By Danny Gutmann

Copyright manchestereveningnews

Actress Miriam Margolyes has confessed she “longs for an easy death” as she approaches the twilight of her life following health struggles in recent years. Throughout her career she has featured in some of Britain’s most beloved films, including her role as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and earning a BAFTA for best supporting actress in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence. Yet, her acting roles have decreased in recent times as she enters the final chapter of her career. The 84-year-old has opened up about how she has accepted that her life is drawing nearer to an end. In her latest memoir, The Little Book of Miriam, she offered a candid examination of her mortality, explaining: “When you’re young, you never think about death. Now I think about death a lot. Every morning when I get up, I think, ‘Hmmm, another day’.” Miriam disclosed how she hopes for her last days to be “easy” as she wonders how her final weeks and months might unfold. She explained: “I long for an easy death, without pain and incontinence. I’d prefer to be at home, rather than be felled in the street and helped into an ambulance by well-meaning strangers. I wonder how I’ll be remembered, talked about, possibly reviled.” The actress continued: “I can’t help but be aware that the amount of time ahead of me is less than the time behind. But I’m still ducking and diving. I’m still open to new experiences. However, I’m conscious that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Now is the moment that counts.” Her frank revelations in her memoir follow her undergoing open heart surgery in 2023 to replace her aortic valve with one from a cow’s heart. In a chat with the Daily Mail, Miriam confessed her regrets about not taking better care of her health when she was younger: “I’ve let my body down. I haven’t taken care of it. I have to walk with a walker now. I wish I’d done exercise. She continued: “It’s the most ghastly waste of time, except that it keeps you going. So, I’m foolish.” During an appearance on the Adam Buxton podcast last year, she disclosed her initial plans to spend her final days in Italy with her partner, Heather Sutherland. However, she expressed frustration that “Brexit and all that nonsense” had disrupted these plans: “So, our plans for our ending together, to be together until we both stop, then we can’t do that and that is really irritating. ” She concluded: “So, we’re working out now, or trying to work out what we do with our last days, because death is the last big thing as I say, and I think we need to prepare for it.”