Dame Judi Dench: Someone Give her A Job!

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 3:23pm

Judi Dench: 'All I ever wanted was to be employed’
In 54 years as an actress, Judi Dench has tackled just about every role going, from Ophelia in 'Hamlet' to M in the James Bond movies. And she's still enjoying life at 77.

Given how nice everyone says Dame Judi Dench is, there seems to be a surprising amount of fear around her.
The PR people for her new film, 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', are more on edge than usual. When I’m shown in, it’s not hard to see why.
Judi Dench is indeed very nice, very welcoming and often very funny. At times, she’s also touchingly vulnerable. But there’s a steeliness there, too.
Dressed all in black, her grey hair cut short as always, she sits straight-backed on the sofa, almost motionless, yet with an air of great alertness. Nothing, you suspect, escapes her.
And when she trains her green eyes on you, she has a look that both invites complicity and at the same time says, 'Be careful – don’t come any closer.’

This can be disconcerting. However, there’s something else about Judi Dench that’s even more disconcerting. Certainly it’s not something I’ve ever written about a 77-year-old before: she’s sexy.
I suspect Dench herself would shriek with laughter at the idea – she doesn’t seem to take herself that seriously – but it’s true. And it’s not just me.
When I mention this to the PR afterwards, she looks thoughtful and says, 'Mmm, a lot of men say that.’

Based on Deborah Moggach’s novel 'These Foolish Things', 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is about a group of pensioners who believe they can live in style in India for less money than they’d pay for a crummy old folk’s home in Britain.
It’s a charming, very touching film about people trying to find happiness before it’s too late, and it comes richly stuffed with acting talent – as well as Judi Dench, there’s another dame in the shape of Maggie Smith, along with Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton and Dev Patel.
Yet when Dench first read the script, or rather when her daughter, Finty, read it and gave her a potted version of the plot – she never reads scripts, she says – she viewed the whole thing with a good deal of apprehension.
'I’ve never been to India before and I didn’t know how I would react to the poverty. In the event I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to go back.’

One of the reasons she liked it so much was that scarcely anyone knew who she was. 'I was recognised a little bit in Rajasthan because of the Bond films [in which she plays M] – nothing else.’
But that wasn’t all; there was another reason why Dench had her doubts about the film. She plays a woman whose husband has just died and ever since the death of her own husband, Michael Williams, 11 years ago, she’s steered clear of playing widows.
'It wasn’t just an emotional decision,’ she says. 'There were professional reasons, too. I think if I’d played a grief-stricken widow too soon after Michael died I might have over-egged the part. Or at least I don’t think my judgment would have been that good.’
It’s not that she’s averse to putting her own experiences into her work, she insists. More that her reaction to her husband’s death took her by surprise.
'I had this extraordinary energy after Michael died. I went off to Nova Scotia and did six weeks on 'The Shipping News'. Then I came home and two days later started Iris. Then I did some more work on 'The Shipping News'.
'And two days after that I started 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. My poor agent nearly had a fit because I was cutting things so fine. But I found working at that pace and doing those kinds of parts helped me.
'Whereas playing a grief-stricken widow would have been no help at all.’
In fact, she’s always set a pretty daunting pace. 'I’ve worked for 54 years, almost continuously,’ she says proudly.

During that time her reputation has climbed ever upwards, to the point where she was named the Greatest Actor of All Time by The Stage newspaper on the day before we meet. She gives an embarrassed shrug when I bring this up.
'The difficulty with any sort of esteem is that more is expected of you. I prefer not to think about it. I’d rather do a part because I want to, not because great things are expected of me. Then I get frightened and I rather resent that.
'You see,’ she says, suddenly leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. 'People seem to have this idea that I’ve always been very ambitious. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve never had any idea what parts I would like to play.
'All I ever wanted was to be employed.’
In retrospect, it was almost inevitable that Dench became an actress – her father was the GP for York Theatre Royal, while her mother was the wardrobe mistress. But to begin with she wasn’t too keen on the idea.
'Oh no, I wanted to be a theatre designer. That was what I had really set my heart on.’
She was, she says, a happy child – 'I think my parents gave us a lot of confidence. But I was quite naughty, especially at school.’ And what about when she was a teenager, I ask.

Was she confident with boys? She looks at me in astonishment.
'No! Absolutely not. I remember a boy called Christopher… God, he’ll laugh reading this, if he’s still alive. He wrote to me asking me if he could accompany me back from a Quaker meeting – although my parents weren’t Quakers, I was sent to a Quaker school.
'So I said yes, and we walked along the walls of York. It was quite windy and my coat blew up at one point and he caught hold of it.
'When I got back I wrote him a letter saying, “I can never walk along the walls with you again as you touched my coat.” Can you believe that?
'And then, decades later, when I was in 'Cabaret', he came backstage with his wife and he said, “I’ve got something in my wallet that may interest you.” He took out this unbelievably tattered piece of paper – and it was the letter I’d sent him.’

She didn’t stay quite so prudish for long, though. 'I got kissed on top of the Rowntree Theatre once, I remember. When I got back to school I told my friend Susie Marshall about it.
'She said, “Oh my God, how long did the kiss last? We must time it. You tell me when it started and when it ended.” So I started and she began to say, “One steamroller…” Then I said, “Stop!” “You had one steamroller’s worth,” she told me.
'Actually, that would make a good title for a book, wouldn’t it?’

While she may have been lukewarm about acting, she still appeared in plays at school and, later, in the York Mystery plays. 'I was an angel one year and then the Virgin Mary, so I was going in the right direction, as it were.’
However, it was a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Michael Redgrave in 'King Lear' that finally prompted her to try for drama school. As soon as she left, in 1957, she was cast as Ophelia opposite John Neville’s 'Hamlet' at the Old Vic.
'I wasn’t very good and the part was taken from me when the play went to America. I was very shaken, very depressed. Then six months later I got the part back because the actress who replaced me went off to do something else.
'And in that six months I’d learnt a considerable amount. It was John Neville who told me, “You’ve got to decide why you want to be an actress. Don’t tell anyone the reason, but keep it at the forefront of your mind.”
'I’ve done that ever since and I’ve never told anyone what it is.’

She and Michael Williams met when they both starred in 'The Duchess of Malfi'. When he first proposed in the late 1960s, she was in Australia.
'I said, “No, but ask me again on a rainy night in Battersea.” So he did a few months later, and this time I said yes.’
They married in February 1971.

It was a famously happy marriage, something pretty rare in the theatre, especially when one partner is so much more successful than the other.
'It must have been insufferable for Michael when someone came and praised me and ignored him. I’m afraid that did happen sometimes. He was a terrific actor, but he always lacked confidence.’
For her part, Dench came to depend on Williams, especially his judgment. 'He was the one who would read everything I was offered and tell me if it was any good. And he would tell me about my performance.
'The nights when I was really unnerved in the theatre were always when Michael was in, because he was completely honest – which is the best way to be. The only way, really.’
Did she ever resent his honesty? 'Oh yes, sometimes. But I always respected where it was coming from.’

The two of them acted together – as husband and wife – in the hit 1980s sitcom 'A Fine Romance'. 'We didn’t do it because we wanted to work together. We were just asked. But it did us a lot of good because we were finally taken as a couple.’
Since Williams’s death she’s had to rely on directors to tell her where she’s going wrong. Does she ever feel they are intimidated by her?
'God, I hope not. Actually, I’m sure they’re not because I don’t behave. I laugh a lot, have too many jokes. From the outside, it could look as if I don’t take it seriously, but I do. I take it deadly seriously. I just don’t see why I can’t enjoy myself as well.’
Last year, almost for the first time, she had a lengthy break from acting after a production of 'Sondheim on Sondheim' in which she’d been due to appear was cancelled.
'I’ve had a break since last February, when I came back from working with Clint Eastwood on 'J Edgar Hoover', to about three weeks ago, when I started the Bond. And I’ve absolutely loved it! I’ve finally proved to myself that I can do nothing.’

Except that Dench’s idea of doing nothing sounds pretty busy to me. At her home in Surrey, in the house she shares with her daughter and grandson, she spent a lot of time painting.
'I’ve always loved painting, although I never show anyone what I’ve done. Mainly because I don’t do it well. But it’s like a form of visual diary for me. A way of fixing things in my mind.’

Now, though, her extended holiday is over and once again her schedule stretches off into the distance. 'But at my age you never know what the future holds.
'Someone said recently, “Will you do something this time next year?” And I thought, “That’s a long way off. Is it a part for someone with a Zimmer frame? Am I going to be able to get up and down the stairs?”
'As it is, I can’t see steps, so I have to have someone point them out. Actually, I don’t even like to think about the future too much.’
But in so far as anyone’s path is clearly mapped out, it’s hers.
There will be more parts, more plaudits and – doubtless – more statuettes. Where does she keep them all, I ask. In the loo?
She gives another embarrassed shrug and shakes her head. 'No room anymore.’

The Daily Telegraph.




Updated On: 2/17/12 at 03:23 PM

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 4:18pm

Funny I was just thinking the other day it's time she returned to the stage

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 5:09pm

Donmar tried to woo her to revisit Cabaret. Apparently it's in talks since Will Young showed an interest to play Emcee and she loves him. It would be a small role though for her.

[TBFL]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 7:01pm

REALLY! holy sh!t... She would be an amazing Frauline Schneider. That is the one character that always wows me in Cabaret. Sara kestleman at the Donmar originally was stunning, but Judi Dench singing those songs would get me there every night!!

[Jonwo]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 8:03pm

I imagine if Cabaret were to return it would be based on the Sam Mendes production which was done at the Donmar and on Broadway by Roundabout unless it's a new take like the 2006 production. I do like Will Young but I can't imagine him as the Emcee.

Wonder who owns the rights to Mendes' Cabaret given that it was slightly reworked on Broadway. I know Roundabout a few years wanted to revive it.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 11:42am

Obviously the stellar Dame Judy Dench is doing the publicity rounds, which she is contracted to do for new film 'Marigold Hotel' in today's Daily Mirror, she goes on to say she cannot read scripts anymore or recognise a face in front of her, as she might be going blind, as she is suffering from 'macular degeneration', which is indeed very sad for one of our finest actresses, but unfortunately this condition might rob Dame Judy of being able to tread the boards again, which would be a big shame, as Dame Judy you can name unequivocally as one of our national treasures.

I wish her my best wishes for her treatment for this disease.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dame-judi-denchs-eyesight-battle-689976







Updated On: 2/18/12 at 11:42 AM

[theatrepaul]

Posted: 2/19/12 at 12:33pm

I heard that too. I hope she can get treatment to improve her vision. I'd hate to think we might otherwise not see her on stage again. Her performances in Absolute Hell, A Little Night Music and Amys View rank among my very favourites. One of our truly GREAT actresses

Updated On: 2/20/12 at 12:33 PM