Janet Dale
Timothy Dalton
Charles Dance
The Dance of Death
Ron Daniels
The Danton Affair
Nick Darke
Daughter of the Air
Shaun Davey
Alan David
Howard Davies
Rudi Davies
Daniel Day-Lewis
Days in the Trees
Days of the Commune
The Dead Monkey
Nick Dear
Deathwatch/The Maids
Thomas Dekker
Robert Delamere
A Delicate Balance
Frances de la Tour
Robert Demeger
Jeffery Dench
Judi Dench
The Desert Air
Desire Under the Elms
Destiny
The Devil is an Ass
The Devil's Disciple
The Devils
Ann Devlin
Es Devlin
Mark Dignam
Stephen Dillane
The Dillen
Lisa Dillon
Dingo
The Dispute
Divine Gossip
Joe Dixon
Doctor Faustus
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
The Dog in the Manger
Monica Dolan
A Doll's House
Don Carlos
Donmar Warehouse
Declan Donnellan
Gregory Doran
Simon Dormandy
Roy Dotrice
John Dougall
Wayne Dowdeswell
Downchild
Penny Downie
Kevin Doyle
A Dream of People
Dreamplay
Amanda Drew
Darrell D'Silva
Kate Duchêne
The Duchess of Malfi
Duck Song
William Dudley
The Dumb Waiter
Lindsay Duncan
Jeremy Dunn
Marguerite Duras
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Susan Dury
Dutch Uncle
The Dybbuk
Charles Dyer
Chris Dyer
Judi Dench studied art in her hometown of York before moving to London to take up a place at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Her talent was recognised by Michael Benthall, who cast her as Ophelia in Hamlet and Maria in Twelfth Night at the Old Vic (1957). It was a prodigious beginning, consolidated by her return in 1960 to play Katherine in Henry V (John Neville); a famous Juliet, opposite John Stride, in Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffirelli); Kate in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (Douglas Seale); and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Michael Langham).
Peter Hall brought her to the RSC in 1961, initially to play Anya alongside Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud and Ian Holm in Michel Saint-Denis's production of The Cherry Orchard (RST and Aldwych). In comparison with her nearest rivals, Judi Dench was petite, pretty and seemingly malleable. In her twenties she was viewed as a better than average ingénue whereas Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith and Glenda Jackson were potential movie stars. At the RSC in 1962 she played a young Isabella in Measure for Measure (John Blatchley, RST), Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Peter Hall, RST), and sexy Dorcas Bellboys in A Penny for a Song (Colin Graham, Aldwych), but it was Vanessa Redgrave who received all the publicity as Rosalind in As You Like It.
The years 1964 to 66 saw her continue an orthodox classical career at the Oxford Playhouse (Irina in Three Sisters, Doll Common in The Alchemist, Lika in The Promise) and the Nottingham Playhouse (Joan in Saint Joan, Marjorie Pinchwife in The Country Wife, Amanda in Private Lives). She first truly startled London audiences playing against type as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (Palace, 1968). It was the first indication of the range of emotion at her disposal, and of her boldness (she was not a natural singer).
The next year, 1969, she returned to the RSC and to Shakespeare. Trevor Nunn, planning his first season, asked her to play both Hermione and Perdita in his own production of The Winter's Tale; Bianca in Women Beware Women (Terry Hands); and Viola in Twelfth Night (John Barton). She won acclaim for the quality she brought to Shakespeare's heroines, a blend of tenderness and vivacity all her own. The expressiveness of her voice and her ability to time lines and looks were at the heart of it. Twelfth Night travelled the world and stayed in the repertoire for three years. The next ten years witnessed remarkable combinations across Stratford seasons: in 1971, Portia in The Merchant of Venice (Hands, RST) and the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi (Williams, RST); in 1976/77, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Barton, RST), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Nunn, TOP), Adriana in The Comedy of Errors (Nunn, RST), Regan in King Lear (Nunn with Barton, RST) and Lona Hessel in Pillars of the Community (Barton, Aldwych); and, in 1979/80, Imogen in Cymbeline (David Jones, RST) and Juno in Juno and the Paycock (Nunn, Aldwych). 1976 was the most memorable of Trevor Nunn's Stratford seasons. Judi Dench was deeply affecting as Beatrice, opposite Donald Sinden, sublimely funny as the exasperated Adriana, and shockingly severe as Lady Macbeth, encapsulating the character's decline in a single silent scream. There were also lighter roles: Grace Harkaway in London Assurance (Ronald Eyre, Aldwych, 1970, New, 1972); the title role in Major Barbara (Williams, Aldwych, 1970); Mama Rabbit/First Fieldmouse in Toad of Toad Hall (Euan Smith, RST, 1972); The Nurse in Shaw's Too True to be Good (Williams, Aldwych and Globe, 1975); and Mrs Millamant in Congreve's The Way of the World (Barton, Aldwych, 1978). In 1984/85, at the Barbican, she played the title role in Mother Courage (Howard Davies) and Amy in Harley Granville Barker's Waste (Barton, Pit, also Lyric, 1985).
In the 1980s Judi Dench joined Peter Hall at the National to play Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest (Lyttelton, 1982), Deborah in Harold Pinter's A Kind of Alaska (Cottesloe, 1982) and Cleopatra opposite Anthony Hopkins in Antony and Cleopatra (Olivier, 1987). She continued on the South Bank after Hall's departure, but the work around her was second-rate—Richard Eyre's Hamlet (1989), John Caird's The Seagull (1994) and David Hare's Amy's View (1997). Her star turn as a contemporary Arkadina in Amy's View delighted audiences in London and New York. It coincided with a sudden and unexpected success in the medium that had confined her to supporting roles for years. A small BBC film about Queen Victoria called Mrs Brown brought her an Oscar nomination and the adulation of the Hollywood elite. She has since played Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1998, Oscar for Best Supporting Actress); Armande in Chocolat (Lasse Hallström, 2000); Agnis in The Shipping News (Hallström, 2001); and the title role in Iris (Richard Eyre, 2001). In movies like these, desperately seeking Academy Awards, she seems self-consciously the great actress. In contrast, her ongoing cameo as M in the James Bond series is effortless and pleasurable, equalling her earlier performances in Wetherby (David Hare, 1985), A Room with a View (James Ivory, 1986, BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress), 84 Charing Cross Road (David Jones, 1987), A Handful of Dust (Charles Sturridge, 1988, BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress), and Jack and Sarah (Tim Sullivan, 1995).
Other theatre: The Wolf (Oxford and London, 1973); The Good Companions (Her Majesty's, 1974); The Gay Lord Quex (Albery, 1975); Pack of Lies (Lyric, 1983); Mr and Mrs Nobody (Garrick, 1986); Madame Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard (Sam Mendes, Aldwych, 1989); The Plough and the Stars (Mendes, Young Vic, 1991); Volumnia to Kenneth Branagh's Coriolanus (Tim Supple, Renaissance, Chichester, 1992); Peter Shaffer's The Gift of the Gorgon, an isolated return to the RSC (Hall, Pit 1992, Wyndham's, 1993); Fanny in Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman's The Royal Family (Hall, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2001); and David Hare's The Breath of Life (Howard Davies, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2002). In 1988 she accepted an invitation from Branagh to direct Much Ado About Nothing for Renaissance (Birmingham Rep Studio and Tour, with Branagh and Samantha Bond). She has since directed productions of Look Back in Anger (Renaissance, 1989), The Boys from Syracuse (Regent's Park, 1991), and Romeo and Juliet (Regent's Park, 1993).
She met her husband Michael Williams at the RSC and played opposite him in the situation comedy A Fine Romance (ITV, 1981-84). Other television includes: Talking to a Stranger (1967); Langrishe Go Down (1978), with Jeremy Irons; Love in a Cold Climate; Going Gently (1981, BAFTA for Best Actress); Saigon, Year of the Cat (1983); The Browning Version (1985); Ghosts (1985), with Gambon and Branagh; Behaving Badly (1988); and As Time Goes By (1992-02).
In 2001 Judi Dench opposed the demolition of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. In 2003 she returned to Stratford to play the Countess in All's Well That Ends Well (Gregory Doran, Swan); and again in 2006/07 to star in Doran's woeful musical version of The Merry Wives of Windsor (RST).
Education: Mount School, York; York School of Art; Central School of Speech and Drama
RSC: Joined 1961; Associate Artist, 1967-88; Honorary Associate Artist (since 1988)
Seasons: 1961 (Strat.)-61/62 (Lond.); 1962 (Strat.); 1969 (Strat.)-70 (Lond.); 1971 (Strat.)-72 (Lond.); 1975 (Lond.); 1976/77 (Strat.)-77/78 (Lond.); 1979 (Strat.)-80 (Lond.); 1984/85 (Lond.); 1992/93 (Lond.); 2003/04 (Strat.)-04 (Lond.); 2006/07 (Strat., Complete Works)
TOPHOME