Talk:Judi Dench

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Contents 1 stage, film and television actor? 2 Mrs Brown 3 picture 4 Edit: forte 5 In Britain 6 Death 7 The Greatest Actress of the post-war period 8 Date of Damehood 9 National treasure 10 WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment

[edit] stage, film and television actor?

why do people insist on categorising actors like this unless it is VERY well known that they stick to a particular style of performance? She has done radio plays, narrated books, and probably worked in countless other media that i haven't thought of. i propose changing it to just "actor".

After i edited, someone changed it back. Is there any real reason for listing an incomplete set of her achievements? If we want to stress what a versatile actress she is why not go for something like "who has worked professionally in a variety of dramatic media"?

[edit] Mrs Brown

With regard to "Mrs. Brown" vs "Her Majesty Mrs. Brown" The casette cover has "Her Majesty Mrs. Brown" (in Australia at any rate).

http://www.imdb.com lists it as Mrs. Brown, AKA Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown or Mrs Brown (w/o period).

I'll conceed the point then.

I think the original (British) title was Mrs. Brown and it was retitled Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown for the US. c/f The Madness of George III. DJ Clayworth 20:43, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] picture

Is this really the best picture we can come up with? Surely something a little more representitive of her than Bond? DJ Clayworth 20:44, 3 October 2005 (UTC)

• That pic is about to be deleted due to copyvio, so I've swapped it for the Mrs. Brown pic. Not a great pic, unfortunately, but it'll have to do until someone finds a better one we can use. Veledan 20:14, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

I have found a much better picture of her, shame she doesn't have that many around considering she's actually quite pretty for her age! User:pa-merynaten 1557BST 30.05.2006

It seems to me there are two copies of the same picture with the same caption on the page. Is this intended or what? If not, somebody might want to remove one of them. - green_meklar 20:30, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit: forte

I changed the word (which is not really a word) "forté" to the proper "forte". Why would we care which pic wiki shows? There appears to be no vanity regarding age in her, and makes me admire her more.

[edit] In Britain

I've changed "In her native country" to "In Britain", as I felt the original phrasing had a fairly blatant US-centric tinge to it as well as being somewhat clumsy. AdorableRuffian 00:14, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Death

Could anyone please conferm that Judi Dench has died. AxG ^(talk) _{(sign here)} 23:43, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

You can be fairly sure that she is alive and well if the BBC don't have any information to the contrary... 86.145.70.96 12:46, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

She's not dead, I can bbe sure of that.

[edit] The Greatest Actress of the post-war period

Apologies to the fan who wrote that she is regarded as "the greatest actress of the post-war period" : that is pure POV (please see Wikipedia's pointers on opinion and fact) and as such I have amended it. I admire Ms Dench greatly but she must surely share those giddy heights with Helen Mirren, Miranda Richardson, Fiona Shaw etc? Who our greatest post-war actress is is an incalculable, a matter of conjecture. I could possibly allow something along the lines of "...alongside Dame Maggie Smith, she is seen as one of our finest actresses..." What say you, Good Wikipedians? Polite comments please

MARC & NATASHAYgrasil 03:09, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

While i don't have any problems with leaving the article to include your edit, I don't think it's too incongruous to say that when immeadiatley followed by the information on the polls which she has toppped. Plus i'm not sure it is strictly POV to say that - isn't POV where you say "Dench is brilliant" unequivocally? Writing about how someone/ something is percieved is an important part of wikipedia, isn't it? Amo 05:26, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Whether she's the greatest or not is completely POV. There is no yardstick that can "prove" this, it's simply what some people believe (and other's disagree with). It is certainly true that many people regard her as the greatest, but I suspect many of them either have short memories, or weren't even alive when many other great actresses were working in the post-war period. JackofOz 05:42, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

But the point is absolutely not whether she is great or not - as you say, it cannot be proven. The important thing is that it is a significant part of her public image that she is "great". The fact that many regard her to be so should be represented (and it is, i know that). It's backed up by public polls, and listings of awards and awards she has been given. Wikipedia: describing points of view makes it clear that "An article which clearly, accurately, and fairly describes all the major points of view will, by definition, be in accordance with Wikipedia's official 'Neutral Point of View' policy." Amo 05:53, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

I am still not overly convinced with the revised opening gambit relating to her greatness; that she is a "great" actress is generally accepted but it is not enough to say that that nebulous animal, "the Great British Public", see her as the greatest, without clarification. Toping two newspaper polls does not make a demi-god: I could argue that Maggie Smith, with two Academy Awards, should be termed "the greatest post-war British actress" but I would never do such a thing as I recognise that it is utterly subjective (no matter how much I may personally believe it). I am adding the word "probably" to the article, which in no way diminishes Ms Dench's acting skills but rather adds academic credence to the article. Ygrasil 20:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Confused - did you add "probably" (am i being stupid, i can't see when). As i said before, i was perfectly happy with the phrasing and saw/see no reason to change it. I still think there is plenty clarification for what is there, but continue to agree that opinions are subjective (while personally disagreeing with the idea that a skill for acting might make someone godlike! :) Amo 00:26, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

After seeing that "the greatest" had surfaced again, I thought adding "probably" might help clarify the situation. However, things seem to have settled down for now and reverted to what seems a good all-round compromise, so let sleeping dogs lie, say I ! Ygrasil 02:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Date of Damehood

I'm certain she wasn't made a DBE in 1988, as the article currently says. Assuming a typo, I've changed it to 1998, but it would be nice if we could find a ref showing the actual year and whether it was New Years Day or Queen's Birthday Honours. JackofOz 01:36, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

It was in fact 1988. Crouchend, 23 May 2007

I discovered Judi Dench in 1972 in "London Assurance" with Donald Sinden. It was one of her bigger successes on the stage and it's not mentionned. She still played the young girl when she was 6 months pregnant. JP Massias (20 janvier 2008) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.206.152.136 (talk) 22:43, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] National treasure

It's fair enough to quote legitimate commentators who describe Dench as a "national treasure", but the way it's written in the lead, in part of the summary about her, it is making it one of the most important statements made about her. Furthermore it's been written in such a way that it appears Wikipedia is calling her a national treasure. Without context it fails WP:NPOV, but with context it would be acceptable and relevant. That she is a "national treasure" is a widely held view rather than a universally held view, and it needs to be presented as such. I'll remove it again, but I think that it could be written in the article body and placed into context. For example, it needs to say that Dench has been described as a "national treasure" as part of the discussion about her, but it needs to be presented as an opinion expressed by relevant/noteworthy commentators rather than a statement of fact. Thanks Rossrs (talk) 01:48, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment

Per debate and discussion re: assessment of the approximate 100 top priority articles of the project, this article has been included as a top priority article. Wildhartlivie (talk) 11:05, 29 February 2008 (UTC)