Dame Judi Dench
With yet another film about to be released, Dame Judi Dench, who’s 82, shows no sign of slowing down. She talks about playing M, tattoos and battling failing eyesight
After 60 years as a star, fans would forgive Dame Judi Dench for finally wanting to put her feet up to enjoy the fruits of her long labours.
But ask the actress – who began her career in London’s Old Vic theatre in 1957 – if she’s planning on quitting anytime soon, and the answer is a definite no. In fact, with a new biopic on Queen Victoria to be released this autumn, coupled with a remake of Agatha Christie’s classic thriller Murder On The Orient Express with Johnny Depp due for release in November – it seems Dame Judi is as busy as ever.
‘I don’t want to slow down,’ says Judi, who turned 82 last December. ‘I’m lucky to be employed still. I’m in the 2% of actors who are fortunate enough to be in work.’
And despite battling failing eyesight, she’s not letting it stand in her way. ‘I can’t read at all now,’ she sighs. ‘Not at all. Someone has to teach me the script. If actors were going to come into a room now to read, they would have eight pieces of paper and I would have 14. It is very difficult.
One eye used to be dry but now both are dry, and they can’t do anything about it.’
Dame Judi’s feisty character won her an army of fans as James Bond’s no-nonsense
MI5 boss, M, before her character was killed off in the 2012 film Skyfall. ‘I did Bond for 17 years and made eight films. Did they pay me well? Certainly. Those films are the ones that made me the most money.’ But although she’s no longer a part of the
007 franchise, she believes Bond will continue to be as successful when Daniel Craig chooses not to reprise his role in future films. And although North Yorkshire-born Dame Judi has championed female roles over the years, she doubts Bond bosses will ever pick a woman for the lead role. ‘To take on that part is difficult. I don’t think we will see a female Bond.’
Why did you take the role of M?
‘My late husband [Michael Williams] said I had to do it. He told me, ‘I’ve always longed to live with a Bond girl!’ My grandson and his friends were quite impressed that his grandmother was M.’
Did you meet any real spies during your time in the Bond films?
‘Oh, yes. I went to lunch with people from MI6. I said I would bring my driver but they said, ‘No. You won’t know where it is.’ I said, ‘Of course I do, it’s that Lego-shaped building on the bank of the Thames.’ But they said, ‘No. You won’t find it.’ Anyway, they sent their driver to pick me up and he couldn’t find my house!’
You've had so much success in your career, but which parts did you turn down?
‘I turned down the film Shirley Valentine. But then I saw Pauline Collins in the role and I thought she was sensational. She played it beautifully.’
Have you ever done a sex scene?
‘I have done a few bed scenes on screen, but not many in the theatre. And I have gone nude in a film. I had to run across a meadow. The camera was in a tree. I was able to wear my wig and shoes and that was it. I was terribly nervous about it. I didn’t have a stitch on. Even after the shoot I was in a real state about it!’
Is it right you have a tattoo in honour of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein?
‘Only I and Harvey know this, so I’m not going to let him down. But I have got a tattoo, yes, and it’s on my wrist. I got it on my 81st birthday and it says, ‘Carpe diem’ which means ‘seize the day.’
In your new film you’re playing Queen Victoria again [Judi played the monarch in the film Mrs Brown in 1997].
‘Yes. My new film is called Victoria & Abdul and it’s about the true story of the friendship Victoria found with a young Indian clerk after the death of her husband Prince Albert. We shot it on the Isle of Wight, where she had a home. It felt like a theatre company making the film.’
Are you disappointed you’ve never won a Best Actress Oscar?
‘I won the Best Supporting Actress award for Shakespeare In Love in 1999. It doesn’t irritate me at all that I haven’t won Best Actress (though I don’t know why it has escaped me). My Oscar looks exactly the same.’
What do you think of comic Tracey Ullman making fun of you as a shoplifter in her BBC One show?
‘I have seen it and I think she’s brilliant. It does make it rather tricky for me when I go round my local farm shop with a bag on my shoulder, though!’
Victoria & Abdul is released in UK cinemas on 15 September