By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Hearts are aflutter all over Hollywood following the announcement last week of the Oscar nominations. Who shall win the coveted award? Who shall be crowned king and queen of his/her profession for the year 2006? We shall know the answers on Oscar night, 5 March. The Brits have always enjoyed a prominence in Hollywood films and are abundantly represented come Oscar time. Names like Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day Lewis, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, and Emily Thompson, pop up regularly during award season. Of the nominated best actresses this year we have three Brits, Keira Knightly for Pride and Prejudice, Rachel Weisz in a supporting role for The Constant Gardner, and then there is Judi Dench. Miss Dench has been nominated five times in her last 10 major outings on the big screen, this year for her charming and refreshing performance in Stephen Frears's Mrs Henderson Presents. It has been only a few short years since Miss Dench started appearing in major Hollywood productions, although she has been acting in her native Britain for over half a century. Today at 71, she is more in demand than ever, "determined to prove that actresses are not necessarily finished when they reach A Certain Age ". Dame Judi Dench achieved her greatest fame and loudest plaudit, while in her mid-60s. She first came to the attention of the international film community in John Madden's Oscar-winning rendition of Shakespeare in Love (1998). Though she appeared on screen for only eight minutes, so impressive was her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I, she won every award available, including the coveted Oscar. Audiences were already impressed with Miss Dench's imposing presence in a couple of James Bond thrillers, Golden Eye (1995) and Tomorrow Never Dies (1999). She played the no-nonsense M, Bond's quick-witted astute boss. With her solid strength and sheer authority, she made the role her own. But Miss Dench's breadth of talent encompasses so much more. She won a Golden Globe as well as an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the grieving Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown (1997), and received Oscar nominations for Iris and Chocolat. Not bad for a mature stage actress who was always reticent about film work. In her native country, Dame Judi "developed a reputation as arguably the greatest actress in post World War II history". A multiple winner of several British awards for her work on stage, she has also triumphed on the British small screen in numerous roles including two successful series A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By. Second in popularity only to the queen of England, according to a Yougov poll, she remains probably the biggest draw on the London stage, where she constantly appears, and still often directs, despite her jam-packed schedule. was born to Olave and Reginald Dench on 9 December, 1934 in York, England. Reginald Dench, a physician, was an extremely amusing fellow, a fine raconteur, and an avid theatre lover. Touring performers would often be guests in the Dench household, enchanting little Judi and her two older brothers Michael and Jeffrey. Michael followed his father into medicine, while Jeffrey would lead Judi into the theatre. She followed him to "London's Central School of Speech and Drama", where she met up with another thespian hopeful, Vanessa Redgrave. She graduated with a first class degree and four acting prizes, one being the Golden Medal as "Outstanding Student". She was immediately snapped up by the Old Vic Company. Her debut in Hamlet as an elfin Ophelia, was less than brilliant. Dismissed as "a piece of Danish patisserie" the role was taken from her when the production was set to tour the US -- an act described by her as being "like a dagger to the heart". She only gained vigour and determination and turned her failure into continued successes. Her Broadway debut came in 1958 as maid Maria in Old Vic's Twelfth Night. She shared a dressing room with another young hopeful by the name of Maggie Smith. The two became lifelong friends often appearing together on stage and screen. She revealed her musical gifts when she played Sally Bowles in the West End production of Cabaret (1968). Thirty years later her emotional rendition of Send in the Clowns (1998) in Steven Sondheim's A Little Night Music could still devastate audiences. Judi married, her old friend and fellow actor at the RSC (Royal Shakespeare School), Michael Williams, in 1970. They played opposite each other in the highly successful British television series A Fine Romance and theirs was indeed a fine romance. For 30 years Williams would send her a red rose every Friday until his death from cancer in 2001, a tradition that was continued by their only daughter Tara, who changed the red rose to pink. Heartbroken after her great loss Judi Dench threw herself into her work. She accepted more film roles resulting in a series of Oscar nominations. For decades, she dazzled theatre- goers, and TV viewers in her native land. Now it is our turn to view and wonder at the amazing talent of this youthful septuagenarian. "In her relatively short film career, she has shown us her extreme diversity, going from royalty, as Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth, to the bisexual Alzheimer-stricken novelist Iris Murdoch in Iris, and the unforgettable titching oldster seeking reconciliation in Chocolat, not to mention her numerous 007 ventures. Her recent turns as the fearsome Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the latest version of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mrs Henderson Presents are brilliant showpieces for her limitless talent, not to be missed among the season's offerings. Laura Henderson was one of England's most prominent and eccentric society figures. Recently returned to London after years of living in India with her late husband, she is bored with being a rich widow. The flamboyant and headstrong Henderson bought a rundown theatre off Piccadilly Circus, the historic London Windmill Theatre, and kept it running non-stop throughout the war years, even through the London blitz. She even managed to convince the Lord Chamberlain to allow London's first nude revues. This veritable force of nature is a role worthy of our formidable Dame. Dame Judi enjoys the love and respect of all her countrymen including the Queen herself, who awarded her the OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1970, made her DBE (Dame of the British Empire) in 1988, and a CH (Companion of Honour) in 2005. The queen's respect for her was further demonstrated by a letter she wrote Miss Dench when her home burned down. There is a fourth dimension in her method of acting that displays stamina and strength, concealing layers of whims and weaknesses in each character. Dench possesses every perfection an actor could hope for. She has the gift of making her roles come alive. Critics constantly praise her "volatility, insecurity, mischief, and moral resilience", and especially her extraordinary access to her emotions. Then there is oh, that exquisite face, that could have been painted by a veritable old master. Radiant as the day, pale as the night, she is harsh yet gentle, stern yet tender. Her rounded physique is delicate, her striking features, fragile. A bubbling positivist, "she's constantly skipping and hopping with pleasure and excitement", recalls Vanessa Redgrave. Her late husband, himself given to bouts of depression, would often complain, "with Judi, its bloody Christmas every day." Her upbeat vivacity has seen her through many ebbs and flows in her personal and professional life, leaving her, even at 71, as lovely as a summer morn, as busy as a honey bee, with an enviable career ahead of her, that only keeps growing and expanding. Whether she wins another Oscar next month or not, we are all united in applauding the elegance, vivacity, passion and talent, of this most beautiful of English roses, who remains fragrant and in full bloom, heedless of age and the passage of time. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. -- Robert Frost (1875-1963)
