Dame Judi Dench has revealed her tradition when it comes to being prepared to be sacked (Picture: Getty)
National treasure and Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench still fears getting sacked.
The 88-year-old Shakespeare in Love star has had a successful career that stretches decades and includes films such as Iris, Mrs Brown, Notes on a Scandal, Philomena and Belfast, as well as her seven-film arc as James Bond’s boss M.
Dame Judi was also a breakout theatre star following her professional debut with the Old Vic Company in 1957 and the subsequent 20 years she spent working for the likes of the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company.
However, the acting titan – who recently shared that she likes to pretend she’s 56 – still has moments of self-doubt and insisted she never takes any of her jobs for granted.
Asked if she has ever suffered from self-doubt, she revealed: ‘Yes of course there have been moments.
‘Whenever I arrive for rehearsals, I have to leave my bag nearest to the door so I can make a quick getaway in case they sack me.’
The celebrated actress, who made her debut as Ophelia in Hamlet in 1957 (pictured), reckons the fear of losing a job ‘should never leave us’ (Picture: Bob Haswell/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
During her storied career, Dame Judi famously won an Oscar with under 6 minutes of screen time (Picture: Miramax/Universal/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
‘I don’t think that fear of losing a job should ever leave any of us. Not when there are so many hundreds of people just behind you,’ she added to Good Housekeeping magazine.
‘I never take a part for granted – and I never will.’
The Quantum of Solace star believes it is important to always look for the pluses in life, which has become her ‘kind of mantra’, and can find small pleasures in everyday things.
Dame Judi, who suffers from increasing sight loss due to advanced macular degeneration, explained that ‘sometimes in life, you think all the minuses are stored up against you, but there are always pluses to be found if you look hard enough for them’.
Dame Judi also keeps a positive outlook on life (Picture: Getty)
For her, it’s that her daughter Finty Williams is happy and enjoying her work, as well as her TikTok star grandson Sam Williams, and that she still has ‘great friends who I can laugh with and talk to about absolutely anything’.
Sam, 26, also calls her every day to make her laugh.
Asked if it’s true he describes her as the most childish person he knows, she said: ‘Yes – I’m quite shocked that he said it but it’s probably quite true.
With her grandson Sam, who calls her the most childish person he knows (Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
‘He rings me up and tells me a joke each day, which is extremely nice.’
The actress also admitted that her phone is ‘an anathema’ to her because she can’t see and doesn’t know what all the buttons are for, leading to her accidentally FaceTiming a friend and Bond co-star Ben Whishaw to send birthday wishes… from the bath!
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The Oscar-winning actress doesn’t think that the ‘fear of losing a job should ever leave any of us’.