Judi Dench -- Dame Judi Dench to be exact -- was born in 1934 in York and educated at a Quaker school, the Mount in York. Recently Dench credited one of the Mount School's teachers, Miss Macdonald (an erstwhile Young Vic player) for encouraging her to take up acting. Although she has been on the stage for four decades and a handful of films (including the role of Spymaster M in the James Bond films), when Dench was nominated for an Oscar for playing Victoria in Mrs. Brown, the American press said that she was basically unknown in the United States.
"1999 changed all that. The next time round she won her Oscar for eight minutes of being another Queen -- Elizabeth I -- in Shakespeare in Love. Then her triumph in taking Amy's View to Broadway made Dench 'the hottest ticket in New York.' She also became the first performer to win both an Oscar and a Tony in the same year since 1975 and has been showered with accolades from critics not known for such treatment in recent times.
"English audiences already recognized Dench as the greatest living English actress with a store house of memorable roles behind her: Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth and Mother Courage among them.
"Dench was told by a film director she went to see in 1958, that she was destined not to succeed: too short (5 feet, 1 1/2 inches) and stocky. The verdict after her first screen test was: 'You have every single thing wrong with your face.'
"Aside from Miss Macdonald, even as a girl it was noted that Dench's voice sounded as if she permanently suffered from laryngitis. In 1968 when she was in Cabaret she became so irked by audiences expressing concern that she sounded ill that the management put up a notice in the foyer: 'Miss Dench does not have a cold. This is her normal speaking voice.'
"Judi Dench is quiet about her faith, but does not shy away from queries as to her being a Quaker. She says that there are two rocks in her life: her marriage to Michael Williams (28 years), and Quakerism: 'It's fundamental. It centres me and enables me to do everything.' It is an irony that with Sheila Hancock -- with whom she has discussed their common bond -- Quakers have two very strong -- and vocal -- actresses who gather strength in silent worship. But at Meeting no one is on stage."
Thanks to Delda White for sending me this excerpt which appeared in the book Quakers and the Arts: Plain and Fancy, an Anglo-American Perspective by David Sox, published in 2000.SHE ALSO ADDS THESE NOTES: The quote about the screen test comment is footnoted as "in private correspondence." The second, at the end of the next paragraph, cites the NY Times. The third -- her quote about Quakerism -- cites Radio Times. ... Sheila Hancock is John Thaw's widow. The Quaker equivalent of "church" is called Meeting for Worship or just Meeting. (They also have Meeting for Business.) On page 8 of this book David Sox writes: "Today there is ... a Quaker Performing Arts group, the Leaveners, and among its patrons are three distinguished Quaker actors: Ben Kingsley, Sheila Hancock and Judi Dench."