Before she became the villainous M to James Bond, before Hollywood crowned her Queen Victoria, and before she was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to acting, a teenage Judi Dench fell in love with the musical language of one of history’s most celebrated playwrights. “Shakespeare is my passion,” says Dame Judi Dench, 89. “It used to be nine pence to go to the Old Vic and sit in the gallery, so we used to go and see Richard Burton and John Neville. This was before the Beatles, so the people used to just go mad. I never thought for one single second I would be part of that as my first job.”
Now, almost 70 years after she made her stage debut there as Hamlet’s Ophelia, the British acting icon is taking readers down memory lane. Written as a series of conversations with fellow actor and friend Brendan O’Hea, her new book Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, is a rollicking look back at Dench’s life, career and turn on the boards in more than 40 plays with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dench didn’t originally set out to be an actor. She trained as a set designer, but after a 1953 visit to Shakespeare’s hometown (see excerpt), she set her sights on performing. The rest is decades of stage and screen history—but her heart will always belong to the Bard. “There is something about his rhythms that just catch you like music,” she says. “It’s in iambic pentameter, which I’ve always said is the rhythm of your heart.”
Denne historien er fra April 22, 2024-utgaven av People US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April 22, 2024-utgaven av People US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
ACTOR ADAM PEARSON I Don't Think 'Why Me?" I Think 'Why Not Me
THE A DIFFERENT MAN STAR, WHO LIVES WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS, IS CHALLENGING HOLLYWOOD TO REFRAME DISABILITY
WHAT I KNOW NOW
NOW STARRING IN REBEL RIDGE, THE ACTOR GETS CANDID ABOUT CAREER LONGEVITY (54 YEARS IN THE BIZ!), FATHERHOOD AND SURVIVING LIFE AS AN '80S HEARTTHROB
STOUGHTON OR MURDER?
SHE WAS 23 AND EXCITEDLY EXPECTING HER FIRST CHILD WHEN SHE APPEARED TO TAKE HER OWN LIFE. NOW AUTHORITIES SUSPECT FOUL PLAY BY HER MARRIED POLICE OFFICER BOYFRIEND
JAMES MIDDLETON From Despair to Hope
IN AN EMOTIONAL NEW MEMOIR, PRINCESS KATE'S YOUNGER BROTHER OPENS UP ABOUT HIS STRUGGLE WITH DEPRESSION, LIFE WITHIN THE ROYAL ORBIT AND HOW HIS BELOVED DOG ELLA SAVED HIS LIFE
KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY TAPPING HIS INNER CHILD
FROM PLAYING WITH ROBOTS AS A KID TO VOICING BUMBLEBEE IN TRANSFORMERS ONE, THE KEY & PEELE ALUM LOVES LETTING HIS IMAGINATION RUN WILD
Ina Garten I Learned to Believe in Myself"
IN A REVEALING NEW MEMOIR, THE CELEBRITY CHEF OPENS UP ABOUT ABUSE BY HER PARENTS AND A ROCKY PERIOD IN HER MARRIAGE TO HUSBAND JEFFREY: 'DEBILITATING FEAR TAUGHT ME ENORMOUS COMPASSION'
finding peace after loss
THE NASHVILLE ACTRESS'S YOUNGER BROTHER DIED UNEXPECTEDLY JUST AS SHE WAS WORKING TO OVERCOME DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. HOW SHE'S PICKING UP THE PIECES, STAYING SOBER AND DOING HER BEST TO LOOK FORWARD
The Substance
Demi Moore is scarily good as an actress who drinks at the wrong fountain of youth
Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 Dies at 70
A founding member of the iconic group, he last performed on Sept. 8
HALLMARK STAR ASHLEY WILLIAMS Honoring Her Mom On & Off Screen
Ashley Williams's new movie Falling Together didn't start as an homage to her mother, Linda, who died from dementia in 2016; it began with a failed apartment building-wide chili party she threw years ago.