Judi Dench says she is tired of people referring to her age and asking when she is going to walk away from the acting profession and retire.
Judi Dench
Dench has enjoyed an acting career that has spanned over fifty years, in that time enjoying both critical and commercial success.
The Oscar winning actress is in as great a demand now as ever and Dench hates being told that she is too old to do something. It would seem that retirement couldn't be further from her mind.
Speaking to Sky News, the actress said: "It drives me absolutely spare when people say 'Are you going to retire?' or 'Don't you think it's time you put your feet up?' or tell me my age.
"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.
"Otherwise, because you get to a certain age, it's 'Oh well, you mustn't do that because you might have a fall or you can't learn the lines or you can't see'. Let me have a go. Let us all have a go."
Philomena was the last time that we saw Dench on the big screen - a performance for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination earlier this year - and she will be beck next year with The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is the sequel to The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was released back in 2011. Dench is set to reprise the role of Evelyn Greenslade in the film, alongside Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Penelope Wilton, and new faces Richard Gere and David Strathairn.
Dench has also completed work on TV movie Roald Dahl's Esio Trot and feature film Tulip Fever. Tulip Fever is an adaptation of the novel by Deborah Moggach, and sees Justin Chadwick back in the director's chair.
The movie is a 17th century romance and sees Dench star alongside Christoph Waltz, Alicia Vikander, Jack O'Connell, Cara Delevingne, Dane DeHaan, and Zach Galifianakis.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is released 27th February 2015.
Tagged in Dame Judi Dench