Judi Dench says she was told she didn’t ‘have the face for film’ at start of career

Dame Judi Dench has revealed she almost gave up on her film career after a director said she wasn’t attractive enough to be on screen.

The British actor, who is one of the nation’s best-loved stars, has starred in films including Shakespeare in Love and Iris, and played the role of M in eight James Bond films.

However, the award-winning actor, 89, said she never expected to make it in the movie business after an early audition where she was told she didn’t have the looks for cinema.

Speaking to CBS Mornings on Wednesday (1 May), Dench recalled how she was dissuaded from pursuing a film career by a director who didn’t like her appearance.

“I was told I would never do it,” the Philomena actor said. “The director, he said, ‘I’m sorry,’ but he said. ‘No you haven’t got the face for film.’

“I didn’t expect anything more,” she added.

Dench has appeared in almost 100 films and has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. In 1998, she won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.

Despite her success, Dench admitted she was “frightened” to take over the role of M in the James Bond franchise from Bernard Lee in 1995. “I felt great responsibility,” she said.

Dench’s seventh Bond film, Skyfall, is the second highest grossing film in British box office history.

Speaking of her time playing M in a recent Good Housekeeping interview, Judi Dench said there was “no mucking about” with her old friend Brendan O’Hea on the Quantum of Solace set.

“I took that role very seriously indeed,” she said, with O’Hea adding that Dench “didn’t even crack a smile”.

Last year, Dench opened up about having age-related macular degeneration (AMD), revealing that she can no longer “see on a film set anymore”.

AMD is an eye disease that can blur an individual’s central vision. According to the National Eye Institute, age-related macular degeneration “happens when aging causes damage to the macula – the part of the eye that controls sharp, straight-ahead vision.”

The disease does not cause total blindness, but it can make everyday activities difficult.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror magazine Notebook, the Belfast star said, “I can’t see on a film set anymore. And I can’t see to read. But you just deal with it.

“It’s difficult if I have any length of a part. I haven’t yet found a way. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.”