They say the eyes are the window to a person’s soul, and if this is the case then Dame Judi Dench is – in spirit at least – as youthful, ebullient, and joyous as ever.
However, while the soul is willing, the body is, alas, less so. There have been recent concerns that Dench’s astonishing career may have come to an end, with the revelation that she can no longer read scripts due to deteriorating eyesight – having been diagnosed with macular degeneration in 2012. But the world’s favourite Dame has since insisted that she will “find a way” to continue gracing our screens.
“I started getting scripts in a much bigger font than anyone else and, at first, I found it utterly ridiculous,” says the actor. “However, I accepted after a while that this was the reality, and I would just have to adapt to this new change in my life. At my age, when things alter, they are very rarely temporary – they seldom go back to how they were before!”
Retirement would, of course, be a huge loss to the industry. The brilliant 90-year-old boasts an Academy Award (plus seven more nominations) to go with her seven Laurence Olivier Awards, six BAFTAs, a pair of Golden Globes, another pair of Screen Actor Guild Awards, and a Tony.
Few handle Shakespeare quite like her – she’s performed in so many of the bard’s works that she refers to him as “the man who pays the rent”!
Born in the north of England in 1934, Dame Judi’s family was a theatrical one – one of her two brothers, Jeff, dreamed of becoming an actor and so she would be regularly taken along to his plays by their supportive parents. The young Judi soon shared her brother’s passion, though she initially felt more drawn to the stage design aspect of it rather than having an urge to tread the boards.
That was until she attended her first professional performance of Shakespear – King Lear in Stratford-Upon-Avon in 1953 – and was instantly beguiled.
After graduating from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (where Jeff also studied) the Dame-to-be made her professional debut as Ophelia in Hamlet at The Old Vic. She reveals that the “critics were not kind”, perhaps creating an inner uncertainty that continues to this day.
“I’ve always been employed yet always been fearful that the next job isn’t going to come,” she admits. “Trevor Nunn once came to wish me luck on the first night of something or other, and said, ‘Why are you always in tears on opening night?’ I replied, ‘It’s because I never think I’m going to be employed again.’
“And although it’s been quite a jokey, light-hearted thing to say, in the depths of me I always had that fear. Perhaps it’s very healthy to be like that.”
For those of who grew up watching Dench onscreen during the 90s, the impression of her is as a serious and stern matron. For all the mirth in Shakespeare in Love, Dench’s Queen Elizabeth I is not amusing – in fact, she terrifies! While her portrayal of MI6’s head honcho in the recent James Bond films certainly does not inspire warm and fuzzy feelings either.
