THE UNTAMED DAME!
Judi’s adventure of a lifetime!
SHE’S NEARLY BLIND, BUT SHE REFUSES TO LET THAT STOP HER
Dame Judi Dench has opened up about the challenges of getting older and her battle to stay on top in her 60th year as one of the world’s biggest acting stars.
In a wide-ranging interview, the British stage and screen star, who turns 85 on December 9, admits she is fearful for the future, revealing, “People say, ‘Why don’t you retire?’ all the time. But we don’t even allow that word to be said in our family.
“People retire to paint or walk, to do the things they’ve wanted to do all their lives. I’m doing what I’ve really wanted to do all my life, and I don’t want to stop, thank you very much.”
Judi, who shares her life with conservationist David Mills (76), says losing her eyesight is the biggest challenge she’s facing, but she won’t allow it to get her down. The actress, who is set to star in a new film based on the West End musical Cats, suffers from macular degeneration, which can eventually lead to irreversible vision loss.
“A couple of years ago, I stopped driving,” she says, “which was one of the most traumatic moments of my life. It was absolutely appalling.
“But I just know I’ll kill somebody if I get behind the wheel of a car now. I can’t read the paper now, I can’t do the crossword, I can’t read a book. But, you know, you cope.
“On a film set you learn where everything is. It’s okay if you can get away with it. It’s all acting, after all. Fooling people. It’s what I do. What worries me is that some people don’t know, and they think, ‘Ooh, get her – she cut me dead!’ when I didn’t see them at all. I can see enough… You adapt to it. So I ignore it altogether.”
Judi’s sight was put to the test earlier this year when she filmed a TV documentary series about wildlife in the jungles of Borneo, Southeast Asia.
She travelled to the country with her animal-loving partner, who she’s been with since 2010, after deciding to adopt three orangutans in the wild.
But on a late-night river trip hunting for crocodiles, Judi admits she couldn’t see them when they came up close to her.
“I was a bit nervous,” she tells. “We were on this narrow boat. There were quite a few of us in it. We were all in the boat together and everyone was saying, ‘Oh look – eyes!’ Thank God I am short-sighted.”
Judi, who had successful knee surgery in 2013, even climbed 80m into the treetops.
“I was not nervous at all. We had a lot of help getting up there with the people and the ropes. There was nothing to be frightened of. It was a bit like being at the top of the Eiffel Tower, really. You did not look down much, I will tell you.
But it was okay.”
The actress will next appear on cinema screens when she reprises her role as British secret service boss M in the eagerly awaited new James Bond film, alongside Daniel Craig.
Although her character was killed off in 2012’s Skyfall, film bosses have given her the green light to return for a ghostly appearance in No Time to Die, set for release in 2020. It’s a role she cherished.
“I did Bond for 17 years and did eight films. Those films are the ones that made me the most money. I enjoyed playing M. My grandson and his friends were quite impressed that his grandmother was M.
“I did not know how the films would end for me. I just thought, ‘Well, I have done this for 17 years.’ By this time MI6 would have given her the push. It’s bound to come.
“I was very overawed when I was first asked to play M. My [then] husband said, ‘ You will have to do it, as I have longed to live with a Bond girl.’
I am very pleased I did it. I don’t know who was the most afraid on the first day of Goldeneye, Pierce Brosnan or me.”
And despite being part of 007 history, Judi is happy she never had to take her clothes off, as some Bond girls have done over the years.
She jokes: “I have done a few bed scenes. Not many in the theatre. What a disappointment!”