DAME Judi Dench teared up on stage when asked about her close friend Maggie Smith. The actress became visibly emotional at the Cheltenham Literature Festival while paying tribute to the late Maggie Smith and Barbara Leigh-Hunt. Interviewer Brendan O'Hea asked her about the fellow acting legends, who have both sadly died in the last month.
He said to Judi "the last week has been tricky for you" and encouraged her to explain was she meant when she previously compared grief to petrol. "I suppose the energy that's created by grief," replied the actress, as she began to tear up. The actress originally made the reference after her husband Michael William died in 2001 from lung cancer.
Judi told the audience she lovingly plants trees in her garden in memory of loved ones who have passed away. Maggie had been friends with Judi since the 1950s after they met at the Old Vic theatre in London. She said in 2002: "What I remember mostly about that time, it was the beginning of a friendship, and I remember laughter more than anything in the world.
"Judi's the most tremendous friend. She's been a huge support and hugely loyal." They performed alongside each other in the 1985 film A Room with a View, the 2004 drama Ladies in Lavender and the 2011 comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
The writer of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Ol Parker, once said: "Maggie and Judi would swim in their Victorian swimsuits. And every day we would all laugh and laugh and laugh." Meanwhile, late actress Barba.
