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Val Zavala>> Time has been a friend to Dame Judi Dench. The Oscar-winning actress came into the world's spotlight in her mid-sixties and has stayed there ever since.

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Val Zavala>> Since her first stage role in 1958, Dench has starred in scores of film, two hit television series, and countless theatrical productions. Her latest film is about a bored London widow who decides to buy a theater and, when ticket sales slump, she suggests something bold.

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Val Zavala>> The movie is based on the real life of Mrs. Laura Henderson who owned the Windmill Theatre in Soho in the late 1930's. It's called "Mrs. Henderson Presents". Your most recent role perhaps in many ways -- I don't know you that well -- but it seems to match your true character. She's feisty, she's a little salty. Do you feel that as well?

Judi Dench>> Yes, but I would prefer it the other way. I would prefer that I'd found something that was of hers. Tell her story, really. And she was bossy and independent and rude and feisty and, yes, all those things. It was a gift to play.

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Judi Dench>> This is the story of a woman who lost her son in the first World War and spent most of her life in India with her husband and then decided not to settle for widowhood and living a privileged life in London, but decided to spend her rather considerable amount of money she had on opening a theater, something she knew absolutely nothing about.

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Val Zavala>> Now was it true that, when you were a little girl in school, one of your teachers said, "Judi needs to learn to be quiet"?

Judi Dench>> I bet they did, I bet they did (laughter).

Val Zavala>> And apparently you had a temper as well?

Judi Dench>> Oh, yes. I've got a temper.

Val Zavala>> Still?

Judi Dench>> Yeah. Don't lose it often, but when I do, things go flying. I'm not proud of that at all. But I did once throw a whole cup and saucer and a cup full of tea at my mother-in-law (laughter) and Michael.

Val Zavala>> Your husband of many years?

Judi Dench>> And I missed, I'm happy to say.

Val Zavala>> Does it bother you a little bit, after having invested so much time becoming this incredible Shakespearian actor, that what you get known for worldwide is being James Bonds' boss? How do you feel about that, having gotten known worldwide?

Judi Dench>> I was a lot of fans to young men between the ages of eleven and fourteen (laughter). You know, you're very cool to be a grandmother and to be M. It goes down frightfully well.

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Val Zavala>> Is there anything on your list that you really wish you hadn't done that's so bad you could just cross it off your list?

Judi Dench>> No, none at all. You know, it's all to do with the experience I had really. Never really to do with the finished results. Films that I remember, the actors and the director and the time we had doing it. I've never really had one that really wasn't fun to make in some way.

Val Zavala>> Was there one where you learned a particularly important lesson about acting? Was there kind of a turning point?

Judi Dench>> Every one I've done, I've learned something.

Val Zavala>> Still to this day?

Judi Dench>> Very much so, because the filming is not the thing that comes easily to me or naturally to me, but I know that less is more. I just kind of thought Cate Blanchett and I -- you know, just watching her and observing her. That's a blessing in itself.

Val Zavala>> What did you learn from her?

Judi Dench>> Well, I realized this extraordinary thing of economy, a real economy. You know, I've admired her for years and she has a wonderful economy of style that, you know, I just want to do too much really on things. I copied her (laughter).

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Val Zavala>> Is it true that you don't read script? That you have someone describe it to you? Why is that?

Judi Dench>> I like the fear. I like somebody to tell the story, tell me the story that I've got to tell, you know. And I like the fear of then coming to the first reading and not knowing too much about it and then the process starts.

Val Zavala>> So the first time you actually read the script is when you go to the first rehearsal even?

Judi Dench>> Usually.

Val Zavala>> Really?

Judi Dench>> Yeah.

Val Zavala>> So you don't even know necessarily if your character has great lines or --

Judi Dench>> -- no. I get the gist. That's what I act on instinctively like an animal, you know, picking about on little bits of things (laughter).

Val Zavala>> Now how would you compare celebrity and stardom in America versus Britain?

Judi Dench>> You mean how one is lauded?

Val Zavala>> Yeah.

Judi Dench>> It's a question, if it happens to you, of just keeping a proportion on things. It's fatal to really read things about yourself. You have to have your feet well -- you have to be more grounded in a way than anybody else, you know, than any other job because you mustn't start believing things that people write. You must kind of have your own sensibilities and know your weaknesses and your strengths, but try in a way not to get carried away because it's easy to do that.

Val Zavala>> It really is, especially when the world around you is constantly following you.

Judi Dench>> Yes. But you know, you get one good notice and that's wonderful and, the next thing, you get a very bad notice. So you know, you have to keep a kind of level, so I don't read any notices anymore.

Val Zavala>> Is that right? There was one very bad review that had to hurt a little bit. It was when you were very young and played Ophelia in "Hamlet".

Judi Dench>> Equivalent of the national theater. Employer chose a young schoolgirl, as it were, to play Ophelia. Very good for me. I hated it at the time. Cried a lot. That's when I used to read notices. Then I learned not to (laughter).

Val Zavala>> Still, a survey recently showed that you were the most beloved person in Britain second only to the Queen. That has to feel good.

Judi Dench>> Yes, but they also say "national treasure", which I loath. Adam Bennett is also a national treasure (laughter). Why on earth was this ever invented? Makes you feel like the British Museum, seeming as something rather dusty, sitting in a corner. Don't want to be that.

Val Zavala>> Dame Judi, thank you so much for spending some time with us.

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