Judi Dench her role in "The Winter's Tale", breaking her own record with her eighth win as a performer. Next, she co-starred as Cecily Neville, Duchess of York to Benedict Cumberbatch's Richard III in the second series of the BBC Two historical series "The Hollow Crown". The same year, she was cast alongside Eva Green and Asa Butterfield in Tim Burton's dark fantasy film "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children". Dench played Miss Esmeralda Avocet, a headmistress who can manipulate time and can transform into a bird. The film garnered mixed reviews from critics, who felt it was "on stronger footing as
Judi Dench Tomlin in Franco Zeffirelli's semi-autobiographical period drama "Tea with Mussolini" which tells the story of young Italian boy Luca's upbringing by a circle of British and American women, before and during World War II. 1999 also saw the release of Pierce Brosnan's third Bond film, "The World Is Not Enough". This film portrayed M in a larger role with the main villain, Renard, coming back to haunt her when he engineers the murder of her old friend Sir Robert King and seemingly attempts to kill his daughter Electra. In January 2001, Dench's husband Michael Williams died from lung cancer. Dench