Dame Judi Dench has paid a heartfelt tribute to her late friend and fellow actress, Dame Maggie Smith.
The late star, who enjoyed a celebrated career spanning more than 60 years, died aged 89 in September this year.
In a new interview for a BBC tribute to Maggie, Judi revealed that she continues a deeply sentimental tradition of planting individual trees in memory of her late friends.
Judi has a private forest at her home in Surrey and previously shared that each tree serves as a tribute to loved ones, including Alan Rickman, Helen McCrory, Diana Rigg, and her late husband, Michael Williams.
While reflecting on Maggie’s legacy, the actress mentioned that her gardener recently discovered the sapling she planted for Maggie had borne fruit.
‘Joe, who works for me, came in and he had one little crab apple,’ Judi told the BBC.
Dame Judi Dench has paid a heartfelt tribute to her late friend and fellow actress, Dame Maggie Smith
The late star (left), who enjoyed a celebrated career spanning more than 60 years, died aged 89 in September this year
‘And so I had it in my pocket at her funeral, which was a very nice thing to have,’ she added.
Judi and Maggie’s friendship started way back in 1957 when they first met in a dressing room at the Old Vic theatre.
They went on to work with each other on several occasions, including in the 1984 film A Private Function and in 1999’s Tea With Mussolini.
However, their most famous collaboration was 1985’s A Room With a View.
The duo also co-starred in 2004’s Thirties-set costume drama Ladies in Lavender, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in 2011, and its 2015 sequel The Second Best Marigold Hotel.
Back in October, Judi choked up on stage at the Cheltenham Literature Festival after she was asked about her late friends Maggie and Barbara Leigh-Hunt.
Judi, who shared personal anecdotes during her presentation at the literature festival, got emotional after interviewer Brendan O’Hea brought up her beloved friends who both passed away in September.
‘I know I probably shouldn’t bring this up, I know the last week has been tricky for you because you lost your great friends Maggie Smith and Barbara Leigh-Hunt’, he asked.
Judi and Maggie have appeared on stage and on screen together several times
Judi and Maggie in ‘Ladies in Lavender’, 2004
He also asked her what she meant when she had once compared grief to petrol when speaking about her husband, Michael Williams’, who died from lung cancer in 2001.
‘I suppose the energy that’s created by grief…’ she said, before breaking down in tears.
Maggie’s death sparked an outpouring of grief from fellow thespians and Harry Potter fans around the world, with Huge Bonneville leading tributes to a ‘true legend of her generation’.
The beloved star, who was known for her roles in the Harry Potter movies and her incredible 70-year acting career, had been friends with Dench, since the 1950s.
Speaking at a tribute event for Dench back in 2002, Smith said : ‘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.’
Back in October, Judi choked up on stage at the Cheltenham Literature Festival after she was asked about her late friends Maggie and Barbara Leigh-Hunt (pictured with Maggie in 2004)
The actress has been open about her experiences with grief after tragically losing her husband Michael Williams, who was also an actor, more than 20 years ago.
The pair married in 1971 after co-starring in a theatre production of The Duchess of Malfi, and had a daughter, Finty.
After losing Williams to lung cancer, Judi admitted that she forced herself to work as it ‘helped me cope with the pain’.
‘Sometimes you have to do a play and it is really painful. That said, I’ve also found it unbelievably cathartic,’ she once said in an interview with The Times.
‘You fortify yourself and use what you are going through as energy. Like petrol. It has helped me cope with the pain.’
Judi has been with her partner wildlife conservationist David Mills since 2010. She said in an interview with The Times that she never expected to find love again after her husband’s death.
The actress has been open about her experiences with grief after tragically losing her husband Michael Williams, who was also an actor, more than 20 years ago
Judi has been with her partner wildlife conservationist David Mills since 2010 (pictured in 2021)
‘I wasn’t even prepared to be ready for it. It was very, very gradual and grown up. It’s just wonderful’.
But after meeting David , she gushed to GoodHousekeeping in 2015: ‘It’s wonderful to be in love. That state when you’re glad to see somebody and they make you laugh and you just like being with them.’
The couple met when Dench officiated the opening of a new squirrel enclosure at the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey.
Mills once joked that ‘she fell in love with my squirrels not me’.