Judi Dench, 91, shares very specific way she wants to die as she reveals benefit of aging
Dame Judy Dench has revealed her 'dream place to die', and it's every bit as dramatic as her storied career.
The actress, 91, has no plans to wind down her career and has a very clear idea of how her life should end - in a theater dressing room, after a knockout performance.
Speaking to The Times, she named Newton Blick as her inspiration for death.
She said: "I want to be like Newton Blick, who died in his dressing room after a performance; I want to be one of those women who throw themselves out of planes when they're 100."
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She also spoke about one of the huge benefits of being an older actress, saying: 'They give you a dressing room nearer the stage.'
Despite the upside, she said there were numerous downsides.
"You have to contend with people asking, 'When are you going to retire?' or, 'Isn't it about time you put your feet up?' No, it bloody well isn't," she added.
Dench would like to ‘banish’ words like ‘retire,’ ‘vintage’ and ‘old'.
Asked whether she likes being called a ‘national treasure,’ the actress did not hold back. 'Loathe it,' she said. "Makes me sound like a dusty old relic that's been stuffed away in the back of the cupboard, along with some dinosaur fossils and a broken Roman shield."
What eye condition does Judi Dench have?
Her determination to keep working comes despite a health challenge shared with her mother.
Dench has macular degeneration, the same eye condition as her mother, which causes vision loss.
The Belfast star said she copes by ‘relying on other people’ and often pretending she can see properly.
"I'm quite good at acting as if I can see," she explained. "But then people think I'm cutting them dead when I don't smile or recognize them."
How many James Bond films did Judi Dench star in?
Dench, who much prefers stage acting to appearing on film, still enjoyed her time as M.
She played the character across eight James Bond films over a span of 20 years.
"I loved playing M because it was great to be able to tell all those men where to get off; put them in their place," she revealed.
She recalled the line "You're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur," which she says to Pierce Brosnan at their first meeting.
"I was drunk with power. I also got to wear some very nice suits and pretend I knew what I was talking about and to muck about with gadgets when, in real life, I can't even work the ironing board."
Dench also shut down reports that she wept on hearing she would be replaced in the franchise.
"Of course I didn't cry," she said. "Why on earth would I cry after 20 glorious years and eight Bond films? Which, by the way, is one more than Roger Moore, the longest-running 007 to date."
Her only quibble was that her character had to ‘suffer the indignity of being sacked by Ralph Fiennes’ before being shot.
Dench's memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, is due out in November.
Topics: Entertainment, James Bond
Thomas Bamford