Judi Dench has no plans to quietly step away from acting. She also knows where she would ideally spend her final moments.
The 91-year-old actress said she would like to follow the example of actor Newton Blick. He died in his dressing room after a performance. Her comment came as she pushed back against repeated questions about retirement and aging.
Judi Dench says she would like to die in a theater dressing room after a performance
Dench made it clear that she had little interest in slowing down.
“I want to be like Newton Blick, who died in his dressing room after a performance,” she told The Times.
She also joked that she wanted to remain adventurous well into old age.
“I want to be one of those women who throw themselves out of planes when they’re 100.”
Questions about Judi Dench’s retirement clearly frustrated the actress. She said people frequently asked when she planned to stop working or whether she should “put her feet up.”
“No, it bloody well isn’t,” Dench responded.
She added that she would happily ban words such as “retire,” “vintage” and “old.”
Dench also rejected the national treasure label often attached to her career.
“Loathe it,” she said.
The actress joked that the phrase made her sound like “a dusty old relic” stored away with fossils and historical objects.
Despite her age, Dench continued working while dealing with macular degeneration. Her mother had the same eye condition. She said the condition affected her vision and forced her to depend more heavily on other people.
“I’m quite good at acting as if I can see,” Dench said.
Her eyesight could also create awkward social moments. People sometimes assumed she deliberately ignored them when she failed to recognize them.
Dench said she continued to prefer theater over film, though she also looked back fondly on playing M in eight James Bond movies.
“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 also dismissed reports that she cried after learning the franchise would replace her character.
Dench planned to release her memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, in November.
