Britain is world famous for many things. Besides the usual touristy Buckingham Palace, The Thames, the Tower of London and the loveable Queen Mum, the British Isles are also noted for its venerable actors. To the list of Guinesses, Redgraves, Oliviers, Caines and Conneries, must now be added Judi Dench.Recently awarded the honourary title of Dame of the British Empire in 1988 for her life-long work in the cinema, Judi Dench is one actress who has seen (and done) it all. And her career has certainly not gone unnoticed by the powers of the British establishment. In 1988, Dench was awarded Dame of the British Empire, an honour befitting a woman who received the Order of the British Empire over a decade earlier in 1970. You might say, she's been around.
One of the most versatile actresses on either side of the Atlantic, like most of her fellow Brits, Dench's career has traversed both stage, television and cinema. In each of these areas her popularity has grown and she has truly excelled. Nowadays, when Judi Dench is in a movie, people know her name immediately - but it wasn't always that way.
While MGM's small budgeted Tea With Mussolini continues to draw rave reviews, we can trace back the sheer volume of Dench's work. Her career begins when she attended Mount School in York and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, the cornerstone for brilliant presentations.
Other early career highlights include performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, at the National Theatre and the Old Vic. All this great theatrical activity and presence notwithstanding, Dench perhaps gained her greatest recognition with her scene-stealing portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the surprise best picture of 1998 Shakespeare in Love.
But there is no mistaking Dench's great comic presence and although her part only earned her a mere eight minutes in screen time, the hilarity of the Elizabeth I character made quite an impact on both the cast, the audience - and even the academy, her peers. Trained in the classics, Dench also played royalty as Queen Victoria, opposite Billy Connolly in John Madden's critically acclaimed Mrs. Brown. For this role, she again won an Oscar nomination as well a series of awards far too numerous to mention. Included among the booty was both a British and Scottish BAFTA and a coveted Golden Globe, given by Hollywood Foreign press journalists.
Believe it or not, this dynamic actress has won seven BAFTA's and has appeared in dozens of plays on the British stage. Shakespeare productions include Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Macbeth. Portrayals of such notable characters as Juliet, Viola, Portia, Lady Macbeth, and Titania, among others, have been effectively captured by Dench.
Not limited to Shakespeare, she has also given astonishing performances playing The Duchess of Malfi and Sally Bowles in Cabaret. She's even been a hit on Broadway and just relishes musicals. On television, millions more people on a global scale have grown accustomed to her face in such series hits as A Fine Romance, Smiley's People, and the immensely popular As Time Goes By, where she played a frustrated wife to an equally frustrated jerk of a gentleman husband.
For her work on the small screen she recently earned an ACE award given out by the cable industry. Again, the list of achievements in front of the camera or on stage goes on and on. All together, she has received over 30 awards - and counting! Whether it's comedy or pure drama, Dench always delivers a knockout punch.
When it comes to the movies, how could Hollywood overlook this British dynamo? And it hasn't. On screen Dench has drawn rave reviews for her work on A Room With a View, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. Her most recent work sees her portraying a bumbling, art loving, dog fancier, riding her bike through fascist Florence in the superbly written and acted Tea With Mussolini - truly a showcase for British acting talent as never done before, especially from a female perspective. And then, along came Bond.
This November will mark the third time Dench has portrayed M, the head of British Intelligence, who sends agent 007 out on assignment to save the world. James Bond returns again in The World is Not Enough with this more "mature" woman sending the still oversexed agent out on yet another mission. Giving a woman the coveted role was a giant leap forward for the Bond producers, especially since many still remember the original, classic portrayal by veteran character actor Bernard Lee from the trademark Connery films.
Through it all, Dench has risen to the occasion and rules the spy roost to perfection. One would not expect anything less from this one-of-a-kind acting legend. Neither shaken, nor stirred.
Thanks to Angela for pointing me to this article.