READ ANOTHER STORY DAME Judi Dench is one of the finest British actresses of all time. She has ruled the country as two different monarchs, dared to describe James Bond as a sexist, misogynist dinosaur and will soon be seen on the big screen as one of our finest novelists, Iris Murdoch, battling with Alzheimer’s disease.
Over the years she has demonstrated her versatility by switching from Shakespeare to TV sitcoms. But while she has been one of this country’s most successful and popular actresses it is only recently that Hollywood has come to acknowledge her talent.
Last month, a glittering array of celebrities including Dame Maggie Smith, Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Palmer and Sir Richard Attenborough gathered at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London’s West End to pay tribute to the much-loved actress on her 67th birthday.
The occasion was to see Bafta, The British Academy Of Film And Television Arts, award Dench a fellowship in recognition of her outstanding contribution to both TV and Film - the highest accolade bestowed by the body.
The event came at the end of a year which had been marked with sadness by the death of her husband and fellow actor, Michael Williams.
As the stars paid tribute to Dench, what emerged was a picture of an actress who possesses a great sense of fun, values the friends she has made along the way but, ironically, who hates watching herself.
Dench says: "I just don’t enjoy watching myself on screen. I haven’t seen Room With A View, A Handful Of Dust or Chocolat. It all just looks the same to me."
Born and bred in Yorkshire, she developed her love of acting at school. Her first stage appearance was as a snail at junior school. All of her family were involved in amateur dramatics in her home city of York and she appeared in the famous mediaeval Mystery Plays.
After training at London’s Central School Of Speech And Drama, Dench won praise for her work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre and at the Old Vic Theatre in such roles as Cleopatra and Sally Bowles in the London premiere of Cabaret.
During her time at the Old Vic she was to meet an actress who was to become a lifelong friend - Dame Maggie Smith.
"We shared a dressing room at the Old Vic," recalls Smith. "It was the beginning of a great friendship, but what I remember most was all the laughter."
The pair have acted together on the big screen in the films Room With A View and Tea With Mussolini. "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," laughs Dench.
"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."
In the Eighties Dench acquired new fans appearing in the TV sitcom A Fine Romance, along with her late husband Williams, and from 1991 she starred with Geoffrey Palmer in As Time Goes By. This week the BBC revealed that the latter show, which tells of a middle-aged couple who rekindle their teenage romance after a chance meeting, will return to TV for a ninth series in 2002.
But Palmer reveals: "Judi was not first choice for the part. We nearly had Jean Simmons on board but it didn’t happen.
"Then somebody suggested Judi and we all thought: ‘yes’. But the BBC discovered she was not able to do it for four months so we all agreed that we would wait.
"One of the great joys playing opposite Judi - and I’m not sure whether this is because she is doing three other jobs or because of her advancing years - is that sometimes she is not totally on top of her lines.
"This results is both she and I appearing with embarrassing regularity on Auntie’s Bloomers. The good side is that this means I get - an albeit tiny - contribution to my pension fund from the BBC."
In 1995 Dench took over the role of spymaster M in the long-running series of James Bond movies. She is due to start making her fourth Bond movie later this month.
Then, in 1996, she became the first person to win two Olivier awards in the same year - for best actress in Absolute Hell and best actress in a musical for A Little Night Music, both at the National Theatre.
Despite such accolades Dench only grabbed Hollywood’s attention relatively recently. She earned a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for the 1997 film Mrs Brown, in which she played Queen Victoria opposite Billy Connolly.
A year later she won an Oscar for best supporting actress for Shakespeare In Love, playing Queen Elizabeth I - even though she appeared for just eight minutes. In 2000 she was nominated again for her role in Chocolat.
And she shows no signs of retiring just yet. Later this month she appears as author Iris Murdoch in the film Iris. In February, she will be seen alongside Kevin Spacey and Cate Blanchett in The Shipping News while later in the year she appears as Lady Bracknell in a film adaptation of The Importance Of Being Earnest.
Actor Colin Firth, who appears in the film, has some timely advice for any of Dench’s future co-stars.
"Don’t let Judi drive you anywhere," he says. "We had this golf cart on set which was supposed to be driven at a leisurely pace. When you got in with Judi it was like a scene from Bullitt.
"There was this woman tearing through the English countryside. She managed to strike fear into the hearts of the entire film nit."
Thanks to Mike Kennedy for sending me this article which appeared in the Scotsman (UK) on January 12, 2002.