"QUANTUM OF SOLACE (BOND 22) COMING THIS FALL
Recently shown on BBC television - "The Cranford Chronicles"
NATIONAL MOVIE AWARDS 2007
(Unofficial Site)Early life:
I was born in York, North Yorkshire to Olave (nee Jones) and Reginald Arthur Dench a physichan and was raised a Quaker. I also lived in Tyldesley,Greater Manchester. My notable relatives include Emma Dench, eminent Roman historian previously at Birkbeck, University of London.[3], and currently at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. When I was thirteen, I entered The Mount School, York.Before starting my professional career, I was involved in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays the 1950s. Most famously, I played the role of the Virgin Mary in the 1957 production, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens.[4]Career:
I received my dramatic training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London and made my professional debut as Ophelia in Hamlet in Liverpool in 1957. I subsequently spent several seasons in repertory in Oxford and Nottingham. In 1961, I joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and made numerous appearances with the company in Stratford and London over the next two decades, winning several best actress awards. Among my roles with the RSC, was the Duchess in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi in 1971.I have also made numerous appearances in the West End and with the National Theatre in London. I am a multiple winner of the main awards for performances on the London stage, including a record six Laurence Olivier Awards. I have also appeared with success on Broadway in Amy's View, and have occasionally directed plays.As I enter my seventies, I hope to remain a popular draw on the London stage. I am often compared and contrasted with Dame Maggie Smith, another British actress of the same generation, with whom I have appeared in several movies, including the 2004 Ladies in Lavender, and on stage in David Hare's two-hander Breath of Life. I returned to the West End stage in April 2006 in Hay Fever alongside Peter Bowles, Belinda Lang and Kim Medcalf. I have finished off a busy 2006 with the role of "Mistress Quickly" in the RSC's new musical version of "The Merry Wives",[5] at Stratford-upon-Avon. My many television appearances include lead roles in the series As Time Goes By and A Fine Romance.I have frequently appeared with my close friend Geoffrey Palmer in the series As Time Goes By and in the films Mrs. Brown and Tomorrow Never Dies, both filmed in 1997.I won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Elizabeth I in the film Shakespeare in Love. The win was notable as my performance lasted for about eight minutes.
After playing Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love my late-life film career has been remarkably successful. Until 1997, I had made relatively few film appearances, especially in comparison to the number I have made since then. I have received six Oscar nominations in nine years for Mrs Brown in 1997, my oscar-winning turn in Shakespeare in Love in 1998, for Chocolat in 2000, for the lead role of writer Iris Murdoch in Iris in 2001 (with Kate Winslet playing Iris as a younger woman), for Mrs Henderson Presents in 2005, and for Notes on a Scandal in 2006.In 2006, I received critical acclaim, including Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations, for my fierce performance in Notes on a Scandal.I have just renently completed filming the BBC One mini-series The Cranford Chronicles, based on the Cranford books by Elizabeth Gaskell. The series co-stars Francesca Annis, Michael Gambon and Imelda Staunton. The programme recently aired on BBC1 and should be shown in America in 2008. I am now off to film Bond 22. Wish me luck.Personal life:
In 1971 I married British actor Michael Williams and we remained married until his untimely death from lung cancer in 2001. We had only one child, Tara Cressida Williams (aka "Finty Williams"), on 24 September, 1972. Our daughter later became an actress like her parents. I starred with my husband in the 1980s British sitcom, A Fine Romance. Finty has blessed me with one grandson, Sammy whom I adore.I am a patron of The Leaveners, Friends School Saffron Walden and the Archway Theatre, Horley, UK.I was awarded the OBE in 1970, became a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1988, and a Companion of Honour in 2005.[6] In 2000-2001 I received an Honorary DLitt from Durham University.In 2006 I became president of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, taking over from Sir John Mills; I am also president of the Questors Theatre.In May 2006 I became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
