EVEN if Dame Judi Dench was pooh--poohing her chances of winning an Oscar tonight for her role as Queen Elizaheth in Shakespeare In Love, husband of 28 years Michael Williams has been talking up her chances.

'She's a great actress and she deserves it,' Michael, 63, told me after Thursday's premiere of Tea With Mussolini. Michael is reconciled to being the supporting player, saying that the only reason he went to Italy to appear in Tea With Mussolini was to 'hold Judi's hand'.

Says Michael, whose daughter Finty, 25, made him and Judi grandparents in 1997: 'Theatrical couples are supposed to he rivals, but we've always been a team.'

Thanks to Meggie for sending me this picture and article which appeared in the London Mail on 3/21/99.

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