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Jeffery Dench(1928-2014)

  • Actor
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Jeffery Danny Dench (29 April 1928 - 25 March 2014) was an English actor, best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was the older brother of actress Judi Dench.

Jeffery Dench was born in Tyldesley, Manchester to Eleanora Olave (née Jones), a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a physician who met his future wife while studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Jeff lived in Tyldesley with his brother Peter; later the family moved to York where his sister, Judith, was born.

Jeffery Dench was born in Tyldesley, Manchester to Eleanora Olave (née Jones), a native of Dublin, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a physician who met his future wife while studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Jeff lived in Tyldesley with his brother Peter; later the family moved to York where his sister, Judith, was born.

Dench attended St Peter's, York, where he began acting with the role of Cleopatra in George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra.

He spent his national service at an army theatre in Catterick before attending the Central School of Speech and Drama. It was here that he met Betty, his first wife, who was working as a speech therapist. He moved to Clifford Chambers and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1963, where he worked for many years.

With his wife Betty, Dench had three daughters: Sarah, a teacher who lives in Brailes; Clare, who lives in Shiplake; and Emma, a Roman historian previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Betty died from a heart attack on 11 January 2002. Dench then married Ann Curtis, a costume designer for the RSC and a longtime family friend. They lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and in 2012 he became the President of Stratford-upon-Avon Choral Society.

On 27 March 2014 it was announced that Dench had died in England, UK two days earlier.
BornApril 29, 1928
DiedMarch 25, 2014(85)
BornApril 29, 1928
DiedMarch 25, 2014(85)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
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Known for

Sean Connery, Richard Gere, and Julia Ormond in First Knight (1995)
First Knight
6.0
  • First Elder
  • 1995
Roger Rees in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
9.1
TV Mini Series
  • Arthur Gride
  • Landlord
  • Mr. Blightey
  • Mr. Cutler
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950)
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
7.1
TV Series
  • Gobbo, Launcelot
  • Launcelot Gobbo
David Warner in The Wars of the Roses (1965)
The Wars of the Roses
8.5
TV Mini Series
  • Sir Humphrey Stafford
  • 2nd Keeper
  • 3rd Citizen
  • Second Keeper

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor



  • The G.O.D Club (2005)
    The G.O.D Club
    Short
    • St Peter
    • 2005
  • Empires: The Greeks - Crucible of Civilization (2000)
    Empires: The Greeks - Crucible of Civilization
    7.5
    TV Mini Series
    • Pericles (uncredited)
    • 2000
  • Chris Barrie in The Brittas Empire (1991)
    The Brittas Empire
    7.1
    TV Series
    • Warwick Newmark
    • 1996
  • Sean Connery, Richard Gere, and Julia Ormond in First Knight (1995)
    First Knight
    6.0
    • First Elder
    • 1995
  • The Lady and the Highwayman (1988)
    The Lady and the Highwayman
    5.6
    TV Movie
    • Magistrate
    • 1988
  • Don Henderson and Siobhan Redmond in Bulman (1985)
    Bulman
    7.3
    TV Series
    • Edward Stanley
    • 1987
  • Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)
    Rumpole of the Bailey
    8.4
    TV Series
    • Denis Driscoll
    • 1987
  • What a Way to Run a Revolution
    TV Movie
    • 1986
  • Cyrano de Bergerac (1985)
    Cyrano de Bergerac
    7.5
    TV Movie
    • Marquis 1
    • 1985
  • Roger Rees in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982)
    The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
    9.1
    TV Mini Series
    • Mr. Cutler
    • Landlord
    • Mr. Blightey ...
    • 1982
  • Tim Curry in Will Shakespeare (1978)
    Will Shakespeare
    7.6
    TV Mini Series
    • Lord Keeper Egerton
    • 1978
  • David Warner in The Wars of the Roses (1965)
    The Wars of the Roses
    8.5
    TV Mini Series
    • Second Keeper
    • Sir Humphrey Stafford
    • 3rd Citizen ...
    • 1965–1966
  • BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950)
    BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
    7.1
    TV Series
    • Gobbo, Launcelot
    • Launcelot Gobbo
    • 1955

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative name
    • Jeffrey Dench
  • Born
    • April 29, 1928
    • Tyldesley, Manchester, England, UK
  • Died
    • March 25, 2014
    • Birmingham, England, UK(natural causes)
  • Spouses
      Ann Curtis2005 - March 25, 2014 (his death)
  • Relatives
    • Judi Dench(Sibling)
  • Other works
    His theatre credits include: Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York in "Henry IV Part 1" by William Shakespeare (1964, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, directed by Peter Hall ); Marcellus/Ambassador from England in "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare , directed by Peter Hall (Aldwych Theatre, London, 1965)

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Served in Dundee Rep 1959-1960 with the likes of Michael Culver, Gawn Grainger, Ann Way, Nicol Williamson, Bruce Boa and Edward Fox.

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