Dame Judi Dench is an English actress who is famous for her performances on screen as well as on stage. Her work spans a variety of genres and has been critically acclaimed. Dench has received several accolades throughout her six-decades-long career. She has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and four British Academy Television Awards. She has also taken home six British Academy Film Awards and seven Olivier Awards.
Born Judith Olivia Dench on Dec. 9, 1934, in the Heworth area of York, the star gained contact with the theater through her dad. Her father was a doctor and became the general practitioner for the York Theatre Royal.
The legendary actress’ career began on stage in 1957. Dench made her debut with the Old Vic Company, and she played Ophelia in “Hamlet.” She performed Shakespearean plays with the company for the next few years. Later, she was a member of the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dench has had an ever-lasting love affair with the theater ever since as acting and performing in front of the audience is really her passion – so it’s no surprise she met her first husband in one.
The two first laid eyes upon one another in 1962, when the actress was cast in “Romeo and Juliet.” Dench married her fellow actor, Michael Williams.
Unfortunately, the love of her life passed away from lung cancer in 2001; they were together for over 30 years. Throughout their relationship, their love bore fruit as they had a daughter named Finty Williams who was born in 1972.
Dealing with death is hard for most people, especially when the person who died was someone dear to you and whom you spent most of your life with. This is what happened with Judi Dench amid the passing of Michael Williams in 2001. She recalled the experience in an interview with Louis Theroux on his show for the BBC.
“He wasn’t well… I’m not good at (talking about) it actually. Well, he died in 2001 of lung cancer… I was in New York when they said he was not well,” the acting legend recalled.
She then noted that her agent flew out and both of them came back via Concorde. Although it took them a long time to come home, Dench said she was able to go home and be with Williams and family all together, and it was “very very good indeed.”
Aside from acting on stage and in films, Dench has also been fascinated by nature as she loved trees ever since she was a little girl. In an interview, the actress recalled that when she was younger, it would upset her to see lorries with already cut trees.
“I’ve always been anti taking trees down unless it’s imperative,” she said.
She also described that planting trees is the “most wonderful thing” because there is something gratifying about watching a tree grow.
“If you’ve got any room at all, plant a tree because it’s a living thing and watch it grow and every time you come back to it, the tree would have changed when it changes throughout each season,” she added.
In honor of her friends who have passed away through the decades, Judi Dench decided to plant one tree for each and every one of them as a dedication. She recalled that the tradition started with her late husband.
“I started planting trees here with my actor husband Michael Williams. Every-time a relative or friend died we would plant a tree,” she said in her one-hour special “Judi Dench, My Passion For Trees” in 2017, as reported by the Telegraph.
In an episode of “Louis Theroux Interviews,” as reported by The Independent, the famed journalist was given a chance to tour the actress’ garden, located at her home in Surrey, in which a tree dedicated to Williams was labeled “Mike.”
“There’s Mikey. It’s a lovely tree, he liked it very much. We didn’t plant that one, that was here. It seems only right, as he found the house. I like that,” she said.
They also stumbled upon a tree for “Peaky Blinders” actress Helen McCrory, who died in 2021 due to breast cancer. Another one was dedicated to Natasha Richardson, who passed away in 2009 after an unfortunate skiing accident. Other famous personalities who have trees dedicated to them in her garden are Stephen Sondheim, John Gielgud, Diana Rigg, Alan Rickman, Stephen Hanley and more. “I have a lot of famous people in my garden,” Dench once said in an interview.
When asked why she and her husband started planting trees, the actress answered: “Well, I love them. I love trees and I just thought what a nice thing that would be to do.”
She aired similar sentiments in the 2017 one-hour special as she explained: “It is about remembering and for me it’s something that’s living and goes on. The memory goes on and gets more wonderful.”
What do you think of Judi Dench’s heartwarming gesture for her friends and family members who have passed away? Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to pass this on to your friends and family.
