Dame Judi Dench sees Oscars as good luck

Judi Dench can do regal. She can do imperious. She can do a touch of mischief. She does all three in "Mrs. Henderson Presents," the fact-based story of a wealthy English widow who brought nude revue to the staid English stage in the 1930s - reports Mercury News.

The 71-year-old four-time Academy Award nominee, who won the supporting-actress Oscar for her memorable eight-minute turn as Queen Elizabeth I in 1998's "Shakespeare in Love," says she tries not to pay too much attention to awards - although she received a Golden Globe nomination and is considered an Oscar contender.

"I don't think about them very much," Dench told The Associated Press. "I think it's good luck if you get them. But I hope it won't affect the film if it doesn't get any. The film stands on its own merits."

A quirkily enjoyable slice of British history, the movie tells the story of the Windmill Theatre, the first West End venue to feature onstage nudity and the only London theater to remain open throughout World War II.

It centers on the relationship between Laura Henderson, who buys a derelict theater as a distraction from the bereavement and boredom of widowhood, and Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins), the cigar-smoking impresario she hires to run it.

Together they pioneer nonstop cabaret performances. But when a raft of imitators sends the box office plummeting, the well-heeled Henderson hits on a new idea - naked showgirls.

"Nudity? In England?" asks an incredulous Van Damm.

Nudity was most definitely not allowed by the Lord Chamberlain, the theatrical censor of the day. Fortunately, noted Dench, Henderson was both well-connected and extraordinarily persuasive.

"The Lord Chamberlain happened to be a friend of hers," Dench said.

Henderson persuaded the censor to allow the nudity - as long as the naked performers didn't move. The Windmill became renowned for musical revues that included elaborate, tastefully lit naked tableaux.

"It wasn't notorious and it wasn't sleazy," Dench said. "It was very fashionable to go there in the beginning, and then during the war it got to be a place where the soldiers and sailors and airmen all went."

Dench, recently seen also as the monstrous Lady Catherine de Bourg in "Pride & Prejudice," is commanding as the formidable Henderson, subtly suggesting the depths of warmth and emotion beneath the character's fur-clad, lapdog-clutching exterior.

"I think she was a nightmare, actually," said Dench, who met surviving members of the Windmill company to prepare for the role. "She didn't know anything about the theater at all, and interfered terribly.

"But she was the most extraordinary woman. She used to pay for (the showgirls') weddings and birthdays, and would always be taking them food - I don't know how she got the food during the war, but I expect she had ways. They said she was fantastically motherly and looked after them."

By film's end, the Windmill has survived onslaughts by both the Luftwaffe and the censors, and Henderson delivers a rousing speech defending the shows as a form of war service.

"By the end she has a passion for the theater - and probably a passion for Vivian Van Damm," Dench said.

The sparring chemistry between Dench and Hoskins holds the film together, as the mismatched pair develop from adversaries to colleagues, and more.

"They wouldn't talk about that, when we met the girls who are still alive," Dench said. "They wouldn't engage into whether or not there was ever an affair between them. They said they were very close."

Dench's varied career stretches from leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company to films including "Tea with Mussolini," "Chocolat," "Iris" and "The Shipping News."

She has played both Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria (in "Mrs. Brown") and was made a dame - the female equivalent of a knight - by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988.

But she may be best known to many movie fans as spymaster M in several James Bond films. She returns to the role - opposite new 007 Daniel Craig - when filming begins next month on "Casino Royale." After that comes a production of Noel Coward's comedy "Hay Fever" on the London stage.

She aspires only to do work "by people I like, for people I like and with people I like."

"Is that called very good luck? I think it is."

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