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Dame Judi Dench is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years, she played in several of Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer; however, most of her work during this period was in theatre.
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Over the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.
Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she continued to play in James Bond in films through to Spectre. She has starred in many acclaimed films since then, and won an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress in 1999 for Shakespeare in Love.
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Film
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Hilda Lessways | Hilda Lessways | Series (6 episodes) |
| ITV Play of the Week | Dido Morgan | Play: Family on Trial | |
| 1960 | The Terrible Choice | Good Angel | Series |
| Armchair Theatre | Emily Strachan | Series (episode: "Pink String and Sealing Wax") | |
| An Age of Kings | Katherine of France | Series (2 episodes, part 7 & &8) | |
| The Four Just Men | Anna | Series (episode: "Treviso Dam") | |
| 1962 | The Cherry Orchard | Anya | |
| 1963 | Z-Cars | Elena Collins | Series (episode: "Made for Each Other") |
| 1964 | Festival | Angela Thwaites | Anthology series (episode: "August for the People") |
| Detective | Charlotte Revel | Series (episode: "Dishonoured Bones") | |
| Theatre 625: Parade's End | Valentine Wannop | Anthology series (3 episodes) | |
| 1965 | Mogul | Gwyneth Evans | Series (episode: "Safety Man") |
| 1966 | Court Martial | Marthe | Series (episode: "Let No Man Speak") |
| Play of the Month | Elizebeth Moris | BBC series (episode: "Days to Come") | |
| Theatre 625: Talking to a Stranger | Terry Stevens | 4 interlinked plays | |
| 1968 | Jackanory | Storyteller | Series (12 episodes) |
| ITV Playhouse | Helen Payle | Series (episode: "On Approval") | |
| 1970 | Confession | Woman | Series (episode: "Neighbours") |
| 1973 | Ooh La La! | Amélie | Series (episode: "Keep an Eye on Amélie") |
| 1974 | 2nd House | Unknown | Series (episode: "Frank's for the Memory") |
| 1978 | Langrishe, Go Down | Imogen Langrishe | BBC |
| 1979 | A Performance of Macbeth by William Shakespeare | Lady Macbeth | Videotaped version of RSC production |
| On Giant's Shoulders | Hazel Wiles | BBC | |
| ITV Playhouse | Z | Series (episode: "Village Wooing") | |
| 1980 | Love in a Cold Climate | Aunt Sadie | Mini-series (8 episodes) |
| 1981 | The Cherry Orchard | Mme. Ranevsky | |
| BBC2 Playhouse | Sister Scarli | Series (episode: "Going Gently") | |
| A Fine Romance | Laura Dalton | Series (26 episodes; 1981–1984) | |
| 1983 | Saigon: Year of the Cat | Barbara Dean | |
| 1985 | The Browning Version | Millie Crocker-Harris | Play: The Browning Version |
| Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill | Dorrie Edgehill | ||
| 1987 | Theatre Night | Mrs. Alving | Play: Ghosts |
| Theatre Night | Mrs. Rogers | Play: Make or Break | |
| 1989 | Behaving Badly | Bridget Mayor | Mini-series |
| 1990 | Screen One | Anna | Series (episode: "Can You Hear Me Thinking?") |
| 1991 | Performance | Christine Foskett | Play: Absolute Hell |
| 1992 | The Torch | Aba | Mini-series |
| As Time Goes By | Jean Mary Hardcastle | Series (67 episodes; 1992–2005) | |
| 1993 | ABC For Kids | Announcer | Children's programming |
| 1994 | Middlemarch | George Eliot | Mini-series (2 episodes); voice |
| 1996 | The Great War: 1914-1918 | Narrator | BBC Documentary Mini-series |
| 1996 | A Film Portrait of J. R. R. Tolkien | Documentary film | |
| 2000 | The Last of the Blonde Bombshells | Elizabeth | Television film |
| 2002 | Angelina Ballerina | Miss Lilly | Series (23 episodes); voice |
| 2007 | Cranford | Miss Matilda "Matty" Jenkyns | Mini-series |
| 2009 | Return to Cranford | ||
| 2013 | Vicious | Herself | Episode: "Anniversary"; voice |
| 2014 | Roald Dahl's Esio Trot | Ms. Silver | Television film |
| 2015 | The Vote | Christine Metcalfe | TV film |
| 2016 | The Hollow Crown | Cecily, Duchess of York | Episode: "Richard III" |
| Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage | Herself | BBC documentary produced and directed by Francis Whately[1] | |
| 2017 | Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees | Herself / Presenter | Documentary[2] |
| 2019 | Judi Dench's Wild Borneo Adventure | Herself | Documentary |
| 2020 | Staged | Episode: "The Cookie Jar" | |
| 2022 | Louis Theroux Interviews: Dame Judi Dench | Documentary interview | |
| 2023 | The Divine Judi Dench: Our National Treasure | Herself; archive footage | Channel 5 documentary |
| Dame Judi Dench Countryfile Special | Herself | Special episode[3] | |
| Portrait Artist of the Decade | Special episode[4] | ||
| 2024 | Dame Judi & Jay: The Odd Couple | Channel 4 documentary; also features Jay Blades[5] |
Theatre
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | York Mystery Plays | Virgin Mary | St Mary's Abbey, York |
| Hamlet | Ophelia | The Old Vic | |
| Measure for Measure | Juliet | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | First Fairy | ||
| 1958 | Twelfth Night | Maria | The Old Vic Broadway Theatre, Broadway |
| Henry V | Katharine | ||
| 1959 | The Double Dealer | Cynthia | The Old Vic |
| As You Like It | Phebe | ||
| The Importance of Being Earnest | Cecily | ||
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | Anne Page | ||
| 1960 | Richard II | Queen | |
| Romeo and Juliet | Juliet | The Old Vic; also Venice Festival | |
| She Stoops to Conquer | Kate Hardcastle | The Old Vic | |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Hermia | ||
| 1961 | The Cherry Orchard | Anya | Aldwych, Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) |
| 1962 | Measure for Measure | Isabella | Stratford (RSC) |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania | ||
| A Penny for a Song | Dorcas Bellboys | Aldwych (RSC) | |
| 1963 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | Nottingham Playhouse Company; also West Africa tour |
| Twelfth Night | Viola | ||
| A Shot in the Dark | Josefa Lautenay | Lyric | |
| 1964 | Three Sisters | Irina | Oxford Playhouse Company |
| The Twelfth Hour | Anna | ||
| 1965 | The Alchemist | Dol Common | |
| Romeo and Jeannette | Jeannette | ||
| The Firescreen | Jacqueline | ||
| Measure for Measure | Isabella | Nottingham Playhouse Company | |
| Private Lives | Amanda | ||
| 1966 | The Country Wife | Margery Pinchwife | |
| The Astrakhan Coat | Barbara | ||
| St Joan | Joan | ||
| The Promise | Lika | Oxford Playhouse Company | |
| The Rules of the Game | Silia | ||
| 1967 | The Promise | Lika | Fortune (Oxford Playhouse Company) |
| 1968 | Cabaret | Sally Bowles | Palace |
| 1969 | The Winter's Tale | Hermione/Perdita | Stratford (RSC) and Aldwych (1970) |
| Women Beware Women | Bianca | ||
| Twelfth Night | Viola | Stratford (RSC) on tour in Japan/Australia (1970) Aldwych (1971) | |
| 1970 | London Assurance | Grace Harkaway | Aldwych (RSC); also New Theatre (1972) |
| Major Barbara | Barbara Undershaft | Aldwych (RSC) | |
| 1971 | The Merchant of Venice | Portia | Stratford (RSC) |
| The Duchess of Malfi | Duchess | ||
| Toad of Toad Hall | Fieldmouse/Stoat/Mother Rabbit | ||
| 1973 | Content to Whisper | Aurelia | York Theatre Royal |
| The Wolf | Vilma | Oxford Playhouse Apollo/ Queen's/New London | |
| 1974 | The Good Companions | Miss Trant | Her Majesty's |
| 1975 | The Gay Lord Quex | Sophy Fullgarney | Albery |
| Too True to Be Good | Sweetie Simpkins | Aldwych (RSC) | |
| 1976 | Macbeth | Lady Macbeth | Stratford (RSC) Warehouse and Young Vic (1977) |
| Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | Stratford (RSC) and Aldwych (1977) | |
| The Comedy of Errors | Adriana | ||
| King Lear | Regan | Stratford (RSC) | |
| 1977 | Pillars of the Community | Lona Hessel | Aldwych (RSC) |
| 1978 | The Way of the World | Millamant | |
| 1979 | Cymbeline | Imogen | Stratford (RSC) |
| 1980 | Juno and the Paycock | Juno Boyle | Aldwych (RSC) |
| 1981 | A Village Wooing | Young Woman | New End Theatre |
| 1982 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Lady Bracknell | Lyttelton, Royal National Theatre (RNT) |
| A Kind of Alaska | Deborah | Cottesloe (RNT) | |
| 1983 | Pack of Lies | Barbara Jackson | Lyric |
| 1984 | Mother Courage | Mother Courage | Barbican (RSC) |
| 1985 | Waste | Amy O'Connell | Barbican/Lyric (RSC) |
| 1986 | Mr and Mrs Nobody | Carrie Pooter | Garrick |
| 1987 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | Olivier (RNT) |
| Entertaining Strangers | Sarah Eldridge | Cottesloe (RNT) | |
| 1988 | Much Ado About Nothing | As director | Renaissance Theatre Company |
| 1989 | Look Back in Anger | ||
| Macbeth | Central School of Speech and Drama | ||
| Hamlet | Gertrude | Olivier (RNT) | |
| The Cherry Orchard | Madame Ranevskaya | Aldwych | |
| 1991 | The Boys from Syracuse | As director | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre |
| The Plough and the Stars | Bessie Burgess | Young Vic | |
| The Sea | Mrs Rafi | Lyttelton (RNT) | |
| 1992 | Coriolanus | Volumnia | Chichester Festival Theatre |
| The Gift of the Gorgon | Helen Damson | Barbican (RSC) and Wyndham's (1993) | |
| 1993 | Romeo and Juliet | As director | Regent's Park Open Air Theatre |
| 1994 | The Seagull | Arkadina | Olivier (RNT) |
| 1995 | A Little Night Music | Desiree Armfeldt | |
| Absolute Hell | Christine Foskett | Lyttelton (RNT) | |
| 1997 | Amy's View | Esme | |
| 1998 | Aldwych (RNT) | ||
| Filumena | Filumena | Piccadilly | |
| 1999 | Amy's View | Esme | Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway |
| 2001 | The Royal Family | Fanny Cavendish | Theatre Royal Haymarket |
| 2002 | The Breath of Life | Frances | Theatre Royal Haymarket |
| 2003 | All's Well That Ends Well | The Countess | Stratford (RSC) and Gielgud (2004) |
| 2006 | Hay Fever | Judith Bliss | Theatre Royal Haymarket |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | Mistress Quickly | Stratford (RSC) | |
| 2009 | Madame de Sade | The Marquise | Donmar at Wyndham's |
| 2010 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania/Elizabeth I | Rose Theatre, Kingston |
| 2013 | Peter and Alice | Alice | Noël Coward |
| 2015 | The Vote | Mother | Donmar |
| The Winter's Tale | Paulina | Garrick |
Source: Judi Dench: With a Crack in her Voice by John Miller
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Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing | M | Voice and likeness |
| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent | |||
| 2008 | 007: Quantum of Solace | ||
| 2010 | GoldenEye 007 | ||
| James Bond 007: Blood Stone | |||
| 2012 | 007 Legends |
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