DAME JUDI DENCH
Retirement? That’s a dirty word says star, 85
SHE may be Vogue’s oldest cover girl for 104 years but don’t dare mention retirement to Dame Judi Dench. Dame Judi, 85, used the magazine’s history-making occasion to tell the world in no uncertain terms she has no plans for a curtain call any time soon. Asked if she would like to retire she snaps: “No, no, no, no. Don’t use that word. Not in this house. Not here. Wash your mouth out!” Dame Judi, who made her acting debut with the Old Vic Company in 1957, has played James Bond’s MI6 boss M in seven 007 films. They began with Golden Eye in 1995 all the way to Skyfall in 2012 and a cameo appearance three years later in Spectre.
Despite speculation about a future woman superspy Dame Judi says: “I don’t think [007 creator] Ian Fleming would want a female Bond.”
Fur also flies over her Old Deuteronomy character in the film adaptation of Cats.
She has never seen the film or read any reviews but after seeing some of the pictures Dame Judi was not pleased.
Joking that instead of looking elegant her character resembled a “battered, mangy old cat” she says: “The cloak I was made to wear! Like five foxes ******* on my back.”
Dame Judi has recently been featured in a campaign to raise money for frontline NHS staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She joined celebrities including TV host Dermot O’Leary, actor Rupert Grint and broadcaster Stacey Dooley to pose in a T-shirt with the slogan Choose Our Carers.
Clothing firm ASOS, which is behind the range, is donating all sales from the T-shirt to The CareWorkers Charity and NHS Charities Together.
Dame Judi also speaks about living in quarantine – and hopes some good may yet come out of the virus crisis.
She says: “I am sure I feel like everyone else, such unprecedented times are quite hard to comprehend.
“What is a good thing is that it has made people aware of the predicament of others who are completely alone.
“If a great deal of kindness comes out of this then that will be a plus.”
● Read the full interview with Dame Judi in the June issue of Vogue, available on Thursday.