Dame Judi Dench late husband Michael Williams weekly rose gesture, Digi Mart USA News: A quarter of a century after his death, Dame Judi Dench has lifted the lid on her marriage to fellow actor Michael Williams. The pair tied the knot in 1971, the same year they starred alongside one another in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Duchess of Malfi.
In a rare insight into their relationship, Dench revealed a sweet weekly gesture Williams made throughout their marriage. Speaking on the November 6 episode of The Graham Norton Show, she said, “He sent me a rose every Friday of our marriage and we were married for thirty years, less 10 days.”
Dench, 91, admitted, “I still miss him. Even now, 25 years on, I imagine he’s going to walk in through the front door.” The couple had one child, daughter Finty, who has followed her parents into acting.
However, the star confessed that they had hoped to have more children.
“Michael and I said, ‘We’re going to have six children,'” she recalled. “We had one, beautiful Finty, and we didn’t have the other five; it just didn’t happen.
I worked a lot. I suppose you don’t stop to consider, really.”
When asked what the foundation of their relationship was, Dench previously said, “It was a sense of humour.” She added, “Oh, God, how he used to make me laugh. He used to make me absolutely howl.”
Dench later moved on, beginning a relationship with conservationist David Mills in 2010. She has said she believes Williams’s presence still lingers at the home they once shared.
“His presence is very much in our house, and the garden and everything,” she said.
She added, “Although I have met David… And that’s just lovely because we laugh about the same things.
I suspect I shall never ever get over Mikey.”
The Graham Norton Show airs on BBC One and iPlayer at 10.40pm.
