Jeffery Dench - Personal Life

Personal Life

Jeffery Dench was born in Manchester, Lancashire, the son of Eleanora Olave (née Jones), a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor who met Jeffery's mother while studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Jeff lived in Tyldesley, near Leigh, Lancashire, with his brother, Peter. Later, the family moved to York, where Judi was born.

Jeffery attended St Peter's, York, where he began acting with the role of Cleopatra in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. He spent his national service at an army theatre in Catterick before attending the Central School of Speech and Drama. It was here that he met his wife Betty, who was working as a speech therapist.

Jeffery moved to Clifford Chambers and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963, where he worked for many years.

With his wife Betty, Jeffery has three daughters: Sarah, a teacher who lives in Brailes; Clare, who lives in Shiplake; and Emma, a Roman historian previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jeffery's wife, Betty, died from a heart attack on 11 January 2002. After his wife's death, Jeffery married Ann Curtis, a costume designer for the RSC and longtime family friend.