This article was originally published on WHerMoments
When you think of the best British actors of all time, Judi Dench has got to be somewhere near the top of the list. The legendary star cemented her status as an icon many years ago, thanks to her long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company and her role as M in the James Bond franchise. There’s much more to Dench than her most famous roles, though. This collection of vintage photographs tells the extraordinary story of her personal and professional life, from conquering the stage and screen to experiencing love and loss — and even sharing an ice cream with royalty! As these pictures prove, Judi Dench is truly one of a kind.
1957 — An extraordinary debut
At only 22 years of age, Dench landed her first professional job playing Ophelia in Hamlet. She later told Entertainment Weekly, “It was absolutely thrilling. This was the only thing I wanted to do — play characters in Shakespeare for the Old Vic. It simply couldn’t be any better.”
A London Evening Standard review at the time declared the young actress had “talent which will be shown to better advantage when she acquires some technique to go with it.” There was much more to come.
1960 — Judi as Juliet
Following her debut as Ophelia, Dench remained with the Old Vic touring company for four years. One of her biggest roles during this period was as the female lead in a Franco Zeffirelli production of Romeo & Juliet.
Her parents actually attended this production, and when, in character, she asked, “Where is my father and my mother?” during act three, Dench’s father, Reginald, yelled, “Here we are, darling, in row H!”
1960 — Photographic memory
Over the years, Dench’s photographic memory made learning lines a breeze. Sadly, in recent years, she’s revealed that a degenerative eye condition has made reading scripts almost impossible.
On The Graham Norton Show, she admitted, “I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines but also tells me where they appear on the page. I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of Twelfth Night right now.”
1960 — Relaxing at home
Besides acting, Dench has always enjoyed a number of creative hobbies in her downtime. In a 1968 interview, she revealed, “I do lots of other things like painting and sewing and tapestry which make me very happy. They may be solitary things, but I am still a very gregarious person. I’m absolutely hopeless about being on my own.
I don’t like living alone, but for the sake of not being alone then I’m not just going to have someone around to live with. Thank goodness there is a phone and one can talk to people.”
1963 — Charity showgirls
These days, people have a certain image of Judi Dench in their heads. In Britain, she’s beloved as a national treasure. She even once beat Queen Elizabeth into second place as the British public’s most liked and respected person. So, it may surprise some people to see the actress as a youthful dancing showgirl.
Interestingly, her reputation as a sweet, genteel national treasure is not something that Dench ever wanted; in fact, it aggravates her. In 2009 she told The Guardian, “I don’t like that very much, I’m afraid. That sounds pretty dusty to me. It’s Alan Bennett and I behind glass in some forgotten old cupboard.”
1967 — “Lots and lots of things scare me”
Dench once told Stylist magazine that she often feels fear in her career, but she never lets it get on top of her. She explained, “Lots and lots of things scare me, but you just get on with it. Fright can transform into petrol. I get stage fright all the time — the more I act, the more I feel it.
But you just have to use it to your advantage. Just like grief, fear engenders a huge amount of energy, and you have to make it work for the better, otherwise you’d crumble.” Great advice.
1967 — Praise for Judi Dench
Dench won the Best Actress trophy at the 1967 British Academy Film Awards for her scintillating performance in John Hopkins’ pioneering drama Talking to a Stranger. Over four 90-minute episodes, the differing perspectives of four family members are shown as they each react to a tragedy befalling them.
Observer critic George Melly wrote, “On the evidence of this work alone, the medium [of television] can be considered to have come of age.” High praise indeed! Throughout her impressive career, Dench has also won an Oscar, a Tony Award, and seven Laurence Olivier Awards — to name but a few.
1968 — Cabaret
Cabaret is one of the most famous musicals of all time, and Dench starred in its first-ever West End production in 1968. Unfortunately, this British production had some teething problems, with creator John Kander telling The Guardian, “It got terrible reviews.
Judi Dench, who was probably the greatest Sally Bowles I’ve seen in my life, got bad reviews. I remember seeing a headline asking, ‘What have they done to our Judi?’” Oh well — you can’t win ’em all!
1968 — Acting royalty
In 1968 Dench starred as Titania in Peter Hall’s motion picture version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was a role she’d portrayed in school plays and would return to in a unique 2010 stage production — which would once again be directed by Hall.
Interestingly, the ’68 movie featured not one, not two, but three future Dames: Judi Dench, Diana Rigg, and Helen Mirren. Talk about acting royalty!
1971 — Wedding day
Dench married fellow actor Michael Williams in 1971, and they were together until his tragic death from lung cancer 30 years later. During a 2020 appearance on David Tennant’s podcast, Dench admitted, “I suspect I shall never, ever get over Mikey.”
She smiled, “He was the most unselfish man… Oh, God, how he used to make me laugh. He used to make me absolutely howl.”
1972 — Becoming a mom
Dench’s daughter, Tara — affectionately known as “Finty” — was born in 1972, and she would eventually follow her parents into the family business. In 2022 Dench told Reader’s Digest, “I think both Michael and I knew with Finty that she would probably want to do this.” While working on Hamlet in 1989, Dench recalled a time when Finty came to see her in her dressing room.
She said, “When I came up after a scene, she was dressed entirely in my clothes from the closet scene, so I kind of thought, Oh, hello, this is the way the wind blows!”
1975 — Behind the scenes
Amazingly, Dench’s original ambition wasn’t to be a theater actress; she actually wanted to work backstage. She told BBC Radio 4, “I only ever wanted to be a theater designer. I went to York Art School.” But she can remember the day she realized she wanted to become an actress instead. Her parents took her to see a production of King Lear, and it blew her away. “It was so sublime,“ she said.
“And so beyond any imagination I could possibly ever have for designing, that I thought then and there [about acting], I don’t know if I consciously thought, but I do remember that evening very clearly.” And the rest is history.
1980 — Queen of the period drama
Dench and her husband worked together numerous times during their careers, including in 1980 British television drama Love in a Cold Climate. Perhaps their most famous collaboration was A Fine Romance, a sitcom in which they played a couple in middle age who simply refuse to ever tie the knot.
The show ran for four seasons and was nominated for host of BAFTA awards — with Dench taking home not one, but two trophies, no less.
1980 — The happy couple
Dench and Williams were a British celebrity couple when A Fine Romance was airing. Though their marriage was happy, they had disagreements like any other couple. Dench recalled a funny situation in which they were driving into London to perform in the theater right after having a huge argument.
She laughed, “We’re bowling down Shaftesbury Avenue and not speaking, and this person knocks on the window and begins to sing A Fine Romance! We howled with laughter.”
1982 — The Importance of Being Earnest
During a High Profiles interview in 2022, Dench was asked, “Is acting something you feel you have to do?” She replied, Well, it’s something that I’ve chosen to do, and I’m lucky enough to be able to do – and hopefully I might be lucky enough to go on being able to do... It’s a calling.
You’re very lucky if you have one, because there are people who don’t have that passionate urge to do something, you know? A lot of people are in things they don’t ever feel that they were cut out for or they enjoy.”
1991 — Performing at the National Theater
This 1991 production of The Sea was directed by Sam Mendes, a young upstart who had previously directed Dench’s 1989 production of The Cherry Orchard as well. Dench revealed that he had utmost confidence in himself, even at 24.
When she suggested trying something different with her performance, he replied, “Well, you can try that, but it won’t work.” They eventually collaborated again in 2012 when the now A-list director helmed the Bond movie Skyfall.
1999 — Theater seats
Dench has always been upfront about her first love being theater, not screen acting. And one reason she loves it so much is that it constantly challenges her. She once told Front Row, “That’s why I love the theatre above filming, because one night you’ll perform in the theater, and you’ll think, afterwards, ‘I can do that bit better.
I know that bit should be better,’ or, ‘I’ll try that in another way.’ That’s the excitement of the theater. And of course, the audience supplies an enormous amount of that to you.”
1999 — Queen Elizabeth I
Dench has been nominated for an Oscar a mind-boggling eight times, winning once in 1999 for this performance as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love. Her success made a mockery of the unnamed director who told a young Dench in 1960 she had the “wrong face” for cinema.
She told Front Row, “He said thank you very much, I don’t think you should consider films.” Luckily, she didn’t listen to him!
1999 — Conquering international audiences
As hard as it is to believe, before Dench played M in the James Bond franchise, she wasn’t well known to international audiences. That’s because her focus had largely been on theater and British television up to that point; her last film credit before a ’95 double bill of Goldeneye and Jack & Sarah was Henry V back in 1989.
In 2013 she admitted to The Guardian that by playing M, she hoped it would encourage wider audiences to go to see plays. “It’s to bait people for the theater, really,” she said. “I never want people to not go to the theater. I want it always to last.”
1999 — Finally winning her Oscar
Dench’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for Shakespeare in Love — in which she appeared on screen for only a small portion of the movie — cemented her status as a Hollywood star.
When handed her statue, Dench joked, “I feel for eight minutes on the screen, I should only get a little bit of him!” Many observers felt that the award was the Academy making up for failing to name her Best Actress the previous year for Mrs Brown.
1999 — Leading ladies
Months after landing her first Oscar, Dench picked up her first New York theater award too. She won the Best Leading Actress in a Play Tony Award for her role in Amy’s View, a production which broke advance sales records on Broadway.
The always modest Dench said, “The winning bit is not the best, the nominating bit is the best. There is no such thing as doing a performance on your own unless you are doing a one-woman show.”
2003 — All’s Well That Ends Well
In 2003 Dench made a return to the stage in Stratford with the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time in 24 long years. The Guardian raved about her performance in All’s Well That Ends Well, writing, “...
it is Judi Dench’s Countess that is the production’s chief draw, and that offers a masterclass in classical acting… This is real acting in which the play’s competing strands of magic and realism fuse in one glorious life-enhancing whole.” Whoa.
2004 — A pair of British Dames
Dench first connected with Dame Maggie Smith in 1958, when the young actresses were treading the boards at the Old Vic.
They’ve stayed firm friends for over six decades, with Smith saying, “What I remember mostly about that time, it was the beginning of a friendship, and I remember laughter more than anything in the world. Judi’s the most tremendous friend. She’s been a huge support and hugely loyal.”
2005 — Queen of stage meets Queen of country
As part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Birthday Honors list in 2005, Dench received the Order of the Companions of Honor for her services to British drama.
It was far from her first royal honor, though — she received an OBE for “having a major local role in any activity, including people whose work has made them known nationally in their chosen area” way back in 1970. And she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988!
2012 — Making history
In 2012’s Skyfall, Dench’s M made history as the first version of the character to die on screen. It was a huge moment in the Bond franchise, and Dench told Radio Times how emotional she became when producers revealed M’s fate.
She admitted, “They told me gently and I laughed through my tears. Seven films is a long time. But MI6 would have given her the push by now, don’t you think?”
2014 — With Mark Ruffalo at BAFTAS
At BAFTA’s Britannia Awards in 2014, Dench received a hugely significant honor: the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment. Named after the famed Bond producer — nicknamed “Cubby” — the award meant a lot to Dench, who said, “I never knew Cubby Broccoli...
I’ve had 17 years of doing Bond, which has been just wonderful. So, I’m very, very proud that I shall have something that is named after Cubby.”
2017 — Green fingers
Dench has a gardening passion, so it made perfect sense when a rose was named after her: the Rosa Dame Judi Dench! Flowers were also integral to her saying yes to an unexpected role in Vin Diesel’s The Chronicles of Riddick.
She told Entertainment Weekly, “I was doing a play at the Haymarket Theatre in London… Vin sent me a bouquet of flowers that were so big they couldn’t fit up the stairs to my dressing room. They could not get them into the corridor!”
2018 — Acting royalty
Not only has Dench played royalty a number of times on-screen, but she also has relationships with them in real life! In 2018 she shared an ice cream with the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker Bowles at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight.
The house was once where Queen Victoria lived, and Dench had shot a portion of her film Victoria and Abdul in one of its fully restored rooms.
2021 — A passion for the environment
The documentary Judi Dench: My Passion For Trees revealed that Dench has been planting trees for 30 years in her home garden. It therefore only made sense for the green-thumbed acting legend to open the Chelsea Flower Show in 2021, a huge annual event in London.
She planted a tree in honor of the Queen’s Platinum jubilee and said, “What better way to celebrate than by having a garden and then for all of us to… plant a tree, which is also doing something for climate change?”
2021 — A naughty sense of humor
Do you remember the time Dame Judi Dench stuck a vacuum cleaner on Doctor Strange’s face? We do! In a hilarious 2021 skit for British charity Comic Relief, Dench and fellow acting legend Benedict Cumberbatch discussed the existential conundrum of “What is it to be human?” Then Dench said, “The one thing that unites us all is that this is pretty funny,” and sucked part of Cumberbatch’s cheek into a vacuum.
In fact, the actress is famous for her cheeky sense of humor. Several co-stars have noted her love of dirty jokes, and she even once made fellow actress Lesley Manville laugh so hard she wet herself on stage!