SURREY, ENGLAND: Known as one of the greatest British actresses of all time, Dame Judi Dench, recently opened up about her struggles with a degenerative eye condition and shared that she has been facing difficulties to read her lines as she can no longer properly see on film sets due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The 'James Bond' star is currently 88 years old but mentioned that she has no plans of retiring despite facing visual challenges due to her eye condition.
Speaking to The Mirror, Dench said she wants to work "as much as I can." The Oscar winner added, "I mean I can’t see on a film set any more. And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But you know you just deal with it. Get on." She further shared, "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."
How old is Judi Dench?
Dench was born on December 9, 1934, to Reginald Arthur Dench and Eleanora Olive (nee Jones), in the Heworth region of York. She is currently 88 years and has a Hollywood career spanning across six decades. Her father was an Englishman and a doctor from Dorset who grew up in Dublin and fought on the Western Front in World War I. Meanwhile, her mother was Irish and was born in Dublin.
The actress reportedly had regular connections with the theater through her parents as her father served as the general practitioner of York Theatre Royal while her mother was a wardrobe mistress at the same theatre. Dench began her own acting career onstage and once said that she was inspired by seeing Peggy Ashcroft playing the role of Cleopatra on stage, an experience that she later said "changed my life."
When was Judi Dench diagnosed with AMD?
Dench was first diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in 2012 and addressed the diagnosis while speaking to Entertainment Tonight the same year. "In response to the numerous articles in the media concerning my eye condition, macular degeneration, I do not wish for this to be overblown," the 'Shakespeare In Love' star said at the time.
"This condition is something that thousands and thousands of people all over the world are having to contend with ... and it’s something I have learnt to cope with and adapt to — and it will not lead to blindness," she assured at the time. According to the Mayo Clinic, AMD is the common cause of vision loss for adults over the age of 50. It reportedly affects the ability to read, view road signs and recognize faces.
As per The American Academy of Ophthalmology, AMD happens due to problems in a person's retina, when part of the retina called the macula suffers from damage. While AMD results in the loss of central vision and causes patients to miss out on fine details, the peripheral or side vision of a patient still remains normal.
A look at Judi Dench's struggle with AMD
Dench has long been vocal about her struggle with degenerative eye condition. As per The Mirror, she was allegedly forced to give up driving a few years ago when her eyesight began to worsen. "It’s the most terrible shock to the system. Ghastly. It’s terrible to be so dependent on people," she previously told the publication. The actress also spoke about the diffculties of reading the script with AMD during an appearance on 'The Graham Norton Show' earlier this year.
"It has become impossible. And because I have a photographic memory, I need to find a machine that not only teaches me my lines, but also tells me where they appear on the page," she said at the time. "I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of ‘Twelfth Night’ right now," Dench shared. During an appearance on 'Louis Theroux Interviews' last year, the actress admitted that her condition was "bad enough."
She also told Theroux that he appeared "quite fuzzy" to her and shared that she recently had to ask a friend to cut up her food when they were dining in a darkened room. Dench further said, "I’m not doing anything much at the moment because I can’t see" but mentioned that she did not want her condition to have an impact on her career. "I’ve got to teach myself a new way of learning," the 'Belfast' star said at the time.
"I’ve realized that I need to know where it is on the page. I’ll teach myself a way. I know I will, as long as I don’t trip over doing it," she added. Dench reiterated her thoughts about continuing her career in her recent interview with The Mirror. "I have an irrational fear of boredom. That’s why I now have this tattoo that says 'carpe diem' [meaning seize the day]. That’s what we should live by," she stated.
