Actor Judi Dench says sight loss prevents stage and film work
After years of learning scripts with help from friends, the Oscar-winning actor says her worsening eyesight now prevents stage and film performances.
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After years of learning scripts with help from friends, the Oscar-winning actor says her worsening eyesight now prevents stage and film performances.
Actor Judi Dench says deteriorating eyesight means she can no longer perform on stage or in films. The 91-year-old made the disclosure in a BBC radio interview on Thursday, the Guardian reported. Her statement concerns her ability to perform, rather than a formal announcement of retirement.
Dench was diagnosed in 2012 with age-related macular degeneration, a condition that causes progressive sight loss. It has increasingly affected her work, following years in which she adapted how she learned scripts so she could keep performing.
In 2014, Dench said her failing eyesight made reading difficult, but she intended to work for as long as she could. By 2023, she said she could no longer see on film sets and relied on friends to teach her scripts, learning her lines through repetition.
I can’t do a film any more.
Dench’s career spans more than seven decades. She won an Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love and appeared in eight James Bond films as M, Bond’s boss. Her stage roles included Juliet, Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra.
The interview came ahead of the publication of her memoir, Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It?, written with theatre director Brendan O’Hea.
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