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Beloved British acting institution Judi Dench must hold the record for winning an Oscar with the least time spent on screen. Born in York, in 1934, she studied acting at London's Central School Of Speech And Drama, and spent most of her early career on the stage. Dench broke into film in 1964, in The Third Secret, and won a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer. She then divided her time between screen and stage, winning further awards for her performances in A Room With A View in 1986 and A Handful Of Dust two years later. Dench hit the big time in the 1990s, with an inspired take on M in Goldeneye (1995), and an Oscar nominated portrayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown in 1997. She didn't win that year, but the Academy loved her performance in Shakepeare In Love so much, they gave her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar the following year, despite the fact she spent less than eight minutes on screen.
