Judi Dench memoir: Robin Williams supported her husband — SkimNews
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- Judi Dench recalls in her forthcoming memoir that, while staying at Billy Connolly’s Scotland home nearly 30 years earlier, Robin Williams offered to accompany her and her husband up a steep hill after a woodland ceilidh and bonfire; when Michael said he could manage, Williams said, “Well, I think I’ll ride shotgun anyway.” Dench calls the gesture “gently supportive, without imposing himself.”
- Hamlet brought Dench and Williams together in 1996; in 1999, Williams presented her with the Oscar for best supporting actress for playing Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love.”
- Robin Williams died in 2014 at 63; his credits included “Jumanji,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Dead Poets Society” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
- Michael Williams was battling lung cancer during the encounter; he and Dench married in 1971, and he died Jan. 11, 2001, at 65.
- Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It? arrives Tuesday, collecting Dench’s reflections on Williams, her late husband and her experience on the 2019 film “Cats.”
- Cats, adapted from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hugely successful musical, was a critical and commercial failure despite its stacked cast; Dench called it “a waste of all that goodwill and talent,” while noting she never saw the final cut and could not judge it.
Why it matters: When the memoir arrives Tuesday, Dench’s account of Williams offering to accompany her ill husband becomes public record, giving readers a more personal view of the actor. Her Cats remarks also document her frustration with a production described as both a critical and commercial failure, despite its stacked cast.
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