Customer Reviews

Judi Dench: With A Crack in Her Voice

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This biography is a rarity. Its purpose is to share the tremendous career and achievements of Mrs. Judi Dench, and it happily is lacking what biography has often become. It is not several hundred pages of dubious gossip or borderline slander. It is not a litany of innuendo from those who claim some dubious relationship to the subject and then do their best to damage the individual's reputation. If you are looking for gossip-strewn trash, buy history as revised and fictionalized by Kitty Kelly. Mr. John Miller has written a wonderful book about a woman of substance and of great personal and professional merit. Unlike other biographers who survive based upon how low they will sink for tabloid attention, he did not write whatever someone would spew to relate a story that was not there.

Dame Judi's career has spanned a period that has allowed her to work with many of the greatest names of the theatre of the 20th Century. Additionally the actresses, the Directors and Playwrights also read like a list of those most accomplished in their fields. Many fans first met her as "M" in the James Bond Film Series, or as "Mrs. Brown", in her portrayal of Queen Victoria, or Queen Elizabeth in "Shakespeare In Love". The latter two films won her nominations for The Academy Award and the trend continued this year in Chocolat.

If you are interested in a story of a hard working actress, a woman who is a consummate professional, and respected by virtually all who have worked with her, this book is for you. However if you are like the journalist that opened a press conference by asking her a personal and intimate question, which caused her to rightfully dismiss the press conference format of dirt gathering from that day on, you will have to look elsewhere.

This is a great book about a woman who has succeeded in all areas she chose, and has done so with style and without the sordid notoriety that passes for fame today. Hers' is not a career of 15 minutes or 15, 30, or 45 years, but more like another legend Sir John Gielgud, who when he hit his 90th birthday never thought to pause.

Mr. Miller is to be commended for writing a worthwhile book and not a hardbound tabloid. If he seems less than objective due to the praise he has collected from her peers, it in fact only does "seem" that way. There are accomplished people today who can be admired and pointed to as role models. This book documents one. The other group tends to be long on press clippings and short on substance, but they also unfortunately sell books by the ton to book reading voyeurs.

Mr. Miller has written a work for the other readers.

I'm an immense Judi Dench fan and waited for the publication of this paperback version of her biography. I wasn't disappointed. The author gives a complete picture of 'the Dame's' professional life--from her first stage parts up until her more widely known successes in the last couple of years.
Reading the book made me want to know this smart, funny woman who has now added 'M' (Bond movies) to her coverage of classical stage roles, television pieces and other movie parts. I came away with a somewhat better understanding of the enormous talent it must take to get to the heart of various characters. And, I greatly enjoyed the descriptions of the practical jokes JD loves to organize. I loved the 'corpsing' (the Brits use the term to describe actors 'cracking each other up').
Great reading for a 'Dame Judi' fan, or any fan of good acting, with an 'inside' view of the process.

I became interested in Judy Dench when I first discovered the British comedies that appear on American Television. "As Time Goes By" is my favorite and of course stars Judi. When I heard about her most exceptional career I wanted to learn more about her and see more of her acting. I found this book, which does give an "arm's length" view of Judi, the person, which I understand is her choice, and more power to her. However, I was fascinated with the in-depth information on the British Theater and those who have performed there over the last 40 years as told in this biography. It certainly describes many of the wonderful theatrical productions, and all that goes into making these possible. While Judi Dench is the central character, the book shows what a career in theater is like and all the many aspects of theater that go into every presentation. I did enjoy the book, and felt I had learned far more than anticipated about the recent British Theater.

if you are a dench fan you will love the book. it is packed with information. the only drawback for some may be the style in which it is written. the author seems to have approached it more like a research paper rather than a book. but this does mean there is much material... and a good read if you're not looking for the slick, overly editing books we have become used to.

This is a gently and beautifully written book and embues a real sense of how the great Lady has developed her craft and how it has developed her as a person. I found it particulary interesting in terms of Dame Judi's early life as she and I hail from the same city (York) and her Father was my Grandmother's family Doctor.
What you get from this book is really what moulded Judi as an actor, by and large it steers away from her personal life and personal expose. I for one am glad of this as too often the style of the modern biographer is to seek out skeletons lerking in cupboards first and foremost, however tenious the evidence.
This is more of a celebratory style of the working aspect of Judi's life, how it developed and what traits lie at her core, what it is that makes her one, if not "the" finest living British actress.
It is a compliment of a book and collaborative overhaul of her career form it's inception. It manages not to be sychophantic and feels, moreover like a gentle but very interesting conversation with Judi. It delicate style almost certainly reflects Judi's personality to some degree, a private and retiring woman not given to self inflation nor aduration. It's a hark back to respectful style of biography and chronicals a remarkable career superbly. A very different genre of modern biography and worth it for this reason but moreover for it's outstanding and wonderful subject.

I read a review that had said this book doesn't go very far into Dame Judi Dench's private life, but rather sticks with her professional career, and this is very true. The book highlights Judi Dench's career from the very beginning by focusing on all that she has accomplished professionly. The book isn't totally void of private tidbits about Judi Dench, few have been generously exposed and are pleasant to read. My favorite parts of the book are told about how Judi Dench loves to play funny tricks on her costars, she will go far for a laugh. I have seen quite alot of her work and it is really neat to read about the behind the scenes antics and dramas that went on. Overall, great read and very enjoyable for anyone who is a Judi Dench fan, you will learn alot from reading this book.

This book arrived in a timely manner, was in great shape and is a wonderful read. Any and all Dame Judi fans should add this to their library.

Parts of this book are very interesting and supremely funny. This is not a biography (or, at least, not a good one), however, and to call it that is an error. John Miller is Dame Judi Dench's friend, and has clearly written this book with an eye to her approval and favor. Because of this leash on his research, the book is not anything approaching even-handed. The first half is a laundry-list of her early stage roles, and the second is a series of anecdotes regarding a lady I began to refer to as Saint Jude. If Miller is to be believed, she has never set a foot wrong, never been less than generous and perfect, and everyone in the world loves her. Come now. I adore Judi Dench, but there are no perfect people in the world, and that's just a fact.

Even the pranks that Judi pulls onstage, which when read one after the other after the other, take on the sheen of the childish, are mentioned as adorable things that that scamp Judi loves to do to keep her actor friends happy. Backstage tantrums, which are alluded to, only occur because she's so darned concerned about "getting it right," not because she's a human, and therefore inherently imperfect, human being, who sometimes loses her cool.

In addition to the above, this is an incredibly slow read. John Miller is not a particularly compelling writer, and there are times when it takes 30 minutes just to travel 15 pages in her life, because the prose is so stilted and dull.

Judi Dench is the greatest living British actress. There is no disputing that. She is someone with a fantastic sense of humor; someone I'd love to know. She is also human, and I would have preferred to read a biography that explores her less-stellar moments in a more objective way. Judi Dench: With a Crack in Her Voice is not that biography.

For anyone interested in Dame Judi Dench's long career firstly on stage, then television and film, this is the ultimate book on the subject! Moving along chronologically, Mr. Miller interviews her many friends and colleagues, with her permission, and goes back to her for illuminating corroboration and/or further insight. Known for years in her native England, her career blossoms into the world-renowned actress who truly has worked diligently; this was not a career in any way "handed" to her....she toiled daily for her craft. Paralelling her career, the book illuminates her long, successful marriage to the Shakespearean actor Michael Williams and their daughter Finty. For a theatre buff, many familiar names appear with whom she not only works but who, due to her jovial and kindly demeanor, become life-long friends who admire her talent and strength of character. It is a fun read: you will find it difficult to put down as it is so full of interesting details.

Since the biography written about Dame Judi Dench in the mid 1980's is almost impossible to find, this book is now the book to have to follow her life and career. Some is told of her childhood, family, schooling, and early ventures into acting. It is really an accurate and intimate story of her professional acting career. A mention is made of nearly all her stage performacnes, the directors, her fellow actors, the theatres, the reviews, and the audience reactions. It makes an excellent reference for all her work, including television and film. There are direct quotes from the Dame herself regarding rehearsals, travels, backstage fun, her ability to break-up on stage during a performance without the audience ever knowing, and the games, jokes, and tricks she has instigated. She is shown as a very caring person. It is said that she makes every cast she is involved with, a happy, close-knit group. Judi Dench has been acting for about 43 years and is little-known to American audiences. It is our loss. Now, with the Academy Award nomination for Mrs. Brown, the Academy Award win for best supporting actress for Shakespeare In Love, the Toni win for Amy's View, Tea with Mussolini, her role as M in the three most recent James Bond movies(The World Is Not Enough comes out in Nov.),and her role as Jean Pargetter Hardcastle in As Time Goes By shown on most PBS television channels in the US(two videos of As Time Goes By are available on Amazon.com), Americans are beginning to notice this overnight phenom! For anyone interested in Judi Dench, this is an absolute necessity. One of the best parts really is that there are no itimate details of her very personal life. We learn of her parents, her brothers, her marriage to Michael Williams, and the birth of their daughter Finty. If there were bad choices, mistakes, lovers, and indiscretions, we are not told. Maybe, there were none! Wouldn't that be refreshing? This book is refreshing and a tribute to talent, hard work, perseverance, study, determination, a willingness to take direction and learn. Dame Judi Dench connects with her audience with her marvelous unique voice, her sexy piercing eyes, and her ability to make you believe she is that character before you. There is nothing like a Dame-Dame Judi Dench, that is.