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‘Don’t compare me to mum’: Finty Williams on life in Dame Judi’s shadow

Sep 29, 2018

Finty followed in the footsteps of both her parents to become an actress. Source: Getty.

Her mother is one of the most critically acclaimed actresses of the past century, with an impressive career spanning more than six decades on the stage and silver screen.

However Finty Williams has hit back at those who try to compare her to her mother Dame Judi Dench, saying it “pisses her off hugely”, in an interview with The Times.

She said: “It pisses me off being pre-judged. That pisses me off, pisses me off hugely. Just because I don’t think it’s fair. A lot of people want to go, ‘She’s not as good as her mother,’ which is true, but I can also name you another 80 people who probably aren’t as good.

“I don’t know whether, if your father is a brain surgeon, people go, ‘He’s not as good a brain surgeon as his father.’ I don’t know whether that happens, but because of who Ma is, a lot of people have an opinion, which they form before they get to know me or before they see what I can do.”

Williams, 46, is the only child of Dench and her late husband Michael Williams and has starred alongside her A-list mother in several projects, including 1997’s Mrs Brown.

The actress might find herself being compared to her mother a lot more in the coming months as she has taken on the role of Barbara Jackson in a production of ‘Pack of Lies’, which Judi famously played, alongside Finty’s father, in the 1983 production.

“There is no escaping the fact that people are going to go, ‘Well, she’s not as good as her mum was,’ but do you know what?” Williams added. “I’d really like people to come and see it with an open mind.

“She [Dench] is jaw-dropping, but I also happen to think that Helen McCrory is jaw-droppingly brilliant. I happen to think Ruth Wilson is jaw-droppingly brilliant. Zoë Wanamaker. I don’t aspire to be any of those people. I’m me, and I’ve got the cards that I’ve been dealt.”

Earlier this week Dame Judi set tongues wagging when she leapt to the defence of her “good friend” Kevin Spacey, following a series of sexual harassment claims that have been made against the House of Cards star.

During a speech at the San Sebastian International Film Festival on Tuesday, the 83-year-old spoke of her close friendship with the actor and her disapproval of much of the backlash against him over the alleged claims, saying that while she doesn’t approve of any of the alleged conduct it’s not acceptable to cut Spacey from movies, Page Six reports.

“Are we to do what happened when he was replaced with Christopher Plummer? she said. “Are we to do that throughout history? Are we to go back throughout history and anyone who has misbehaved in any way, or who has broken the law, or has committed some kind of offence, are they always going to be cut out? Are we going to extrude them from our history? I don’t know.”