'Dusty old relic': Dame Judi Dench, 91, loathes being called a 'national treasure' and wants to die on stage

From the Newshound archive · first published 10 October 2026 · last updated 11 October 2026.

Dame Judi Dench has savaged the "national treasure" label in extracts from her upcoming memoir, saying it makes her sound like a relic "stuffed away in the back of the cupboard, along with some dinosaur fossils and a broken Roman shield." The Academy Award winner, who has performed for seven decades, says she wants to banish the word "retire" entirely and hopes to die in her dressing room after a performance, aged 100 or beyond.

Dench, who has battled age-related macular degeneration since 2012, says she copes by "acting as if I can see" and relies on friends to help her learn lines she can no longer read.

Her memoir also reveals that 'Tomorrow Never Dies' was her most gruelling Bond film, with constant last-minute rewrites leaving her feeling "destabilised" on set.

A Hollywood producer once told her she would "never make a movie" because she had "every single thing wrong" with her face — she says she left the room thinking it was "a relief".