Dame Judi Dench, 88, says she refuses to retire from acting despite not being able to read scripts
Dame Judi Dench has revealed that she can’t see on film sets anymore and isn’t able to read scripts.
The actress, 88, who is known for her role in many major films, including the Bond franchise, suffers from advanced macular degeneration.
She revealed that her friends help her learn lines instead and she has a photographic memory.
Despite her deteriorating eyesight, the Academy Award winner says she refuses to give up and wants to work ‘as much as I can’.
The actress told The Mirror’s Notebook magazine: ‘I mean, I can’t see on a film set anymore. And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much.
‘I can’t see on a film set anymore’: Dame Judi Dench revealed this week that she refuses to retire from her acting career despite not being able to read or write due to advanced macular degeneration
‘But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on.’
She added: ‘It’s difficult for me if I have any length of a part. I haven’t yet found a way. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.’
Judi was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012 and was forced to give up driving a few years ago when her eyesight began to worsen.Â
This isn’t the first time the actress has opened up about her health condition. Last year she appeared on BBC’s Louis Theroux and admitted that ‘it’s bad’.
She told the broadcaster: ‘I don’t want to retire. I’m not doing much at the moment because I can’t see. It’s bad’.
Judi also revealed that while out for dinner with her partner David Mills, he had to cut up her food for her as she couldn’t see it on her plate.
‘He cut it up and handed something to me on a fork and that’s the way I ate it,’ she explained.
With over 60 years in the business Dame Judi made her first professional stage performance in 1957 and her film debut was in 1964 for The Third Secret.
Legend: With over 60 years in the business Dame Judi is a star on the stage and screen. here she is playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at The Old Vic Theatre, London (pictured here in 1960)
Screen queen: Dame Judi has won an Academy Award for Best Actress and appeared as the eldest person to ever cover Vogue (pictured here on ITV’s A Fine Romance in 1981)
Candid: The actress, 88, spoke talk candidly about her health battle last year when she appeared on the BBC’s Louis Theroux show where she admitted her sight was bad
She has since appeared in Philomena and Shakespeare in Love – to name a few, with her latter role winning her an Academy Award in 1998.
Judi is also well known for playing M, the head of MI6, alongside Daniel Craig’s Bond.
The British star has also enjoyed success on stage, winning a Tony award in 1999 for Amy’s View and also a string of Olivier awards.
Four years ago, she became the eldest woman to ever cover British Vogue in its 104-year history – an achievement she still holds strong.
