Dench received critical acclaim for her work on television during this period, including her starring roles in the two romantic comedy seriesA Fine Romance (1981–1984,ITV) andAs Time Goes By (1992–2005,BBC1). Her film appearances were infrequent – though included supporting roles in major films, such asJames Ivory'sA Room with a View (1985) – before she rose to international fame asM inGoldenEye (1995), a role she went on to play in eightJames Bond films until her final cameo appearance inSpectre (2015).
Dench was born in theHeworth area ofYork on 9 December 1934,[5][6] the daughter of an English father and an Irish mother. Her father, Reginald Arthur DenchMC &Bar (1897–1964), was a doctor fromDorset who grew up primarily inDublin and who fought on theWestern Front in the First World War.[7][8] Her mother, Eleanora Olave (known as Olave) (née Jones; 1897–1983), was born in Dublin, and her parents met while studying atTrinity College Dublin.[9][10]
Dench attendedthe Mount School, aQuaker independent secondary school in York, and became aQuaker.[14][15] She had two elder brothers named Peter Dench (Doctor) (1925–2017) andJeffery (1928–2014), the latter of whom also became an actor.[14][15]
Through her parents, Dench had regular contact with the theatre: her father was theGP forYork Theatre Royal, and her mother was its wardrobe mistress.[16] Actors often stayed in the Dench household. During these years, Judi Dench was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of theYork Mystery Plays in 1951, 1954 and 1957.[17] In the third production she played the role of theVirgin Mary, performed on a fixed stage in theMuseum Gardens.[18]
Though she initially trained as a set designer, Dench became interested in drama school as her brother Jeff attended theCentral School of Speech and Drama.[16] She was also inspired by seeingPeggy Ashcroft playCleopatra on stage, which she later said "changed my life".[19] She applied and was accepted by the Central School,[20] then based at theRoyal Albert Hall, London, where she was a classmate ofVanessa Redgrave, graduating and being awarded four acting prizes, including the Gold Medal as Outstanding Student.[16]
In 1968, she was offered the role of Sally Bowles in the musicalCabaret. AsSheridan Morley later reported: "At first she thought they were joking. She had never done a musical and she has an unusual croaky voice which sounds as if she has a permanent cold. So frightened was she of singing in public that she auditioned from the wings, leaving the pianists alone on stage".[27] But when it opened at thePalace Theatre in February 1968,Frank Marcus, reviewing forPlays and Players, commented that: "She sings well. The title song, in particular, is projected with great feeling."
After a long run inCabaret, Dench rejoined theRSC, making numerous appearances with the company in Stratford and London for nearly twenty years, winning several "best actress" awards. Among her roles with the RSC, she was the Duchess inJohn Webster'sThe Duchess of Malfi in 1971. In the Stratford 1976 season, and then at the Aldwych in 1977, she gave two comedy performances, first inTrevor Nunn's musical staging ofThe Comedy of Errors as Adriana, then partnered withDonald Sinden as Beatrice and Benedick inJohn Barton's "British Raj" revival ofMuch Ado About Nothing. AsBernard Levin wrote inThe Sunday Times: "...demonstrating once more that she is a comic actress of consummate skill, perhaps the very best we have."[28] One of her most notable achievements with the RSC was her performance as Lady Macbeth in 1976. Nunn's acclaimed production ofMacbeth was first staged with aminimalist design atThe Other Place theatre in Stratford. Its small round stage focused attention on thepsychological dynamics of the characters, and bothIan McKellen in the title role, and Dench, received exceptionally favourable notices. "If this is not great acting I don't know what is", wroteMichael Billington inThe Guardian. "It will astonish me if the performance is matched by any in this actress's generation", commentedJ. C. Trewin inThe Lady. The production transferred to London, opening at theDonmar Warehouse in September 1977, and was adapted for television, later released on VHS and DVD. Dench won theSWET Best Actress Award in 1977.
From 1981 to 1984, Dench starred in Britain's BAFTA award-winningA Fine Romance with her husbandMichael Williams. In 1987, Dench played a supporting role in Columbia Pictures film84 Charing Cross Road, with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. The film dramatizes a delightful and tender correspondence, of the same title, between American writer, Helene Hanff and British bookshop manager, Frank Doel, which began after WWII, in 1949, and ended in 1969. She also acted with theNational Theatre in London where she played Cleopatra inAntony and Cleopatra (1987). In 1989, she appeared in David Tucker'sBehaving Badly for Channel 4, based on Catherine Heath's novel of the same name. That same year, she was cast as Pru Forrest, the long-time silent wife of Tom Forrest, in theBBC soap operaThe Archers on its 10,000th edition.[31]
After a long gap in the series ofJames Bond films followingLicence to Kill (1989), inGoldenEye (1995) the producers brought in Dench to take over as the role ofM,James Bond's boss. The character was reportedly modeled on DameStella Rimington, the real-life head of MI5 between 1992 and 1996;[32][33] Dench became the first woman to portray M, succeedingRobert Brown.[34][35] The seventeenthspy film in theseries and the first to starPierce Brosnan as the fictionalMI6 officer,GoldenEye marked the first Bond film made after thedissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of theCold War, which provided the plot's back story. The film earned a worldwide gross of US$350.7 million,[36] with critics viewing the film as a modernisation of the series.[37][38] She also starred in BBC1'sAs Time Goes By, a romantic comedy. Several series of the show were made between 1992 and 2005. In 1995, she played Desiree Armfeldt in a major revival ofStephen Sondheim'sA Little Night Music, for which she won an Olivier Award.
In 1997, Dench appeared in her first starring film role asQueen Victoria inJohn Madden's teleplayMrs Brown, which depicts Victoria's relationship with her personal servant andfavouriteJohn Brown, played byBilly Connolly. Filmed with the intention of being shown onBBC One and onWGBH'sMasterpiece Theatre, it was eventually acquired byMiramax mogulHarvey Weinstein. Released to generally positive reviews and unexpected commercial success, going on to earn more than $13 million worldwide,[39] the film was screened in theUn Certain Regard section at the1997 Cannes Film Festival.[40] For her performance, Dench garnered universal acclaim by critics and was awarded her fourthBAFTA and firstBest Actress nomination at the70th Academy Awards.[41] In 2011, while accepting aBritish Film Institute Award in London, Dench commented that the project launched her Hollywood career and joked that "it was thanks to Harvey, whose name I have had tattooed on my bum".[42][43]
Also in 1999, Dench won theTony Award for her 1999 Broadway performance in the role of Esme Allen in SirDavid Hare'sAmy's View.[41] The same year, she co-starred along withCher,Joan Plowright,Maggie Smith, andLily Tomlin inFranco Zeffirelli's semi-autobiographical period dramaTea with Mussolini which tells the story of young Italian boy Luca's upbringing by a circle of British and American women, before and duringWorld War II. 1999 also saw the release of Pierce Brosnan's third Bond film,The World Is Not Enough. This film portrayed M in a larger role with the villain, Renard, coming back to haunt her when he engineers the murder of her old friend Sir Robert King and seemingly attempts to kill his daughter Elektra.
In January 2001, Dench's husbandMichael Williams died of lung cancer. Dench went toNewfoundland in Canada almost immediately after his funeral to begin production onLasse Hallström's drama filmThe Shipping News, a therapy she later credited as her rescue: "People, friends, kept saying, 'You are not facing up to it; you need to face up to it', and maybe they were right, but I felt I was – in the acting. Grief supplies you with an enormous amount of energy. I needed to use that up."[48] In between, Dench finished work onRichard Eyre's filmIris (2001), in which she portrayed novelistIris Murdoch. Dench shared her role withKate Winslet, both actresses portraying Murdoch at different phases of her life.[49] Each of them was nominated for anOscar the following year, earning Dench her fourth nomination in five years.[41] In addition, she was awarded both anALFS Award and theBest Leading Actress Award at the55th British Academy Film Awards.[41] AfterIris, Dench immediately returned to Canada to finishThe Shipping News alongsideKevin Spacey andJulianne Moore.[48] Based on thePulitzer Prize-winningnovel byE. Annie Proulx, the drama revolves around a quiet and introspective typesetter (Spacey) who, after the death of his daughter's mother, moves toNewfoundland along with his daughter and his aunt, played by Dench, in hopes of starting his life anew in the small town where she grew up. The film earned mixed reviews from critics,[50] and was financially unsuccessful, taking in just US$24 million worldwide with a budget of US$35 million.[51] Dench received BAFTA and SAG Award nominations for her performance.[41]
In 2002, Dench was cast oppositeRupert Everett,Colin Firth, andReese Witherspoon inOliver Parker'sThe Importance of Being Earnest, a comedy about mistaken identity set in English high society during theVictorian Era. Based onOscar Wilde's classiccomedy of mannersof the same name, she portrayed Lady Bracknell, a role she had repeatedly played before, including a stint at theRoyal National Theatre in 1982.[52] The film was released to lukewarm reactions by critics - who called it "breezy entertainment, helped by an impressive cast", but felt that it also suffered "from some peculiar directorial choices" - and earned just US$17.3 million during its limited release.[53] Dench's other film of 2002 wasDie Another Day, the twentieth installment in theJames Bond series. The spy film, directed byLee Tamahori, marked her fourth appearance asMI6 head M and the franchise's last performance byPierce Brosnan as Bond.Die Another Day received mixed reviews.[54][55] Regardless, it became the highest-grossing James Bond film up to that time.[56] In the 2002 animated children's seriesAngelina Ballerina, Dench lent her voice to Miss Lilly, Angelina's ballet teacher, and her daughter,Finty Williams, provided the voice of Angelina herself.[citation needed]
In 2004, Dench appeared as Aereon, an ambassador of theElemental race who helps uncover the mysterious past ofRichard B. Riddick, played byVin Diesel, inDavid Twohy's science fiction sequelThe Chronicles of Riddick. Selected by Diesel, who prompted writers to re-create the character to fit a female persona because he wanted to work with the actress,[57] she called filming "tremendous fun", although she "had absolutely no idea what was going on in the plot".[58] The film was a critical and box office failure.[59] In his review of the film,James Berardinelli fromReelViews remarked that he felt that Dench's character served no more "useful purpose than to give [her] an opportunity to appear in a science-fiction movie".[60]
She followedRiddick with a more traditional role inCharles Dance's English dramaLadies in Lavender, also starring friendMaggie Smith. In the film, Dench plays one half of a sister duo and takes it upon herself to nurse a washed up stranger to health, eventually finding herself falling for a man many decades younger than she. The specialty release garnered positive reviews from critics, withRoger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times calling it "perfectly sweet and civilized [and] a pleasure to watch Smith and Dench together; their acting is so natural it could be breathing".[61] Also in 2004, Dench provided her voice for several smaller projects. InWalt Disney'sHome on the Range, she, along withRoseanne Barr andJennifer Tilly, voiced a mismatched trio ofdairy cows who must capture an infamous cattle rustler, for hisbounty, in order to save their idyllic farm from foreclosure. The film was mildly successful for Disney.[62]
A major hit for Dench came withJoe Wright'sPride & Prejudice, a 2005 adaptation ofthe novel byJane Austen, starringKeira Knightley andDonald Sutherland.[63] Wright persuaded Dench to join the cast asLady Catherine de Bourgh by writing her a letter that read: "I love it when you play a bitch. Please come and be a bitch for me."[64] Dench had only one week available to shoot her scenes, forcing Wright to make them his first days of filming.[65][66] With both a worldwide gross of over US$121 million and several Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, the film became a critical and commercial success.[67]
Dench, in her role as M, was the only cast member carried through from theBrosnan films to appear inCasino Royale (2006), Martin Campbell'sreboot of the James Bond film series, starringDaniel Craig in his debut performance as the fictional MI6 agent. The thriller received largely positive critical response, with reviewers highlighting Craig's performance and the reinvention of the character of Bond.[68] It earned over US$594 million worldwide, ranking it among the highest-grossing James Bond films ever released. Also in April 2006, Dench returned to the West End stage inHay Fever alongsidePeter Bowles,Kim Medcalf andBelinda Lang. She finished off 2006 with the role of Mistress Quickly in the RSC's new musicalThe Merry Wives, a version ofThe Merry Wives of Windsor.[69]
Dench appeared oppositeCate Blanchett as a London teacher with a dedicated fondness for vulnerable women inRichard Eyre's 2006 drama filmNotes on a Scandal, an adaption from the 2003novel of the same name byZoë Heller. A fan of Heller's book, Dench "was thrilled to be asked to...play that woman, to try to find a humanity in that dreadful person".[70] The specialty film opened to generally positive reviews and commercial success, grossing US$50 million worldwide,[71] exceeding its £15 million budget.[72] In his review forChicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert declared the main actresses "perhaps the most impressive acting duo in any film of 2006. Dench and Blanchett are magnificent."[73] The following year, Dench earned her sixthAcademy nomination and went on to win aBritish Independent Film Award and anEvening Standard Award.[41] Dench, as Miss Matty Jenkyns, co-starred withEileen Atkins,Michael Gambon,Imelda Staunton, andFrancesca Annis in theBBC One five-part seriesCranford. The first season of the series began transmission in November 2007. In the same year Dench narratedGo Inside to Greet the Light, a film about thespiritual experience ofQuaker meetings for worship inJames Turrell's Deershelter Skyspace.[74]
Dench became the voice for the narration for the updatedWalt Disney WorldEpcot attractionSpaceship Earth in February 2008.[75] The same month, she was named as the first official patron of the York Youth Mysteries 2008, a project to allow young people to explore the York Mystery Plays through dance, film-making and circus.[76] Her only film of 2008 wasMarc Forster'sQuantum of Solace, the twenty-secondEon-producedJames Bond film, in which she reprised her role as M along with Daniel Craig. A direct sequel to the 2006 filmCasino Royale, Forster felt Dench was underused in the previous films, and wanted to make her part bigger, having her interact with Bond more.[77] The project received mixed reviews from critics, who mainly felt thatQuantum of Solace was not as impressive as the predecessorCasino Royale,[78] but became another hit for the franchise with a worldwide gross of US$591 million.[79] For her performance, Dench was nominated for aSaturn Award the following year.[80]
Dench returned to the West End in mid-2009, playing Madame de Montreuil inYukio Mishima's playMadame de Sade, directed byMichael Grandage as part of the Donmar season atWyndham's Theatre.[81] The same year, she appeared inSally Potter's experimental filmRage, a project that featured 14 actors playing fictional figures in and around the fashion world, giving monologues before a plain backdrop.[82] Attracted to the fact that it was unlike anything she had done before, Dench welcomed the opportunity to work with Potter.[82] "I like to do something that's not expected, or predictable. I had to learn to smoke a joint, and I set my trousers alight", she said about filming.[82] Her next film wasRob Marshall's musical filmNine, based onArthur Kopit'sbook for the 1982musical of the same name, itself suggested byFederico Fellini's semi-autobiographical film8½.[83] Also starringDaniel Day-Lewis,Marion Cotillard,Penélope Cruz, andSophia Loren, she played Lilli La Fleur, an eccentric but motherly French costume designer, who performs the song "Folies Bergère" in the film.Nine was nominated for fourAcademy Awards,[84] and awarded both theSatellite Award for Best Film andBest Cast.[41] Also in 2009, Dench reprised the role of Matilda Jenkyns inReturn to Cranford, the two-part second season of aSimon Curtis television series. Critically acclaimed, Dench was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Satellite Award.[41]
Dench's last film of 2011 wasClint Eastwood'sJ. Edgar, a biographical drama film about the career ofFBI directorJ. Edgar Hoover, played byLeonardo DiCaprio, from thePalmer Raids onwards, including an examination of his private life as acloseted homosexual.[94] Hand-picked by Eastwood to play Anna Marie Hoover, Hoover's mother, Dench initially thought a friend was setting her up upon receiving Eastwood's phone call request. "I didn't take it seriously to start with. And then I realised it was really him and that was a tricky conversation", she stated.[70] Released to mixed reception, both with critics and commercially, the film went on to gross US$79 million worldwide.[95] The same year, Dench reunited withRob Marshall andJohnny Depp for acameo appearance inPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, playing a noblewoman who is robbed byCaptain Jack Sparrow, played by Depp. She made a second cameo that year inRay Cooney'sRun for Your Wife.[96]
Also in 2012,Friend Request Pending, an indie short film which Dench had filmed in 2011, received a wide release as part of the feature filmsStars in Shorts, "Camden Clog dancing Nelson Mills" by Pat Tracey, andThe Joy of Six. In the 12-minute comedy, directed byMy Week with Marilyn assistant directorChris Foggin on a budget of just £5,000, she portrays a pensioner grappling with a crush on her church choirmaster and the art of cyber-flirting viasocial networking.[102] Dench made her seventh and final appearance as M in the 23rdJames Bond film,Skyfall (2012),[103] directed bySam Mendes.[104] In the film, Bond investigates an attack on MI6; it transpires that it is part of an attack on M by former MI6 operative Raoul Silva (played byJavier Bardem) to humiliate, discredit and kill M as revenge against her for betraying him. Dench's position as M was subsequently filled byRalph Fiennes' character. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series,Skyfall was positively received by critics and at the box office, grossing over $1 billion worldwide, and became thehighest-grossing film of all time in the UK and the highest-grossing film in the James Bond series. Critics called Dench'sSaturn Awards-nominated performance "compellingly luminous".[105]
In 2013, Dench starred as the title character in theStephen Frears-directed filmPhilomena, which was inspired by true events of a woman looking for the son whom, half a century earlier, theCatholic Church had taken from her.[106] The film was screened in the main competition section at the70th Venice International Film Festival, where it was very favorably received by critics.[107][108] On Dench's performance,Time Magazine commented that "this is Dench's triumph. At 78, she has a golden career behind her, often as queens and other frosty matriarchs. So the warmth under pressure she radiates here is nearly a surprise [...] Dench gives a performance of grace, nuance, and cinematic heroism."[109] She was subsequently nominated for many major acting awards, including a seventhOscar nomination.[110]
In 2015, Dench appeared oppositeDustin Hoffman inDearbhla Walsh'ssmall-screen adaptation ofRoald Dahl's children's novelEsio Trot (1990), in which a retired bachelor falls in love with his widowed neighbor, played by Dench, who keeps atortoise as a companion after the death of her husband,[111] First broadcast onBBC One on New Year's Day 2015, it became one of the most-watched programmes of the week,[112] and earned Dench her firstBest Actress nomination at the2016 International Emmy Awards.[113] On her performance,Telegraph's Michael Hogan commented: "We've grown accustomed to seeing Dench in forbidding roles, but here, she recalled her footloose, flirtatious side, displayed in sitcoms asA Fine Romance andAs Time Goes By. The Dame was sparkly and downright ravishing."[114]
As with most of the original cast, Dench reprised the role of Evelyn in John Madden'sThe Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), the sequel to the2011 sleeper hit. The comedy drama was released to lukewarm reviews from critics, who found it "as original as its title – but with a cast this talented and effortlessly charming, that hardly matters".[115] From April to May 2015, Dench played a mother, with her real-life daughterFinty Williams playing her character's daughter, inThe Vote at theDonmar Warehouse.[116] The final performance was broadcast live onMore4 at 8:25 pm; the time when the events in the play take place.[116] The appearance marked her first performance at the theatre since 1976.[117] On 20 September 2015, she was the guest onBBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs for the third time, in which she revealed that her first acting performance was as a snail.[118] She reprised her role as M in the 2015 James Bond filmSpectre, in the form of a recording that was delivered to Bond.
Dench's first film of 2017 wasJustin Chadwick'sTulip Fever, alongsideAlicia Vikander andChristoph Waltz.[124] Set during the period of thetulip mania, the historical drama follows a17th-century painter inAmsterdam who falls in love with a married woman whose portrait he has been hired to paint. Filmed in 2014, the film went throughseveral delays and earned largely negative reviews from critics, who called it a "handsomely-mounted period piece undone by uninspired dialogue and excessive plotting".[125] Also in 2017, Dench reprised the role ofQueen Victoria when she headlinedStephen Frears'sVictoria & Abdul.[126] The biographical comedy drama depicts the real-life relationship between the monarch and her Indian Muslim servantAbdul Karim, played by oppositeAli Fazal. While the film was met with lukewarm reviews for its "imbalanced narrative", Dench earned specific praise for her performance,[127] earning the actress her 12thGolden Globe nomination.[128]
Dench was cast as the elder version of titular character Joan Elizabeth Stanley inTrevor Nunn's spy drama filmRed Joan (2018). Based on Jennie Rooney's same-titled novel, it was inspired by the life ofKGB intelligence sourceMelita Norwood.[133][134] While the film earned generally negative reviews, Dench was applauded for her performance, withThe Daily Telegraph agreeing that "Dench is wasted in this absurd portrayal."[135] Her other film of 2018 wasAll Is True, a fictional historical film for which she reunited with Kenneth Branagh to portrayWilliam Shakespeare's wifeAnne Hathaway. Released to favorable reviews, critics called the film "impressively cast and beautifully filmed.All Is True takes an elegiac look at Shakespeare's final days."[136] Also in 2018, Dench appeared alongsideEileen Atkins,Joan Plowright andMaggie Smith inRoger Michell's documentary filmNothing Like a Dame which documents conversations between the actresses, interspersed with scenes from their career on film and stage. It received rave reviews, withThe Guardian declaring it an "outrageously funny film".[137]
In 2019, Dench presented a two-part nature documentary series for theITV network calledJudi Dench's Wild Borneo Adventure in which she and her partner travelled acrossthe island, looking at its remarkable wildlife and efforts by conservationists to preserve it for future generations.[138] In autumn 2019, she starred asOld Deuteronomy inTom Hooper'sfilm adaptation ofCats alongsideJennifer Hudson,Ian McKellen, andJames Corden.[139] The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, who criticized theCGI effects, plot, and tone, with many calling it one of the worst films of 2019. Also, the film became abox-office bomb, having so far grossed $62 million on a budget as high as $100 million.[140] In May 2020, Dench became the oldest British person to be featured on the cover of BritishVogue.[141]
In 2020, Dench reteamed with Kenneth Branagh in his science fantasy adventure filmArtemis Fowl, based on the first novel in thesame-titled series byEoin Colfer.[142] The film received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized the plot, dialogue, characters, and visual effects.[143] She also appeared as a headmistress alongsideEddie Izzard,Carla Juri, andJames D'Arcy inAndy Goddard's war drama filmSix Minutes to Midnight (2020) about a discovery at a school for the daughters of theNazi elite that leads to a series of deadly events.[144] The film received largely mixed reviews from critics who found it a "fascinating fact-basedWWII-era story to tell," but also remarked that it "largely loses it in muddled spyshenanigans."[145] Dench's third film in 2020 wasBlithe Spirit, a comedy film based upon the1941 play of the same name, in which she played a talentless but eccentric medium named Madame Arcati. Directed byEdward Hall, it was released to negative reviews,[146] with Sheila O'Malley fromRogerEbert.com calling it "aggressively un-funny.[147]
In January 2023, Dench appeared in theBBC concert,Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends where she sang "Send in the Clowns" fromA Little Night Music.[155][156] In March 2023, it was announced that Dench would be appearing in a one-off show at that year'sEdinburgh Festival Fringe, discussing her life and career withGyles Brandreth, and would also sing and perform excerpts from her past works. The show was titledI Remember It Well: Judi Dench in Conversation with Gyles Brandreth.[157] In April 2023, Dench was the subject of aChannel 5 documentary, titledThe Divine Judi Dench: Our National Treasure.[158]
In March 2013, Dench was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over-50s byThe Guardian.[159] One of the highest-profile actresses inBritish popular culture, Dench appeared onDebrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the UK.[160]
Dench is a long-time resident ofOutwood, Surrey.[161] AQuaker since her school years, she said of her faith in 2013, "I think it informs everything I do. [...] I couldn't be without it."[162] She is a long-time supporter ofEverton, and has been an honorary patron oftheir charity branch since 2012.[163]
Dench married actorMichael Williams in 1971; they remained together until his death from lung cancer in 2001.[164] Their only child, daughterFinty Williams, was born in 1972 and became an actress. Through her daughter, Dench has a grandson.[165]
Dench has been in a relationship with David Mills, aconservationist, since 2010. In a 2014 interview withThe Times magazine, she discussed how she never expected to find love again after her husband's death and said, "I wasn't even prepared to be ready for it. It was very, very gradual and grown up. It's just wonderful."[166] The couple met when Dench agreed to officiate at the opening of a new squirrel enclosure at theBritish Wildlife Centre, of which Mills is the founder/director.[167][168]
Dench has been an outspoken critic of prejudice in the movie industry against older actresses. She stated in 2014, "I don't want to be told I'm too old to try something. [...] I want to see for myself if I can't do it rather than be told you might have a fall or you can't learn your lines. [...] Age is a number. It's something imposed on you. [...] It drives me absolutelyspare when people say, 'Are you going to retire? Isn't it time you put your feet up?' Or tell me [my] age."[169]
In early 2012, Dench discussed hermacular degeneration, with one eye "dry" and the other "wet", for which she has been treated with injections into the eye. She also stated that she needed someone to read scripts to her.[171] She also underwent knee surgery in 2013, but recovered from the procedure and stated that her knee was no longer an issue.[172]
In 2024, it was reported that Dench's eyesight has deteriorated to the point where she is effectively retired from acting.[173]
Dench has worked with the non-governmental indigenous organisationSurvival International, campaigning in the defence of theSan people ofBotswana and theArhuaco people ofColombia. She made a supporting video saying the San are victims of tyranny, greed and racism. Dench is also a patron of theKaruna Trust, a charity that supports work amongst some of India's poorest and most oppressed people, mainly, though not exclusively,Dalits.[174]
On 22 July 2010, Dench was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) byNottingham Trent University.[175] TheDr Hadwen Trust announced on 15 January 2011 that Dench had become a patron of the trust, joining, among others,Joanna Lumley andDavid Shepherd.[176] On 19 March 2012, it was announced that Dench was to become honorary patron ofEverton in the Community, the charity branch ofLiverpool-based football team Everton, of which she is a long-time supporter.[163]
Dench is an advisor to theAmerican Shakespeare Center. She is a patron of theShakespeare Schools Festival, a charity that enables school children across the UK to perform Shakespeare in professional theatres.[177] She is also a patron ofShakespeare North, a cultural and educational venue that opened on 15 July 2022 in the town ofPrescot, near Liverpool,[178] and a patron ofThe Festival Players Theatre Company, a peripatetic theatre company which puts on travelling performances of Shakespeare plays.[179] She is patron of East Park Riding for the Disabled, a riding school for disabled children inNewchapel, Surrey.[180] Dench is also a vice-president of the national charity Revitalise, which provides accessible holidays for those with disabilities.[181] In 2011, along with musicianSting and billionaire entrepreneurRichard Branson, she publicly urged policy-makers to adopt more progressive drug policies by decriminalising drug use.[182][183]
In 2014, Dench was one of 200 celebrities to sign an open letter to the people of Scotland asking them to vote to remain part of the UK inthat year's referendum.[184]
In a 2022 opinion piece forThe Times, following the death ofQueen Elizabeth II, Dench expressed criticism of theNetflix showThe Crown, accusing it of "crudesensationalism" and being "cruelly unjust to the individuals and damaging to the institution they represent," as well as having the potential to mislead non-British viewers through dramatic license. She furthermore argued the show should add a disclaimer warning to remind viewers that it is a fictional drama.[185][186] In 2023, Dench and her partner David Mills were both invited to ride inKing Charles III'sRoyal Ascot Procession.[187]
Dench is the Patron and President of the alumni foundation ofDrama Studio London,[188][189] a Patron of the British Shakespeare Association, and a vice-president ofwildlife conservation NGOFauna and Flora International.[190] She has participated multiple times in the Explorers against Extinction wildlife conservation fundraiser Sketch For Survival, in which celebrity artists join prominent wildlife artists in sketching wildlife as well as they can in 26 minutes, and the results are auctioned off.[191]
In abiography by John Miller it was noted that in the late 1990s Dench was the patron of over 180 charities, many of which were related either to the theatre or to medical causes, for exampleYork Against Cancer.[192] Dench is a patron ofthe Leaveners,[193] TheArchway Theatre,Horley, Surrey,[194] and the relationship research and innovation charity OnePlusOne (formally known as OnePlusOne Marriage and Partnership Research, London.)[195]
She became president ofMountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London in 2006,[196] taking over from SirJohn Mills. She has been president ofQuestors Theatre,Ealing, since 1985, where the main auditorium is known as The Judi Dench Playhouse, being the only theatre to bear her name.[197] She was also patron ofOvingdean Hall School, a special day and boarding school for the deaf and hard of hearing inBrighton, which closed in 2010,[198] and Vice President ofThe Little Foundation. Dench is also a long-standing and active vice president of Revitalise, a national disabled people's charity.
^Morley, Sheridan (1986).The great stage stars: distinguished theatrical careers of the past and present. London: Angus & Robertson.ISBN978-0-207-14970-2.
^Tanitch, Robert (2007).London stage in the 20th century. London: Haus Publishing.ISBN978-1-904950-74-5.
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