Dame Judi Dench has revealed she wants to die in a theater dressing room after a performance.
The 91-year-old Oscar winner, speaking to The Times, named Newton Blick as her model for an ideal exit. “I want to be like Newton Blick, who died in his dressing room after a performance,” she shared. “I want to be one of those women who throw themselves out of planes when they’re 100.”
Dench, who has played M in eight James Bond films across two decades, dismissed any notion of stepping back from acting. She fired back at the very idea of retirement with characteristic bluntness. “No, it bloody well isn’t,” she said of suggestions it was time to put her feet up. She added she’d like to “banish” words including “retire,” “vintage” and “old.”
The “Shakespeare in Love” star saved special venom for another label frequently applied to her. “Loathe it,” she exclaimed when asked about being called a “national treasure.” “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.”
She could identify only one genuine perk of aging in her profession. “They give you a dressing room nearer the stage,” she noted. “Otherwise, forget it.”
Dench has continued performing despite macular degeneration, the same eye condition her mother had, which causes progressive vision loss. She copes by depending on others and maintaining a convincing pretense. “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.”
Her tenure as M gave her particular satisfaction, she revealed. “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 said. She recalled her character’s iconic first meeting with Pierce Brosnan’s Bond: “You’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur.” Dench described herself as “drunk with power” in the role, enjoying the sharp suits and gadget scenes despite her own technological limitations. “In real life, I can’t even work the ironing board,” she admitted.
Reports that she wept upon learning M would be killed off and replaced drew an equally fierce denial. “Of course I didn’t cry,” she exclaimed. “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 sole complaint was narrative: her character had to “suffer the indignity of being sacked by Ralph Fiennes” before being shot.
Dench has long preferred stage acting to screen work, building her reputation in Shakespearean roles before crossing over to mainstream film success.
She has a memoir titled “Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?” scheduled for release in November.