Judi Dench - Personal Life

Personal Life

Dench was born in Heworth, York, England, the daughter of Eleanora Olive (née Jones), a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor who met Judi's mother while studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Dench attended the Mount School, a Quaker independent secondary school in York, and became a Quaker. Her brothers, one of whom is actor Jeffery Dench, were born in Tyldesley, Lancashire. Notable relatives also include her niece, Emma Dench, a Roman historian and professor previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1971, Dench married British actor Michael Williams and they had their only child, Tara Cressida Frances Williams, known professionally as "Finty" Williams, on 24 September 1972. Dench and her husband starred together in several stage productions, and the Bob Larbey British television sitcom, A Fine Romance (1981–84). Michael Williams died from lung cancer in 2001, aged 65. In early 2012, Dench discussed her macular degeneration, with one eye "dry" and the other "wet", for which she has been treated with injections into the eye. She said that she needs someone to read scripts to her.