JUDI DENCH (Mrs. Caloway) provides the distinct dialogue and stiff upper lip attitude for this refined bovine with a love of order. When the chips are down, this cautious cow can always be counted on to pitch in with her keen mind and sharp wit.
Since playing Ophelia in Hamlet at the Old Vic 40 years ago, Dench has received wide critical acclaim for a career marked by outstanding performances in both classical and contemporary roles. She has won more than 25 awards – including six BAFTA Awards – in a career that has encompassed the stage, television and motion pictures.
Dench is well known to moviegoers for her no-nonsense portrayal of M, boss of Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in “Goldeneye,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “The World Is Not Enough” and “Die Another Day.” Her feature film credits also include Franco Zeffirelli’s “Tea with Mussolini,” “Mrs. Brown” (for which she won a Golden Globe, BAFTA Award and Oscar® nomination), “Wetherby,” “A Room with a View” (for which she won a BAFTA Award as Best Supporting Actress), “84 Charing Cross Road,” “A Handful of Dust” (another BAFTA Award-winning performance as Best Supporting Actress), and two films for Kenneth Branagh, “Henry V” and “Hamlet.”
The celebrated actress won an Academy Award®, a BAFTA Award and was named Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics for her performance in the hit romantic comedy “Shakespeare in Love.” She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress for Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat.” She won a BAFTA Award for her performance in “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells” for Working Title Television. Her recent film credits include “Iris,” directed by Richard Eyre and costarring Jim Broadbent, and “The Shipping News” directed by Lasse Hallstrom and costarring Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore.
Dench continues to work on the London stage, starring in David Hare’s Amy’s View (winning a Tony Award for her Broadway performance), Sir Peter Hall’s The Royal Family, and the two-hander The Breath of Life at the Theatre Royal Haymarket with Dame Maggie Smith. She received the Order of the British Empire in 1970 for services to the theatre, and subsequently became a Dame of the British Empire in 1988.
Currently, the actress is performing as the Countess of Rossillion in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of All’s Well That Ends Well in London’s West End.
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