I read the previous collaboration between Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea, Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent and enjoyed it. So I was glad to read their new book.
Dame Judi Dench (b. 1934) is considered one of Britain's greatest actresses. Dench's talent and versatility led to appearances on stage, in films, and on television, but she's most revered for her roles in Shakespeare's plays. Brendan O'Hea (b. 1970) is an actor, theatre director, and writer, also known for his Shakespeare work.
Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea
The book is organized as 26 chapters that focus on various aspect of Dench's life and career. In each section, Brendan poses a series of questions and Judi reminisces and tells anecdotes. Dench is honest, serious, funny, raunchy, and playful.
I had the digital book and audiobook, narrated by Barbara Flynn, who does a wonderful job as the voice of Judi Dench. (Note: Dench can no longer read because she has macular degeneration.
I'll give examples of the stories to provide a feel for the book.
*****
Recalling her childhood, Judi mentions her father was a doctor, with his practice in the family home.
Judi: It was from my brother's bedroom window that Jeff and I used to pea-shoot the patients who were queuing up on the pavement outside, waiting for the surgery to open.
Brendan: Pea-shoot out of what?
Judi: A long brass curtain rod. We used dried peas because they made the best projectiles. It got us into such trouble - and quite right too.
Judi Dench and her brother Jeff
*****
Judi mentions her mother occasionally having a bad temper and says "I've probably inherited that temper. A bit."
Brendan: You can certainly play it. It's there in the steeliness of M [from the James Bond movies] and the simmering ferocity of Barbara Covett [from 'Notes on a Scandal'].
Judi: But then that's what we do as actors, isn't it? Draw inspiration from people we know or have heard about.
Judi Dench as M in 'Goldeneye' (1995)
Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett in 'Notes on a Scandal' (2007)
*****
Judi talks about her love for animals and all the pets she's had.
Brendan: How long have you had a parrot?
Judi: Four years. She's an African grey called Sweetie...[She's] started swearing. When my nephew last came to stay, she told him to drop his trousers...and Barbara was cleaning the kitchen, minding her business, and out of the blue Sweetie said 'You're a slag.' I'm amazed the poor woman didn't hand in her notice.
*****
Judi talks about playing Old Deuteronomy in the movie 'Cats' (2019), and notes "I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film."
Brendan: You always advise people to look for the plusses in life...What are the positives to come out of 'Cats'?
Judi: Working with old friends like Ian McKellen, and making new friends like dancer Robbie Fairchild..[and] I was excited to discover I could still lift my leg in the air...Nobody sets out to give a poor performance...You do your best, offer something up and hope people will get on board and join the party.
Judi Dench playing Old Deuteronomy in 'Cats'
*****
Brendan: Your very first musical was in 1968, when you played Sally Bowles in 'Cabaret'. You don't consider yourself a singer - you were way out of your comfort zone.
Judi: Which is exactly why I wanted to do it....I also found the piece itself fascinating. Up until then British musicals had tended to be rather wholesome. Cabaret was serious, dark and challenging, and unbelievably seedy.
Judi Dench in 'Cabaret'
*****
Dench talks about starring with Laurence Guittard in the musical 'A Little Night Music' (1995).
Brendan: You also have the onstage mishaps to keep you on your toes.
Judi: There was the night my foot got caught in my kimono and my shoulders jack-knifed towards my knees. I was like a hunchback. And every time I stepped forward, I walked further up the inside of the kimono. I got shorter and shorter...until I eventually keeled over. How Larry managed to keep a straight face, and continue singing, God only knows.
Judi Dench and Laurence Guittard in 'A Little Night Music'
*****
Dench speaks about her husband Michael Williams (Mikey), whom she initially knew as a friend and fellow actor.
Brendan: Then in 1970 you began a relationship.
Judi: Yes, suddenly it was love. We were in the Dirty Duck Pub in Stratford one evening...we were chatting...and before we knew it we were a couple...We were married in St. Mary's, Hampstead (1971)...We had lots of things in common: we had similar tastes in food - like me, he'd much prefer an egg butty to beef bourguignon; we both loved playing games - cards, quizzes, Scrabble; and we certainly had the same sense of humour - that was the glue, ultimately, which held us together.
(Note: Michael Williams died from cancer in 2001.)
Judi Dench and Michael Williams got married in 1971
****
Judi talks about her daughter Finty Williams, who loved being onstage from childhood. Judi says, "One year she played the innkeeper's wife [in a Nativity play] and when a friend of ours asked her what the story of the Nativity was all about, Finty said, Well, it's all about this...innkeeper's wife. Mikey loved telling that story."
Conversely, Finty's son Sammie "had no intention of becoming an actor."
Judi Dench's daughter Finty Williams and Finty's son Sammie Williams
*****
Brendan: Have you always been in a position to choose which part you're going to play?
Judi: Of course not. And it's something I'll never take for granted...You can't just expect to be employed in this business when there are so many terrific actors ready to step in.
Brendan: You've played a diverse range of parts - from Shakespeare to situation comedy and everything in between - you obviously enjoy the variety.
Judi: I do. I need to shake things up, try new things...Being in a sitcom is one of the hardest jobs I've ever done: read the script on a Monday, have four days of rehearsal, then play it in front of a live audience on Saturday, praying to God that you hit your marks and get your laughs.
Judi Dench and Michael Williams starred in the sitcom 'A Fine Romance' (4 seasons )
*****
Brendan: Were you surprised to be made a dame?
Judi: Totally. It came as a complete shock. When the letter arrived in the post, looking very official, I assumed it was another parking ticket or speeding fine, so I stuffed it in my bag and took it with me to work. In the interval I dared to open the letter and was gob-smacked.
Judi Dench was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988
*****
Brendan: You've always taken an interest in design - especially costume...Where does that come from?
Judi: My mother. She was a wonderful seamstress...She made a lot of my clothes when I was growing up: skirts, dresses, blouses. I remember a beautiful grey flannel dress...with a big red heart on the right side of the bodice...I loved it, but I wasn't allowed to wear it to school because it was a Quaker school and there was a strict dress code.
*****
Speaking about playing Elizabeth I on the stage, Judi remembers, "The weight [of the dress] was unbelievable - it took three people to lift those dresses over my head. And try eating lunch in one of them...At lunchtime they'd have to throw a big bib over me, the size of a wigwam, and feed me standing up with a long spoon."
Judi Dench playing Elizabeth 1 in the movie 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998) for which she won an Oscar
*****
Talking about dressers, Dench says, "The person who was with me the longest was the blessed Miss Annie. I first met her in 1983...I liked her straight away - Irish, very funny and incredibly hard working. [When] I was in Nova Scotia making 'The Shipping News', I rang home and Annie picked up the phone. [Annie asked] what time is it over there in Canada, Miss Jude? Twenty past four in the afternoon, Annie. There was a pause, then she said: And what time would that make it over here in England. Oh God, there was no one like her."
*****
Brendan: You've had quite a few famous people visit your dressing room - from Bill Clinton to Paul Newman.
Judi: Yes, Bill Clinton, Princess Margaret, Esther Williams, Paul Neuman with his beautiful blue eyes. Oh, lots of people. But there was one person in particular who made me go weak at the knees...Sidney Poitier...He took me by the hand and the moment I looked up into his eyes - because he was very very tall...Honestly, you could've poured me out...He was so elegant and casual - just a beautiful, gracious, softly spoken man with exquisite manners. Ravishing.
Sidney Poitier
*****
Judi talks about the pitfalls of mobile phones and says, "It's not just my phone, even Alexa's starting to play up. I'm always getting into arguments with her. She's a law unto herself."
Brendan: That's because you don't give her clear instructions. You need to say: Alexa - Radio Four. She doesn't understand, Would you mind awfully...? or 'Might I trouble you to...
Judi: Well, she bloody well should. It's good manners.
*****
Brendan: Are you a good cook?
Judi: You know I'm not...Mary Berry once invited me to take part in her TV series 'Mary Makes It Easy', but I had to turn her down because it involved cooking her a meal. I thought, I can't inflict that on her - otherwise she'll have to make a follow-up programme called 'Mary's Feeling Queasy'.
Brendan: You must be able to cook something?
Judi: I make a very nice bread and butter pudding out of panettone. And I can also rustle up a decent oeufs en cocotte, which involves lining a couple of ramekins with butter, adding fried lardons, double cream and chives. Then you break an egg into each ramekin and shove it all in the oven.
Bread and Butter Pudding (left) and Oeufs en Cocotte
Brendan: What's your comfort food?
Judi: Mashed potato and some really good onion gravy. And Spam.
*****
Brendan: I remember seeing you in a preview of the Italian comedy 'Filumena Marturano' (1998) when you stumbled over some words.
Judi: I dried a few times during that play. On the press night I was meant to reel off a whole load of Italian towns but suddenly couldn't remember a single one. Instead, I just listed different types of pasta - vermicelli, fusilli, tagliatelle. No one seemed to notice. Or if they did, they were too polite to say.
Judi Dench and Michael Pennington in 'Filumena Marturano'
*****
Brendan: If you were to return somewhere that brings back lots of memories - maybe a place from your childhood - where would it be?
Judi: It would probably be the beach at Lekerock Cove with my ma and pa and brothers when I was very young...We used to get up in the morning, have breakfast, and make our way to this little beach, where we'd stay all day. And we'd collect winkles, light a fire and cook them in a tin with some sea water, then eat them with a pin...And we swam, swam, swam. Oh, it was lovely.
Lekerock Cove in Cornwall
Winkles
*****
And I'll wind up with a bit of humor.
Brendan mentions Judi's long list of accolades and awards and says, "On top of that, you've had a theatre in Ealing named after you, as well as a seal pup in Cornwall, a cul-de-sac in Swindon, and there's a pathway in York called Dame Judi Dench Walk."
Judi: I've also had a waste collection truck named after me: Dame Foodie Dench - and very proud of it, I am, too...I've since found out that there's a Dustbin Bieber somewhere, and a Kate Binslet. And there's a gritter in Manchester called Gritter Thunberg, so I feel in very good company.
*****
The book is a must-read for Judi Dench fans and a good primer for aspiring actors, who would get lots of good tips.
Thanks to Netgalley, Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea, and St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for ARCs of the book.
Rating: 4 stars
