As Dame Judi Dench turns 89, we look back at the life, loves and career highlights of the much-loved acting legend
WORDS: SUE CRAWFORD
When the writer Alan Bennett toyed with the most offensive slogan you could put on a T-shirt, he concluded that nothing would outrage the public more than “I hate Judi Dench”.
It was said in jest, but he probably wasn’t far from the truth. The term “national treasure” is bandied around frequently these days, but if there’s one actress who could be said to genuinely embody the title, it is the irrepressible Dame Judi.
Her fan base is extensive, from those who remember the heart-warming ’80s and ’90s TV sitcoms A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By, James Bond aficionados who loved her as the spy’s steely boss, M, and younger admirers won over by her enthusiastic dances on social media channel TikTok alongside her grandson Sam.
It is that zest for life that has kept Dame Judi at the top of her game for an incredible seven decades.
Not that she will countenance any mention of her iconic status.
“National treasure? I hate that,” she says firmly.
“I just wanted to be called a joker. A jobbing actor. Somebody who has a laugh.”
Laugh she certainly does, for behind the elegance, poise and clipped vowels, Dame Judi is known at work for her impish sense of humour, not to mention a fondness for rude jokes!
And while audiences marvel at her haul of trophies, which include an Oscar, four BAFTAs, two Golden Globes and seven Olivier Awards, her co-stars reveal there’s a lot more to Dame Judi than meets the eye.
Hollywood actress Keira Knightley says, “She gives this fantastic air. She just sits there and she embroiders, and you think, ‘Oh, that’s so nice! It’s Judi Dench. It’s so quaint, she’s embroidering a cushion’.
“And you go, ‘What are you embroidering?’ And she’s got hundreds of them just covered in swear words or rude sayings.”
However, the legendary actress’s cheeky humour has occasionally got her into trouble.
On one occasion, while appearing in theatre, she thought she recognised a friend sitting in the front row.
“So, I got a piece of paper and folded it up and wrote a rather flirty proposition on it,” she recalls.
“I dropped the note and looked up and played the scene, and I glanced back and it was a complete stranger.”
