Judi Dench says a director told her she didn’t have ‘the face for film’ early in her career

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

Dame Judi Dench has had one of the most illustrious film careers in British history — but she didn’t expect cinematic success.

In an interview with CBS Mornings that aired Wednesday, the Notes on a Scandal actress, 89, said that she was dissuaded from pursuing a movie career in an early audition. “I was told that I would never do it,” she recalled. “I went for an audition once for a film, and the director, he said, ‘I’m sorry,’ but he said, ‘No, you haven’t got the face for film.’”

After that encounter, Dench said, “I didn’t expect anything more.”

Dench began acting on stage in when she was six years old. “I was a snail at my kindergarten school,” she remembered. “I had to creep on with this enormous shell, and all I had to do was put my horns out. And then quite suddenly, I got a bit excited, so I stood up, and I can remember… the headmistress, who was standing at the side, said, ‘Get down, Judith!’”

The actress made waves on stage in 1960s and ‘70s, but she only appeared in a handful of films during her early career. After over a decade off screen, she received back-to-back BAFTA nominations for Wetherby and A Room with a View in 1985 and 1986, winning for the latter project. She went on to become the most-decorated actor in BAFTA history with six career wins (she’s also the most-nominated performer in the awards’ history with 15 noms).

Dench has appeared in almost 100 movies, and has also received eight Academy Award nominations, ultimately winning the Best Supporting Actress prize for 1998’s Shakespeare in Love.

Dench also played M in eight James Bond movies, several of which rank in the highest-grossing films in British box office history. Dench said on CBS Mornings that taking on the role of Bond’s superior made her “Too frightened. I knew Bernard Lee very well indeed, and he played M before I took over from him. I felt great responsibility.”

Watch the full CBS Mornings interview above.

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