Judi Dench Rejects Rumors of a Feud With Maggie Smith

Judi Dench has dismissed rumors that she and Maggie Smith clashed over dressing-room assignments, saying the claims were misplaced. In a conversation included in her memoir, Dench responded to the suggestion of a feud with: “Don’t be ridiculous.” She said she had heard of actors arguing about who should get the most prestigious room, but she herself did not care where she was placed.

Dench, 91, said she and Smith would not have wanted to share a dressing room because their preferences differed. Smith liked to sit quietly with a book, Dench explained, while she enjoyed visitors, conversation and activity around her. The two first met as young actors at London’s Old Vic in the late 1950s and later shared the screen in such pictures as A Room with a View, Tea with Mussolini and Ladies in Lavender.

Dench described Smith as private and complicated, and said she believed Smith could sometimes feel lonely. She also remembered her friend for her intelligence, humor and company. Smith died at 89 in September 2024. Dench wrote that she still sometimes reaches for the phone intending to call Smith before remembering that she is gone, and said she misses her.