Dame Judi Dench has told how she cried when Bond producers told her that M was being killed off.
The veteran actress played the MI6 chief in seven Bond films but her character met her demise in Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig, in 2012.
She has told Radio Times magazine that Bond bosses broke the news over a meal in London's West End.
"They told me gently and I laughed through my tears. Seven (Bond) films is a long time. But MI6 would have given her the push by now, don't you think?", she said.
The actress, who turns 80 this week, said that her late husband, actor Michael Williams, encouraged her to sign up for the Bond films.