for a 'culture change' in society's attitude towards adoption. The Prime Minister said agencies should abandon their 'tick-box mentality' towards potential parents and added that a successful adoption can give children 'a great start in life and a great life'. Dame Judi, who won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love, said she took motherhood so seriously that she even contemplated giving up her career after Finty's birth in 1972. She told Yours magazine: 'I'd had a daughter and having a family I wanted to be at home. 'Michael wouldn't let me stop, though. So in the beginning I tried to arrange things so I was with her during the day and going to the theatre in the evening when she was in bed. Later on, when she went to school, I could do things like television during the day to be with her in the evening.' Having a family was so important, said the star, that for 12 years she and her husband and Finty shared their home near Stratford-on-Avon with her widowed mother and Michael's parents. 'It was originally Michael's idea,' she recalled. 'One night he said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all live together?" That was absolutely my idea of heaven then. 'It was like a proper Quaker community, certainly for bringing up a child, but also the whole idea of looking after your parents. Everyone had their own room but there didn't seem any point to me in getting a place where we didn't share a living area. 'Of course that sometimes created quite a lot of tension. I wouldn't say for a second that it was always easy and I was in tears quite often. On one occasion I even threw a cup of tea at Michael and his mother -- fortunately, I missed! 'But the good times quite outweighed the bad and I don't regret a day of it.' The actress was left bereft when her husband died in 2001 after a battle with cancer. She is now dating conservationist David Mills, who runs a wildlife park near her home in Surrey. Daughter Finty, who appeared in Oscar-winning film Gosford Park, has admitted struggling with her own problems, including alcoholism. In March 2005 she was given a suspended sentence following a car crash in which she was found to be more than three times the legal drink limit. The actress collided head-on with a car carrying a young mother and her 18-month-old son on the opposite side of the road in Fetcham, Surrey. Bill Kenwright, the theatre producer who is a patron of a rehabilitation charity, told magistrates how she had begged him to help her overcome her drinking problem. Mr. Kenwright said at the time: 'She has brought shame on herself and she has brought shame on her family and she recognises that. Words can scarcely say the deep sense of shame and remorse she feels.' He told how Finty had cut herself off from her son, then seven, while she received treatment. But he said she had 'fought her demons' and would do anything to make sure it did not happen again for her son's sake. Speaking this week, Dame Judi said: 'Ever since my grandson Sammy has been living with me, I have noticed that teenagers like to come and lie about the house like puppies. 'But then he probably thinks me erratic. My fear is that I have only taught him how to put money on a horse and to open a bottle of champagne properly. |