Behind the Scenes (9781466882195) Page 6
Those are the Mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea.
With Billy Connolly and Michael Parkinson, December 2007
I had been invited on to Michael’s show several times over the years, so was delighted to be asked on to his farewell programme with Billy Connolly. Neither of us knew what stories Billy would come up with, and he never disappointed us or the audience.
With Stephen Frears at the Venice Film Festival, August 2013
My great friend David Mills accompanied me to the Venice Film Festival, and before the screening of Philomena he said to me, ‘I think you’re going to get a standing ovation.’ I said, ‘Don’t be stupid, nobody gets a standing ovation for a film at Venice, nobody gets it.’ He kept on, so I said, ‘Oh David, it simply can’t happen, I bet you.’
‘OK, what’s the bet?’
‘The bet is, I’ll bring you back to Venice and I’ll pay for absolutely everything, you’ll get a free holiday.’
‘OK.’
It was a 12-minute standing ovation, I couldn’t believe it!
‘Will it be the six months?’ he said.
Ken Branagh is a rare being. When he’s directing he knows the first name of every single member of the crew. Here I am presenting him with the John Gielgud Golden Quill Award in 2000.
Receiving an Honorary Degree from Oxford University in 2000. I’m wearing Mummy’s brooch. The man behind me looks terribly glum!
With Joan Plowright and David Hockney at A Celebration of the Arts at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2012. That was a good time. David told us, ‘I don’t really like this kind of do.’
Receiving an Honorary Degree from Leeds University in 2002. Melvyn Bragg is Chancellor of the University, and we both have very colourful robes. It’s quite a get-up on these occasions.
Receiving the Freedom of the City of London at the Guildhall in 2011. I’m sorry I haven’t got my geese behind me, walking across the bridge, which is what the Freedom brings with it.
At the National Theatre’s Fiftieth Birthday Gala in 2013, we all did scenes from various earlier productions at the National. I sang ‘Send in the Clowns’ from A Little Night Music, and a short scene from Antony and Cleopatra. The whole evening was recorded for the BBC.
The rehearsals are worst for this kind of Gala, because you know that everyone else in the show is sitting out front watching you; it was ghastly to rehearse.
Hampton Court Flower Show, 2010. They had created a new rose, and called it the Drama Queen Rose; I can’t think why they presented it to me!
With David Mills at the Sandringham Flower Show, 2013. I don’t know what the man behind us is up to.
With my brother Jeffery on the balcony of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford
My brother Jeff was one of the longest-serving members of the RSC, and when he died on 27 March 2014, Greg Doran that night called the whole Company – all the crew, wigs, wardrobe, actors, and he said, ‘There’s a great spirit gone.’ He talked about Jeff and some of the parts he’d played, and when he said ‘We ought to give him a big send-off,’ they all broke into enormous applause and cheers. Then he wrote a letter to Jeff’s wife Ann. It was the right thing to do, because Jeff had been a great member of the Company, and a great citizen of Stratford, he’d lived there since he was first married. I went down for the Memorial Service, and Greg gave a wonderful address.
With David, Finty and Sammy at the Shakespeare Globe Gala dinner, 2013
At the party after the BAFTA Awards, 2014. I was asked to fly back from India in the middle of filming, as I had been nominated for an Award for Philomena, but all in vain, as I didn’t win. But it was a most enjoyable evening all the same.
This looks as if I’m listening to a director, and probably disagreeing with him
Learning my lines in my dressing room at the Oxford Playhouse, 1965
I love the regular routine of the stage, and I’m always one of the first to arrive at the Stage Door. In the last few years I have been lucky enough to work again with old and dear friends, as well as making a number of new ones.
I couldn’t resist adding this picture to the others in this book. The saga of this little game with Tim Pigott-Smith has become quite well-known ever since John Miller wrote about it in his 1998 biography of me. At Peggy Ashcroft’s Eightieth Birthday Gala in 1987, Tim was in a skit on Jewel in the Crown as Merrick, wearing one black glove. I made the mistake of joking to him, ‘That’s strangely attractive, that one-armed acting!’ So the next night he wore one black glove when he came on as Octavius in Antony and Cleopatra. Later he slipped it into the basket with the asp, and it soon became a battle to see who could deliver it next to the other. I had this cake made for his birthday, and am currently cooking up another surprise for him. This running gag seems to amuse other people too, and whenever I do a Platform conversation with John someone in the audience always asks, ‘Where is the black glove now?’
Chronology of Parts
Awards
Date
Award
1961
Paladino D’Argentino at the Venice Festival for Romeo and Juliet
1965
BAFTA Award Most Promising Newcomer for Four in the Morning
1977
SWET Award Best Actress for Macbeth
1980
SWET Award Best Actress for Juno and the Paycock
1981
BAFTA Award Best Actress for A Fine Romance and Going Gently
1984
SWET Award Best Actress for Pack of Lies
1987
Olivier Award Best Actress for Antony and Cleopatra
1995
Olivier Award Best Actress for Absolute Hell
1995
Olivier Award Best Actress in a Musical for A Little Night Music
1998
Golden Globe Award Best Actress for Mrs Brown
1998
Critics Circle Award Best Actress for Amy’s View
1998
Critics Circle Film Award British Actress of the Year for Mrs Brown
1998
BAFTA Award Best Actress for Mrs Brown
1999
Academy Award Best Supporting Actress for Shakespeare in Love
1999
Tony Award Best Actress for Amy’s View
1999
American Shakespeare Guild John Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts
1999
BAFTA Award Best Supporting Actress for Shakespeare in Love
2000
Golden Globe Award Best Actress for The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
2000
BAFTA Award Best Actress for The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
2001
BAFTA Academy Fellowship
2002
BAFTA Award Best Actress for Iris
2002
Critics Circle Film Award British Actress of the Year for Iris
2007
British Independent Film Award Best Actress for Notes on a Scandal
2009
Critics Circle Film Dilys Powell Award
2011
BFI Fellowship
2014
Critics Circle Film Award British Actress of the Year for Philomena
Picture credits
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Tony Wallace Daily Mail / Rex
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Wendy Toye
Alex McCowen
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Chrispian Woodgate
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Joe Cocks Studio Collection / Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
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Daily Express / Mander & Michenson Theatre Collection
Tomas Jaski Ltd Mander & Michenson Theatre Collection
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BAFTA
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Ian Richardson / Joe Cocks Studio Collection
Filmways / Royal Shakespeare / The Kobal Collection
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Joe Cocks Studio Collection / Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
ITV / Rex
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Sally Soames / The Sunday Times
Donald Cooper / Photostage
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David Hare
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John Timbers
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Yorkshire Post
London Weekend Television / Rex
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Donald Cooper / Photostage
Nobby Clark
Donald Cooper / Photostage
Reg Wilson / Royal Shakespeare Company
BBC
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Radio Times
Granada Television
Donald Cooper / Photostage
John Haynes
Douglas H. Jeffrey
Nobby Clark
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John Haynes
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Mark Douet
Moira Williams
Donald Cooper / Photostage
Donald Cooper / Photostage
John Haynes
David Gamble / Topfoto
John Timbers
The Royal National Theatre UK, Radio Times
John Haynes
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Henrietta Butler / ArenaPAL
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The Royal National Theatre UK
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Popperfoto / Getty Images
Mark Tillie / Ecosse / Miramax
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Judi Dench
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Rex / Richard Young
[The World is Not Enough still]
DLT Entertainment UK Limited
DLT Entertainment UK Limited
John Timbers
DLT Entertainment UK Limited
Ian Richardson
Bill Mackenzie / National Theatre Archive
Judi Dench
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The Royal National Theatre UK
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R.Hepler / Everett / Rex
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Everett Collection / Rex
AKG Images
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Alistair Muir
John Miller
Topfoto
Newsteam Syndication
BAFTA
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The Peter Hall Company and the Theatre Royal Haymarket
The Peter Hall Company and the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Donald Cooper / Photostage
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Judi Dench
Greg Williams / Art & Commerce
Greg Williams / Art & Commerce
Rex
Press Association
BAFTA
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Eddie Gallacher and the Oxford Union
Eddie Gallacher and the Oxford Union
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Stephen Frears
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Giles Keyte / Fox Searchlight / The Kobal Collection
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Lucamar Productions / The Kobal Collection
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Malpaso / Warner Bros / The Kobal Collection
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Judi Dench
Copyright © Dame Judi Dench and John Miller 2014
First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Ltd
First U.S. Edition: November 2014
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eISBN 9781466882195
First eBook edition: November 2014