Judi Dench Hates It When People Ask Her, 'When I'll Retire'

Veteran actress Dame Judi Dench, who will turn 80 next month, says she is tired of people telling her that she is too old to act. "I don't want to be told I'm too old to try something. I want to see for myself if I can't do it rather than be told you might have a fall or you can't learn your lines. Let me have a go. Let us all have a go," Dench said during a screening of the BBC's 'Esio Trot'.

Dench said the only time her age bothered her was when she turned 40 but since then she has come to consider it just a number. Dench is appearing alongside Dustin Hoffman in a BBC adaptation of Roald Dahl's Esio Trot this Christmas.

"Age is a number, it's something imposed on you... It drives me absolutely spare when people say 'are you going to retire, isn't it time you put your feet up' or tell me (my) age," she said. "The only time I got really upset was when I was 40, for some reason. I got really upset when I was 40, and I was alright after that. It's that old thing: you are only as old as you feel. It's not to do with age; it's something to do with inside. It's the engine."

The 79-year-old was diagnosed with macular degeneration, which can lead to blindness, several years ago and can no longer read her own scripts. "I loathe it. I don't want to be told that I'm too old to do something; I want to try it first and then, if I don't succeed, then I can be told I can't do it," said Judi Dench.

Well, who can forget the strong and talented 'M' in last Bond release, Skyfall.