I’M NUDI DRENCH
Acting legend on stripping off and her thoughts on afterlife
EARLY ROLES In Langrishe, Go Down and, right, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Acting royalty Dame Judi Dench is more than happy to bare her soul – and quite a bit more, it seems.
In a revealing new chat, the 86- year- old star of stage and screen says she loves nothing more than swimming in the buff. Judi has a pool at her Surrey home and takes the plunge whenever she can. She said she first enjoyed naked dips when she starred opposite Jeremy Irons in the 1978 adaptation of Aidan Higgins’ novel Langrishe, Go Down – where Jeremy licked cream off her chest. When asked if she is a nudist, Judi said: “Well, I do know the feeling of taking all your clothes off is just heaven, isn’t it?
“I had to do it in a film in a passionate scene with Jeremy Irons where she puts cream on her and he licks it off and, after we did the scene, it was teatime and the caterers had made meringues.
“That was very, very nice for us. Swimming naked is very good. I do that because we are lucky as we have a pool and you can happily do it sometimes if somebody isn’t going to come around susuddenly.
“I don’t wwant to be caught at it.” But thethen Judi – who also talks about heher vision of the afterlife – has been partial to nud i t y during her career. In 2016, stills emerged showing there were two Bottoms in the 1968 film version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s character Nick and Judi’s bare backside.
The actress was playing Titania, alongside House Of Cards star Ian Richardson as Oberon, Diana Rigg as Helena and Helen Mirren as Hermia.
Then, in 2017, Judi told how she was “quite surprised” to find herself standing naked from the waist down in front of Kenneth Branagh – following a backstage wardrobe mishap.
The pair were performing in the West End in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and Branagh went to Judi’s dressing room to talk about their new film Murder On The Orient Express.
They continued the chat as they headed to the stage. But Judi had forgotten something...
Branagh recalled: “We are still chatting in the wings and, with 30 seconds to go, she throws off her dressing gown and there is nothing on below the waist.
“I had the briefest of looks but I can confirm, like the song, ‘ There is nothing like a dame.’” A seven-time Academy Award nominee, Judi won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love in 1998. Her other Oscar-nominated roles included the 1997 movie Mrs Brown, in which she plays Queen Victoria, with Billy Connolly as trusted servant John Brown, and the 2001 movie Iris, about author Iris Murdoch and her Alzhemier’s.
Judi says playing 007’s boss M in GoldenEye was a “huge responsibility” for her and then-James Bond star Pierce Brosnan.
She added: “We had good fun doing it. What a great part to be asked to play.” But after a magical 64-year career, there isn’t much left on Dame Judi ’s bucket list – although she admits she is looking forward to having fun in the afterlife.
Speaking on Esther Rantzen’s podcast, she said: “Do they have theatre? I would take my address book (to the afterlife) and then I can say, ‘Hey, we are having a ball, don’t be frightened, don’t be afraid.’”