As one of our greatest stars of stage and screen, Dame Judi Dench has amassed a fortune during her long and celebrated career. But she has revealed that it was a one-off soft spread TV advertisement, in which she starred alongside her late husband, that paid for her Surrey home - and she has no recollection of filming it.
Now reported to be worth around £8m, the farmhouse was bought by Dame Judi and actor Michael Williams almost four decades ago for a much smaller sum, although it would have been significant back then. The acting legend makes the revelation during Louis Theroux's latest celebrity interview for his new BBC Two series.
In the episode airing on Tuesday, November 1, the legendary British actress, 87, opens up about her marriage to fellow actor Michael, with whom she starred in sitcom A Fine Romance and who passed away in 2001 after a battle with lung cancer.
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And she also shares the surprising fact about her family home. Dame Judi tells Louis that it was a Clover soft spread advertisement that paid for the Surrey abode. She said: "Suddenly, Michael and I got a Clover butter advertisement that bought this house," she told Louis, to which he replied: "Because you love it so much?" referencing the brand's iconic slogan.
Dame Judi continues: "It was something like 38 years ago," explaining that the advert was a one-off and not part of a series. Upon being shown the advert by a member of the production team, the James Bond star describes how she has no recollection of filming it.
Elsewhere in the interview, Dame Judi discusses her various film roles. While she says that she had no desire to see most of her films because she’d finds them “irritating”, she shares a fond memory of working with Clint Eastwood on the 2011 biopic J Edgar, which he directed. “Clint Eastwood is the most laidback man I have ever met. You start at nine, you finish at four,” she tells Louis.
Recalling a conversation she’d had with Eastwood, she continues: “‘Mr Eastwood, could we possibly do that again?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Sorry?’ ‘Why?’ ‘Well, because we’ve just done it once. Could we have another go?’ ‘No.’” Laughing at her story, Louis then asks Dame Judi if she was “not curious to see it”. “I’ll see it at some point,” she replies.
Later in the interview, the actress admits that she “can’t see” as she opens up about living with eyesight condition AMD (age-related macular degeneration). She explains that while she could still technically perform on stage, her photographic memory means she struggles to remember lines without reading them first. You can read more about Dame Judi's struggle with her eyesight here.
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