Judi Dench reveals the special way she spent her last day with late husband Michael Williams
Judi’s husband, actor Michael Williams, died in 2001, aged 65
In a life filled with so many stand-out moments, from winning Oscars to starring in Bond, there are some memories that mean more to Dame Judi Dench than any showbiz accolade - including those with her late husband, Michael Williams.
In her best-selling book, Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, Judi shared the touching final moments spent with her late husband, why it meant “everything to him” and the moving way they inadvertently inspired a cancer charity.
Explaining that Mikey - as she referred to him - was awarded a special honour by the Vatican, something deeply important to him as a Catholic, they all had to improvise to make sure the event could go ahead as planned. This led to friends and family crowded around a baby monitor to watch as Mikey received his knighthood from his bedroom upstairs.
In the book, she recalls, “The day before Mikey died, he was awarded a papal knighthood by the Vatican. His Catholicism was everything to him - he’d been the chairman of the British Catholic Stage Guild and went to Mass most Sundays.
“I wish he’d been able to receive his knighthood in the way that it was meant to happen - at Westminster Cathedral - but he wasn’t well enough to travel. We made an occasion of it though.
“It was lovely . . . so many people here in the house - too many to fit into the bedroom upstairs where the ceremony took place. [Their daughter] Finty said, ‘We’ll use the baby [monitor],’ which allowed everybody to hear the service downstairs in the sitting room.
"The Macmillan nurse later told us that they’d adopted the idea to help other families.”
Judi and Michael were married for 30 years, after having met in the 1960s as part of a touring company for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Married in 1971, the couple welcomed their daughter Tara Cressida ‘Finty’ Williams a year later.
The pair were more than man and wife - they were successful co-stars. They appeared in the popular sitcom, A Fine Romance, and they both starred in Tea with Mussolini. The movie, which also starred their friend, Dame Maggie Smith and Cher, would be Michael’s last.
Michael died aged just 65 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Speaking to People in October, Judi’s moving words proved that time has not dulled how she feels about her late husband. “I still miss him,” she shared. “Even now, 25 years on, I imagine he’s going to walk in through the front door.”
When asked what she would do if she could see him again for one day, she replied, “How could I see him for only one day, knowing that’s all I had?”
“Being with him anywhere would be enough - just to watch the tears roll down his face when he laughed… But if I saw him again I wouldn’t be able to let him go.”
