New Delhi: Dame Judi Dench has said she can no longer act in films or on stage because of her deteriorating eyesight. The 91-year-old actor also struggles to read and recognise people’s faces.
Dench was speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday about her new memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?
She was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2012 and has spoken about her deteriorating eyesight several times over the years.
“I can’t be on stage. I can’t do a play anymore. I can’t do a film anymore. I can’t read anymore,” she told host Emma Barnett.
Dench said she could not see Barnett’s face during the interview. She also spoke about the difficulty she has recognising people.
“I go up to lots of the wrong people and give them an almost hug and say, ‘Oh sorry, didn’t realise’.”
She also spoke about how little she can see of her garden now.
“They said this summer was absolutely sensational with bluebells; I couldn’t see one. But I know what my trees look like, and part of it is in my memory and part of it is about hopefully what I can make out.”
Dench has struggled to learn lines
Age-related macular degeneration affects the central part of a person’s vision. It can make it difficult to read, recognise faces or see small details.
In 2023, Dench spoke to the Sunday Mirror about how difficult it had become to learn her lines.
She added that she had always relied on her photographic memory and could remember exactly where a line appeared on a page. Friends had started helping her learn scripts by repeating the lines aloud.
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A memoir spanning her life and career
Dench’s memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, is written in collaboration with her friend and theatre director Brendan O’Hea, who joined her for the BBC interview.
The book covers her childhood in York, her marriage to actor Michael Williams and her years in theatre and films.
It also includes stories about pranks she played on fellow actors and her experiences making some of her best-known films.
Dench has been acting for more than 70 years. She won an Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998) and is also known for playing M in the James Bond films, beginning with GoldenEye in 1995.
She has also spent much of her career in theatre, appearing in Shakespeare plays including Macbeth, Hamlet and Antony and Cleopatra.
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)