actress said she prefers stage to the screen. Corbis via Getty Images

 I'm quite good at acting as if I can see,  she explained.  But then people think I'm cutting them dead when I don't smile or recognize them. 

Dench, who much prefers stage acting to appearing on film, did enjoy playing M in eight James Bond movies over 20 years.

 I loved playing M because it was great to be able to tell all those men where to get off; put them in their place,  she revealed.  You're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur,  she says to Pierce Brosnan at their first meeting.

 I was drunk with power. I also got to wear some very nice suits and pretend I knew what I was talking about and to muck about with gadgets when, in real life, I can't even work the ironing board. 

8 One role she did enjoy playing was M in the Bond franchise.  MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

8  It was great to be able to tell all those men where to get off; put them in their place,  she said.  Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

Dench shut down reports that she wept upon hearing she would be replaced in the franchise.

 Of course I didn't cry,  she exclaimed.  Why on earth would I cry after 20 glorious years and eight Bond films? Which, by the way, is one more than Roger Moore, the longest-running 007 to date. 

Her only quibble was that her character had to  suffer the indignity of being sacked by Ralph Fiennes  before being shot.

Dench has a memoir,  Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?  coming out in November.