Dame Judi Dench has “worse nerves” now than when she started acting 54 years ago. The 76-year-old actress, who has starred in Shakespeare in Love and a number of James Bond films, admits she “never” has confidence in her ability and always has to rely on a director.
She said, “I have worse nerves now, 54 years after entering this business, than when I started. I’m never confident about the work I do and I’m very, very reliant on a director. Everything I do, there’s always something that jumps up and hits me in the eye.”
Despite her nerves, the actress doesn’t ever want to quit acting because she thinks the learning process is far too important to leave behind. She added to the Observer magazine, “If I retire I think I should fall over. You’ve got to keep learning. I think everybody should take the time to recite two lines of something every day.”