Rapper gives Dame Judi fresh 'cool' DAVID MICHAEL (STUFF.CO.NZ)

Judi Dench's 15-year-old grandson recently told her that ''Dench'' has been popularised as an expression by London rapper Lethal Bizzle. It means ''cool'', as in ''stay Dench''.

Delighted by the news, she asked her family to give her items of Dench-emblazoned merchandise for Christmas.

At 77 and today nursing a cough that adds a raspy edge to her clipped voice, Dench seems an unlikely hip-hop icon. But there was a time when a film career seemed just as far-fetched.

Sitting in a London hotel room, wearing a sparkly top and jewelled necklace, she is every inch the movie star. But success in Hollywood came late, kicking off after she appeared in her first James Bond film, GoldenEye (1995). Seventeen years on, she is an indispensable part of the Bond franchise.

As M, the head of MI6 and James Bond's boss, she is the longest-serving current cast member. Skyfall, which opens in Australia on Thursday, is her seventh film in the role.

Her character - Dench describes her as ''a woman holding a power job in a man's world'' - has long been an underplayed aspect of the films.

The part was crying to be fleshed out, especially given the actor playing her managed to win an Oscar with just eight minutes' screen time in Shakespeare in Love.

In Skyfall, M finally takes a more central position in the story.

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