Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Stella Rimington, the first female chief of the British Security Service MI5 and the first woman to "head any intelligence agency in the world," has died at the age of 90.
Rimington, who joined MI5 as a typist in the mid-1960s in India and was the inspiration behind Judi Dench's M in the James Bond series, died Sunday night.
She was "surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath," her family said in a statement.
Rimington joined MI5 full-time in 1969 and was promoted to director general in 1992.
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