"I have never had any aspirations to be a director, ... I was persuaded to do it."Off duty: Miss Judi Dench is widely recognised as one of our greatest Shakespearean actresses. She will set a record on Saturday by completing her hundredth and last performance in "Antony and Cleopatra' at the National Theatre.
Last week she was honoured for her performance when at the Laurence Olivier awards ceremony she won the coveted Best Actress award. This will certainly be a year to remember for Miss Dench. She became a DBE in the New Year's Honours List.
"It was a total surprise," she said as she arrived at the National for a performance in 'Antony and Cleopatra.' "Of course, I was thrilled but I knew I would be 'sent up' a lot and it was the party season after all, and "Dame Judi -- well!"
She married Michael Williams the actor in 1971. They have a daughter, aged 15, named Tara and known as 'Finty' who is at the London Convent School but lives at the family's eighteenth-century cottage in Hampstead. "I'm very proud of mommy being made a DBE," she said. "Do you suppose I am now a Damelette?"
Miss Dench and Finty held hands as they took a relaxed stroll along the side of the Thames near the theatre.
Having achieved so much in her long and distinguished career, I asked Miss Dench about any ambitions she might have. "I do not know," she said wistfully. "When Peter [Hall] comes to me and asks me what I would like to do next, I have absolutely no idea."
When she finishes at the National, she will turn her talents to something new. "I have never had any aspirations to be a director, but I was persuaded to do it," she said with a hint of nervous resolution. "I am looking forward to doing it, though with a certain amount of trepidation."
Her confidence started to grow as we spoke about her new venture. "I have got a 'master plan,' of course. A lot of charts all over my dressing room walls. Actually, they tell me who plays what and so on, in case I forget anything."
Miss Dench will make her directing debut for Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company. The play, 'Much Ado About Nothing,' will open in Birmingham next month.
Asked what she would like to do if she had all the time in the world, Miss Dench said: "I would love to discover the whole of Scotland; I simply dote on it."
"The first recorded Dench in Scotland was in 1580 in Gairloch. I suppose that is also one of the reasons I love Scotland so. It is a question of finding one's roots.
Thanks to Mike Kennedy for sending me this article which appeared in The Times (UK) on February 1, 1988. Photo by Stephen Markeson.