Darling Judi

Book excerpt: A celebration of Britain's favourite actress, Judi Dench The very name Judi Dench encourages a warm and admiring response from the public and fellow actors alike. Her wide-ranging career includes numerous Shakespearean performances (most recently in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL at the RSC) and contemporary theatre (in plays by, among others, David Hare and Hugh Whitemore); on television (in the series A FINE ROMANCE and AS TIME GOES BY) and in the cinema (MRS BROWN, her Oscar-winning performance in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, THE SHIPPING NEWS, IRIS, and in four James Bond films as 'M'). Judi Dench is as popular as she is talented - when she and Maggie Smith appeared together in a David Hare play last year all seats were sold for the entire run within 24 hours. John Miller, her biographer, invited fellow actors, writers, and people of the theatre, film and television, to illustrate her genius and her character from their own experience and perspective. With contributors ranging from Billy Connolly to Hugh Whitemore, Bob Larbey to Tim Pigott-Smith, this is a unique portrait of the legend that is Dame Judi Dench.