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Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea
Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea Review: A Candid, Conversational Life in Theatre and Film
Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? Is Judi Dench's account of her life and seven-decade career, told in conversation with her friend and writing partner Brendan O'Hea, and published by St. Martin's Press in November 2026. Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist all awarded it starred reviews, making it one of the most enthusiastically received celebrity memoirs of its season.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Devoted fans of Judi Dench — and lovers of British theatre and film more broadly — who want the person behind the legend: candid, funny, and emotionally unguarded, delivered in the register of a long conversation rather than a polished autobiography.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you already know and love Dench's career and want the intimacy, wit, and emotional candour that only a close friend drawing her out — rather than a ghostwriter shaping her — can unlock.
Skip if
Skip it if you're looking for a rigorously chronological account of Dench's artistic development, or if you have little existing grounding in British theatre and film and won't have the frame of reference to make the behind-the-scenes anecdotes land.
What readers & critics say
Three major trade publications — Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist — each awarded the book a starred review before publication, an unusually strong pre-publication consensus, as documented by static.macmillan.com. Kirkus, whose starred review text is also surfaced on us.macmillan.com, called the book "companionable and compelling," singling out "Dench's impish genius and O'Hea's deftness" for making it feel like a kitchen-table conversation.
Sources: static.macmillan.com, us.macmillan.com, kirkusreviews.comAsk LuvemBooks
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- Is it worth reading?
- For readers with an existing interest in Judi Dench — her stage career, her screen roles, or simply her famously impish personality — Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? offers a level of intimacy and candour that critics found unusual for a celebrity memoir. The simultaneous starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist represent a strong pre-publication critical consensus, with reviewers praising the book as "hilarious, fortifying" and "companionable and compelling." The key caveat is audience: readers without grounding in British theatre and film history may lack the frame of reference to fully appreciate much of the behind-the-scenes material, and those seeking a rigorously structured, chronological account of Dench's career will find the conversational format more digressive than definitive.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? may also enjoy other candid celebrity memoirs that blend entertainment career retrospectives with personal revelation. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea is the natural companion — the same conversational pairing, focused on Dench's relationship with Shakespeare. Michael Caine's Blowing the Bloody Doors Off offers a similarly frank look at a long career at the heart of British film. Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton's Home Work covers a comparable arc of stage-to-screen stardom with personal warmth. Alan Rickman's Madly, Deeply — his published diaries — provides an intimate view of the same world of British theatre and film from a close contemporary. Truly by Lionel Richie offers a different entertainment world but a similarly reflective, career-spanning memoir voice.
- Who should read this?
- Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? is best suited to readers who already admire Judi Dench — whether from her stage career spanning Shakespeare and musicals, her screen work including blockbusters and the James Bond franchise, or simply her public persona. Reviewers noted that "fans will delight in her candor and vulnerability," implicitly identifying the primary audience as those who know the career and want the person behind it. Readers with a broader interest in British theatre and film history will also have the context to appreciate the behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Those seeking a rigorously structured career retrospective, or readers with no prior interest in Dench or British performance culture, are less well served.
- What's this book about?
- Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? is Judi Dench's account of her life and more than seven-decade career, told in conversation with her friend and writing partner Brendan O'Hea. The book ranges across her work on stage — including Shakespeare and musicals — and on screen, as well as the personal life behind the performances: her marriage to actor Michael Williams, her passion for nature and animals, and personal disclosures that run from the funny to the moving. It also includes a candid account of the emotional pain surrounding her role as Grizabella in Cats, tracing it from a painful original audition period to the 2019 film.
- Who wrote it?
- Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? is credited to Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea. Dench is one of Britain's most celebrated performers — an Academy Award winner, ten-time BAFTA winner, and holder of a record eight Laurence Olivier Awards, with a career spanning Shakespeare, musicals, blockbusters, and tragedies. O'Hea is her friend and collaborator; rather than serving as a ghostwriter smoothing Dench into a conventional narrative, he functions as a conversation partner, coaxing candour from a famously private person through the question-and-answer structure. The two previously collaborated on Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent.
- What are the main themes?
- Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? weaves together several recurring threads: the demands and rewards of a life in performance across stage and screen; the emotional labour behind specific roles, most notably the painful story of Grizabella in Cats; the private life behind the public career, including Dench's marriage to actor Michael Williams and her love of nature and animals; and the value of long friendships, embodied by the conversational dynamic between Dench and O'Hea itself. Critics noted the book moves freely between the "hilarious" and the "fortifying," suggesting candour and humour as twin registers throughout.
- What format or source is it?
- Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? is a print memoir published by St. Martin's Press in November 2026. It is written in an extended conversation format — a question-and-answer dialogue between Dench and O'Hea — rather than a traditional first-person narrative. LuvemBooks' assessment is based on the book's contents and its published critical reception, including starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist.
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What the Book Actually Is
The Life It Chronicles
Critical Reception
What the Format Does Well
Who It Is For and Where It Has Limits
Sources & Further Reading
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
who it suits
Skip if you want a rigorously structured, chronological account of Dench's career rather than a digressive, conversational portrait.
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