Oscar-winning actor Dame Judi Dench reveals she was once told she too ugly to ever be in movies.

And dozens of films, and a swag of awards later, Dench admits one of her more apt compliments is also the one she “loathes”.

In an interview with The Times published on the weekend, Dench recalled how she was once told early in her career by a Hollywood film producer that she would “never make a movie because you have every single thing wrong with your face”.

“I suppose that was the era when you had to be quite a looker,” she said, adding the produced was “very polite about it”.

“Anyway, with amazing presence, I said ‘Thank you very much for your time’, stood up, put the chair back against the wall and, as I left, I thought, what a relief. I can throw all my energies into becoming a theatre actor,” the 91-year-old said.

After making her debut with the Old Vic Company in 1957, Dench went on to star in several Shakespeare productions, and later as Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

Throughout her career – which has spanned seven decades – she has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards and seven Olivier Awards.

Some of her best-known film and TV work came in the most recent James Bond films, Shakespeare In Love, Mrs Brown, Philomena, Belfast, and television classics A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By.

But despite her decades-long, acclaimed career, Dench says she cannot stand being labelled a “national treasure”.

“Loathe it. Makes me sound like a dusty old relic that’s been stuffed away in the back of the cupboard, along with some dinosaur fossils and a broken Roman shield,” she said.

Dench also confirmed her desire to continue to work after being diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012.

AMD is an eye disease that does not cause total blindness, but it can make things such as reading and recognising faces difficult, according to the NHS.

Dench said she was “quite good at acting as if I can see”, but that people thought she was “cutting them dead when I don’t smile or recognise them”.

“I’ve had to find a different method of learning lines because even with the script blown up, I struggle,” she said.

“It’s made me realise I have a photographic memory and so not being able to see the pattern of words on the page makes things really difficult. Friends now help and, provided I’m given enough time in advance to prepare, I can somehow muddle through.”

Although being regularly asked when she was going to retire, she wants to “banish” the word.

“I want to be like Newton Blick, who died in his dressing room after a performance. I want to be one of those women who throw themselves out of planes when they’re 100,” she said.

-with AAP