--- title: Judi Dench's Memoir Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? Arrives at 91, Full of Pranks, Doubt and a Thirty-Year Love Story description: "Inside Judi Dench's memoir, made at 91 with Brendan O'Hea: York, stage pranks, M, her marriage to Michael Williams and the bag by the rehearsal room." author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-05T13:29:32.856Z updated: 2026-11-05T13:29:32.875Z canonical: https://richbooksmagazine.com/article/judi-dench-memoir-is-it-too-late-to-make-a-run-for-it image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/rich-books-november-2026-cover-landscape.webp categories: Memoir content_type: Feature region: Global publication: Rich Books schema_type: Article about: - type: Person name: Dame Judi Dench --- ### Book: Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? *A Memoir* By Dame Judi Dench Judi Dench's fourth book, written with Brendan O'Hea, tells her story from childhood to the present: pranks on and off stage, her best-known screen roles, her marriage to Michael Williams and her love of nature and animals. Published in the UK on 22nd October 2026 and in the US by St. Martin's Press on 3rd November 2026. [Waterstones](https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/is+it+too+late+to+make+a+run+for+it+judi+dench) Dame Judi Dench is 91, she can no longer read, and this autumn she published the most personal book of her life. *Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?* came out from Michael Joseph in the UK on 22nd October and from St. Martin's Press in the US on 3rd November. She made it with her friend and writing partner Brendan O'Hea, the theatre director who also worked with her on *Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent* in 2023, and its 368 pages read like an evening in her company. ## The Meaning Behind Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? The title is a question Dame Judi has carried into rehearsal rooms for more than seventy years. The publicity for the book ties it to one of her habits: she leaves a bag outside the rehearsal room, ready in case she wants to make a run for it. You might expect a woman who won an Oscar for eight minutes on screen as Elizabeth I in *Shakespeare in Love* to have stopped worrying long ago. The memoir shows you that the doubt never left, and that she went into the room every time anyway. ## How Judi Dench Made Her Memoir With Brendan O'Hea Dame Judi was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2012. In October she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she can no longer act on stage or on film, and she said it plainly: 'I can't read anymore.' She could not see the bluebells in her garden this summer, and she now relies on memory for them. The book grew out of long conversations between her and O'Hea, and it keeps the rhythm of talk. You read it the way you would listen to a friend who has saved her best stories for you. ## Judi Dench's Childhood in York The story begins in Heworth in York, where she was born, with the parents, older brother and teachers who shaped her. Her family recited and memorised poems and speeches all the time, and she calls that excellent preparation for an actor. She can still recall reams of Shakespeare. One of her first parts was a disappointment: in a school nativity play her friend was cast as the Virgin Mary, and Judi was told she would be a fairy. She had wanted to be an angel. ## Rejection, Self-Doubt and the Sitcoms She Was Told to Avoid Early in her career a film producer told her there was 'everything wrong' with her face. A theatre director advised her to stay away from television sitcoms. She went on to star in *A Fine Romance* with Michael Williams and in *As Time Goes By* with Geoffrey Palmer, two of the best-loved comedies on British television. If someone with power over your work has ever told you no, these chapters will feel like a hand on your shoulder. ## Judi Dench's Pranks on Stage and Backstage O'Hea jokes that the book is really an exposé of Judi, and the pranks give him plenty of material. During a run of *Mother Courage*, two actors playing soldiers had to buy a drink from her and hand over a coin. At the last matinee they offered her American Express instead, and she answered without a pause: 'Thank you. That'll do nicely.' That evening she took her revenge and put cider vinegar in their drinks. Not every mishap was planned. Soon after she married Michael Williams, the couple played Portia and Bassanio in *The Merchant of Venice* at Stratford. In the middle of her speech to him she garbled a word, and the Stratford wind band, waiting offstage for their cue, set their instruments down on a table on the stage and walked off. The Bond years bring their own adventure. While she was playing M, Daniel Craig drove her around London in an Aston Martin at four or five in the morning, and every traffic light turned green as they reached it. Her birthday was the next day. The book also tells you how she was once locked out of the Oscars and how she came close to crocodiles in Borneo. She does not spare her own films either: she calls *Cats*, the 2019 musical film, a waste of the goodwill and talent poured into it. ## Judi Dench and Michael Williams The heart of the book is her marriage. She married the actor Michael Williams in 1971, they worked together often, they had a daughter, and he made her laugh on stage. He died on 11th January 2001, aged 65. One of the most moving passages comes from a night at Billy Connolly's home in Scotland, at a party with a ceilidh and a bonfire in the woods. Michael was very ill with lung cancer by then. As the couple climbed a steep hill on the way home, Robin Williams came alongside and offered to help. Michael said he could manage, and Robin Williams said he would 'ride shotgun anyway'. Dame Judi writes that she has thought often about his sensitivity that night. If you have walked beside someone you love through an illness, you will recognise both the kindness and the gratitude. ## Judi Dench on Tour With Brendan O'Hea You can hear these stories from her in person. Dame Judi and O'Hea appear at York Theatre Royal, in the city where she was born, on Sunday 8th November, and at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury on Tuesday 17th November at 7.30pm, where only returns are left. Richmond Theatre also hosts the show. At York and Canterbury every ticket includes a hardback copy of the book. ## Who Will Love This Memoir Read it if you grew up with her on stage or on screen and want the stories that never reached the interviews. Read it if you are grieving and want company from someone who has lived through loss and kept working. Read it above all if you are asking the question in its title about your own life. At 91, unable to read or act, Dame Judi made something new, and she shows you that the run can still go forward. Our [Editor's Letter for November](https://richbooksmagazine.com/article/editors-letter-november-2026-judi-dench-it-is-not-too-late) takes up the same question. ## About the Book **Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?** by Judi Dench, with Brendan O'Hea - **UK:** Michael Joseph, 22nd October 2026, hardback, £25, 368 pages, ISBN 9780241799536. Also available as an ebook and an audio download. - **US:** St. Martin's Press, 3rd November 2026, hardback, $31, 368 pages, ISBN 9781250438928. - **Buy it:** [Waterstones](https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/9780241799536) / [Barnes & Noble](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/is-it-too-late-to-make-a-run-for-it-judi-dench/1149573619?ean=9781250438928) **About Dame Judi Dench:** Dame Judi Dench was born in York in 1934 and has worked on stage and screen for more than seventy years. Her awards include an Academy Award, a Tony, Golden Globes, Olivier Awards and BAFTAs. She played M in the James Bond films from *GoldenEye* in 1995 to *Skyfall* in 2012.