Stella Rimington, the first female head of Britain’s domestic security agency, MI5, and the widely credited inspiration for Judi Dench’s M in several James Bond films, died Aug. 3. She was 90. Her family announced the death in a statement shared by her literary agency.

LONDON -- Stella Rimington, the first female chief of Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency and later a successful thriller writer, has died, her family said Monday. She was 90. The first woman to head a U.K. intelligence agency, Rimington was the inspiration for Judi Dench’s portrayal of MI6 chief M in seven James Bond films.

Widely regarded as the inspiration for the recast of the James Bond character “M,” she was the first British spy chief to be publicly named and photographed.