Judi Dench on an actor's life

Judi Dench has made a career out of delivering just the right words, such as ait ("It's an island in a river").During a game of Bananagrams with a friend, we saw the 91-year-old is still very much in command.

"Don't expect any vowels, because I've got them all," she laughed.Although she can barely see the letters."It's tricky if you're playing with an almost-blind person," she said.

Her eyesight is almost gone, robbed by macular degeneration, but there's no diminishing Dame Judi Dench.She got her start on stage in 1957 as Ophelia in "Hamlet" at London's Old Vic Theatre.

Her first starring role in film came 40 years later, in "Mrs.Brown." But her loyalties are clear.

"Oh, theater, theater, theater, theater," Dench said.Asked what she loves so much about the theater, she replied, "I love the fact of a group of people trying to get it better every night, whereas in film, they say 'Cut,' and you can't make it better."A meeting with a movie producer early on was not encouraging: "'I'm sorry,' he said, 'you have every single thing wrong with your face.' So I said, 'Fine,' and I walked out and back to the glorious Old Vic."She says that criticism didn't get to her: "No, because I didn't want to do films.

But it must have stayed with me, and, I mean, I suppose my insides have dealt with it." Her face would become one of the best-known in cinema.She has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love"; and she's appeared in eight James Bond films as M, the steely MI6 boss, originally opposite Pierce Brosnan.

"Pierce came to lunch not long ago," Dench said."When he got to the front door, what I'd forgotten was that I have a doormat which says, 'I've been expecting you, Mr.

Bond…' He liked that.I think he thought I'd put it there for the occasion!"What did they talk about? "Oh, everything, everything, of how frightened we were doing the first ...