Judi Dench’s Co-Star Was In Love With Her — His Passing Quickened Her Marriage To Another Man

Nov 26, 2021 by apost team

Arguably one of the biggest cultural icons of our time, Dame Judi Dench has received many accolades for her decades-spanning career. She's a 10-time BAFTA Award winner, twice Golden Globe winner, seven-time Academy Award nominee and has also bagged a Tony Award in her time.

Her contribution to the world of acting has even earned her prestigious recognition from Queen Elizabeth II herself, who named her a dame in 1988. But all the glitter and glamour doesn't mean Judi is immune to heartbreak; In 2001, she lost the love of her life, actor Michael Williams, after a bout with lung cancer. 67 years old at the time, Judi and her husband had been married for 30 years when he passed.

But sadly, that wasn't the first time the actress experienced tragedy in relation to love. In the early days of her career, her co-star Charles Thomas professed his love to her but Judi did not feel the same. A ladies' man who was also married and had children, the actor went on to take his own life while they toured as a theater group around Australia performing Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" in 1969-1970.

Judi has an ever-lasting love affair with the theater – so it's no surprise it's played such a major role in her life, which includes the tragic death of Thomas and also how she met her first husband. After Williams died, the legendary actress swore off ever remarrying. Despite that, Judi found true love once again later on in her life. Let's take a look at her story. 

Judi's rise to fame as the incredible actress she is today goes hand in hand with her relationship with Williams. In fact, she and her future husband first met in a theater. The two first laid eyes upon one another in 1962, when Judi was 28 years old. At the time, the actress was cast as the female front in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Old Vic theater. She and her fellow actors celebrated opening night at a local pub, where Judi met Williams. Williams was also celebrating his own opening night, having starred in the play "Celebration."

The young actors instantly had a spark and started a relationship, but wouldn't marry until nine years later. In an interview with Vogue, Judi revealed he actually had to propose to her twice. The first proposal came when the two were touring Australia. She declined, she says, because she did not trust a proposal in such good weather. "We had better wait for a rainy day in Battersea (London)," she recalled telling him. 

And so Williams did just that. When the lovebirds finally arrived back home in the UK, the actor reiterated his desire to make Judi his partner for life. By then, Judi and Williams had become a power couple in the industry. They worked together on screen a few times, most notably on the sitcom "A Fine Romance." The two famously argued on set but would share even more laughs. "He used to cry when he laughed," Judi recounted with a smile. "The more he laughed the more he cried. Oh god, he made me laugh."   

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Williams had also become Judi's biggest cheerleader when it came to her career. According to the same Vogue interview, it was he who encouraged her to take up the iconic role of M in the "James Bond" films in the mid-90s, when Judi struggled to believe in herself. When she first started to find success as an actress, a director had told her that she would “never have a film career" because of her looks. That comment stayed with the actress for many years and made her doubt herself. 

And if it weren't for Williams' encouragement, then we might have never got to know Judi as the Hollywood gem we do today. Her stint with the Bond franchise landed her the role of Queen Victoria in "Mrs. Brown," which earned Judi her very first Academy Award nomination.  

Then came many more successful gigs on the big screen, including "Tomorrow Never Dies," "Shakespeare in Love," "The World Is Not Enough" and "Chocolat." Williams would frequently praise his wife for her immense talent, and even said she was more talented than he is. “I never feel inferior as a person," he once said, according to the Daily Record. "And there are some things I can do a damn sight better than Jude.” 

But in 1999, Williams and Judi's worlds were shattered when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. The actress left her role in the Broadway piece ''Amy's View'' to be with him at the time. He died two years later in 2001 at the age of 65. 

In the aftermath, Judi got candid with Hello Magazine about grief. She said: 

"It changes who you are completely, I think. Because it's like you're walking along, and suddenly you're not looking and there's an enormous chasm in front of you." 

"And suddenly all sorts of things take you, expected kinds of things happen... I don't expect you ever get used to it," she added. "Sometimes the door in this house just opens and I think that he's just wandered in."

She also spoke fondly of her late husband, describing him as an "unselfish man." 

"He wouldn't ever attribute that to anything that might be between us... Oh, God, how he used to make me laugh. He used to make me absolutely howl." 

But while Judi's love for Williams blossomed into a 30-year marriage, the start of her career was mired in tragedy after her co-star, Charles Thomas — who was in love with her — took his own life. According to the Daily Mail, a peer of Thomas' described him as "extremely good looking" and revealed that many girls had a crush on him. But despite being married with children, Thomas only had eyes for Judi.

Both rising stars of the theater, Judi and Thomas were part of a performance of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" that toured around Australia in 1969-1970. He was cast as Orsino while Judi played opposite him as Viola. Terry Hands told the Daily Mail that "at least half the company was in love with (Judi)," which made her a "target for a great deal of romance and poetry." 

It's said that Thomas was one of the many infatuated with Judi and although she is believed to have repelled his advances due to his marriage, Donald Sinden, who worked with the actor many times told the Daily Mail:

"There were rumours that he and Judi were in a relationship but of course, no one knew. He was a married man, so we didn't speak about it."

When the theater production reached Australia in Dec. 1969, the rest of the cast and crew found Thomas' infatuation with Judi more fevered. He was already a big drinker and had also been prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping pills, according to the publication. John Miller said:

"He was unstable, I think. He pursued Judi and she realised what a state he was in and tried to send him off gently."

But sadly, by Feb. 1970 when the production reached Melbourne, tragedy struck. After rehearsals one evening, a number of cast and crew went to a local bar. When Thomas became increasingly drunk, Judi left and returned to the hotel. When he eventually made it back he had tried to call his wife at home but she had previously instructed their children to hang up if their father ever called and sounded drunk.  

After he didn't show up to rehearsal the next morning, a crew member went to check on him and found his dead body with empty tablet bottles around him. In a statement to the police, Judi was described as a "personal friend" and she'd told the police that he had arrived at her room at 2:45 am to talk, but she had sent him away since she was too tired. 

Sinden told the Daily Mail that when everybody heard of Thomas' passing at breakfast the next morning, "there was this silence ... we couldn't believe it." He added:

"It was traumatic for everybody concerned. Judi was broken up completely. She never spoke about it after that.

"I can't speculate on whether she felt guilty about it, I don't know, but she was most upset, obviously. They had been very fond of each other. We all gathered around and protected her. We put our arms round her when necessary."

Judi's brother Jeffrey Dench, who was also on the tour, later said:

"I think [he] was madly in love with Judi. She was fond of him, but not in that way. Then he committed suicide just before we opened. We were all terribly upset."

Judi has only ever spoken publicly about Thomas once, in a chapter she wrote for a book about Shakespeare in 1996. In reference to the 1969 production, she said:

"Charles Thomas played Orsino when we opened. It was an inspired performance, and he looked like that miniature of Sir Walter Raleigh with curls and flowers in his hair — magical. To the devastation of the company, he died in Australia. Richard Pasco took over, and he gave a wonderful performance, but afterwards the play never seemed the same."

However, the tragedy inevitably brought Judi closer to the love of her life. While she and the production continued on in Australia after Thomas' death, Williams decided to fly out and surprise her. He stayed with the production for six weeks as it traveled to Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. The aftermath of the experience brought them closer and it was on that trip that Williams first proposed to Judi — the time that she rejected it as it was too sunny.  

And yet amid the grief of losing Williams, her soulmate in 2001, Judi found love again with the conservationist David Mills. She met Mills in 2010 when she visited the British Wildlife Centre for her upcoming BBC documentary on trees.

"She and I first met when she came here as a punter with her family in 2010," Mills recounted in an interview with Radio Times in 2017. "I happened to be in the office that day, saw her come in and I thought, ‘Judi Dench!’ We got chatting, and a couple of months later I asked her to open a new red squirrel enclosure here. The two instantly hit it off but started off slow. 

"It developed as a slow, organic friendship that grew," Mills continued, "I invited her to come and have supper one night, and then she asked me to one of her things. It’s lasted because we have the same sense of humour – it’s hopeless without that – and then she’s passionate about wildlife, as I am about theatre and films, so we go into one another’s worlds. She’s a great giggler. Of course I’d seen lots of her work before we met. Loved her in 'Mrs Brown.'" Seven years later, and the couple is still going strong. 

Their relationship helped Judi deal with her grief. She told Good Housekeeping that same year that she was grateful to have found a "jolly nice friend" in Mills, but wasn't happy to call him her "partner."

 "Partner is something to do with dancing. Partner – horrible word. Friend? No. Boyfriend? No. Chap? Will chap do?"

Clearly, the couple has set their own rules when it comes to their relationship. Although they've enjoyed almost a decade together, Judi is firm in saying that she is not planning on marrying again.  

"He's not going to propose. No, no, no, no, no," the actress said when asked if she would walk down the aisle for Mills. "Let's all just pull ourselves together and be our age."

Judi and Mills' love had blossomed from their mutual interest in nature and conservation. The actress even once said that she found solace in her “secret woodland.” The woodland she referred to was is a small forest located on the six acres of land she owns where she resides in Surrey. The forest offers Judi a place to connect and relax with the things she loves the most; nature and trees. 

"I think of trees as my extended family, living, breathing, and social, like us," Judi explained. "Whenever I can, whatever the season, this is where I escape to."

The actress first moved to her Surrey home over three decades ago with her late husband. Together they began a tradition of planting a tree for each loved one that passes away. Judi still carries on that tradition today. The forest includes trees for her brother Jeffrey, fellow actor and old friend Robert Hardy, and of course, Williams her late husband. For Judi, the act is a bittersweet way of keeping memories of those who are gone alive.

"It is about remembering, but it’s through a living thing, so you don’t remember them and stop. The memory goes on, and gets more wonderful," the actress said. Judi's documentary, "Judi Dench: My Passion For Trees," taught her so much about the trees she grew up loving.  

The actress said that even though she's always been passionate about trees, the documentary was an eye-opener about just how special they really are. 

"It’s been wonderful to discover that my trees aren’t just amazing individuals, but that they are part of an extended family," Judi said. "When I plant my trees, I always hope that they feel part of a community, that they would be communicating with each other. And now it’s so reassuring to find out that it’s true."

Her new learnings have made her see forests and trees in a whole new light. After the documentary, Judi said she would "never be able to look at [trees] in the same way again."

"I shall never be able to walk so nonchalantly through a woodland again without thinking of all that incredible work that’s going on underneath the surface," she added.

A conservationist who has dedicated his life to the study of nature, perhaps Mills is the perfect match for Judi after all. Just like the actress, however, Mills admitted that he was taken by surprise when the two first developed a relationship. He never expected, he said, to fall in love later in life. "Neither of us set out for it. We laugh and joke so much, and enjoy one another’s worlds so much, it’s great, especially when you get to our age," Mills said. 

The couple chooses to live apart, and have stayed in their respective homes – about four miles away from each other. But they know to still make time for one another. "It works very well," the conservationist said.  

Did you know about the love and loss Judi Dench has experienced in her life? Have you ever heard about the story of Charlie Thomas? Pass this along to your friends and family so they can read about it too.