Judi Dench reveals truth about rumored falling out with ‘complex’ Maggie Smith over dressing room placements

See more of our coverage in your search results. Judi Dench denies she had a falling out with her late pal, Maggie Smith, in her new memoir, “Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?” “I mentioned you and Maggie Smith because you occasionally hear of actors falling out over the dressing room they’ve been allocated. It’s to do with hierarchy and status,” actor and director Brendan O’Hea asks Dench, 91, during a back-and-forth chat in her book. Dench, shutting down the rumor, responds, “Don’t be ridiculous.” Judi Dench denies she and Maggie Smith had a falling out over dressing room placements. WireImage In her new memoir, Dench says that never happened, though she’s heard of other performers who feuded over where they were placed in dressing room. St. Martin's Press But the Oscar winner admits she’s heard about other performers who feuded over dressing room placements. “It’s true. I know of a producer who was so fed up with all the actors in the company arguing over who should be in Number 1 that he put a 1 on every dressing-room door,” she tells O’Hea. “What’s the matter with people? Haven’t they got enough to worry about with the play? I never mind where I am,” Dench adds. Dench (seen here with Smith in 2004) admits she gets “miserable” when she’s alone, so she always preferred letting people in her dressing room. WireImage But Dench says she and Smith (pictured here in 2017) wouldn’t have shared a dressing room. Dave Benett The “Skyfall” actress explains that she gets “miserable when I’m left by myself,” recalling how Nicholas Meredith, her co-star from the 1960 Old Vic production of “Romeo and Juliet,” used to come into her dressing room and keep her company. But with Smith, Dench admits that the pair wouldn’t have shared a dressing room. “We’re too different,” Dench says. “Mags would prefer to sit in a corner, quietly reading, whereas I need the hustle and bustle of people coming in and out of the room – the hubbub and the chat and the tannoy turned up to full.” Dench says the actresses were “too different” and that Smith preferred being alone. PA Images via Getty Images Dench (seen here in 2024) fondly reflects on her friendship with the late “Harry Potter” star in her book. Getty Images for BFI Dench and Smith met in the late 1950s when they were both performing as young actresses at the Old Vic in London. The pair worked together in multiple films, including “A Room with a View,” “Tea with Mussolini,” “Ladies in Lavender” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” before Smith died at age 89 in September 2024. In her memoir, Dench fondly reflects on her decades-long friendship with Smith. “One minute she could be howling with laughter, sending herself up, and the next, off-piste with grief over something, utterly discombobulated,” Dench says. Dench (seen here with Smith) says Smith was “a very complex person” who was “quite lonely at times. PA Images via Getty Images Dench and Smith starred in multiple films together, including 1985’s “A Room with a View.” ©Cinecom Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection Want more celebrity and pop culture news? Start your day with Page Six Daily. Thanks for signing up! Dench calls the “Harry Potter” actress “a very complex person” who was “intensely private” and, as Dench suspects, “quite lonely at times.” “She’d occasionally erect an electric fence around herself,” Dench adds of Smith. Still, Dench notes that the late “Downton Abbey” star “really was the most marvelous company” with “a ferocious intelligence, an acerbic wit and was very, very funny.” “God, I miss her,” Dench shares. “I sometimes go to pick up the phone, thinking I must give her a ring, just to hear her voice, and I realize she’s no longer there.” Dench says Smith (both pictured here in “Tea With Mussolini”) had “a ferocious intelligence, an acerbic with and was very funny.” ©G2 Films/Courtesy Everett Collection Smith (seen here with Dench in 2004’s “Ladies in Lavender”) died at age 89 in 2024. Courtesy Everett Collection In a 2023 interview with the Times, Dench said that grieving Smith’s death felt “unbelievably cathartic.” “You fortify yourself and use what you are going through as energy. Like petrol,” Dench told the outlet. “It has helped me cope with the pain.” “Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?” is out now. Community Guidelines Welcome to the Page Six Community! 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