Judi Dench says Kevin Spacey is a 'good friend'

Judi Dench has spoken out in support of her "good friend" Kevin Spacey. Photo / Getty Image

Oscar-winner Judi Dench has spoken out in support of her "good friend" Kevin Spacey who has faced a litany of sexual assault allegations and has all but disappeared from public view.

Speaking to Variety in San Sebastian where she was to be honoured with a Donostia Award, the actress was asked if there were any memorable experiences in her career that she looked back fondly on.

Her answer reportedly surprised many in the room.

"I remember just after my husband died, and I was in a bad way, I went to do The Shipping News with Kevin Spacey, and Kevin was an inestimable comfort and never mentioned he knew I was in a bad way," Dench said.

"He cheered me up and kept me going."

Given the serious allegations against Spacey, Dench was then asked about her current feelings towards her fellow Oscar winner.

"I can't approve, in any way, of the fact that — whatever he has done — that you then start to cut him out of the films," she said. "Are we to do what happened when he was replaced with Christopher Plummer?

"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 who 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.

"I don't know about the conditions of it, but nevertheless he is, and was, a most wonderful actor," she said, before pausing, "And a good friend. I can't imagine what he is doing now."

Dench was also asked about her opinion on the Time's Up and #MeToo movements.

"I think there are many things to be redressed and made right," she said. "It is an extraordinary moment of change, a sea change at the moment. And there many more parts for women, which is very good indeed, and long may that go on."