Veteran actress Dame Judi Dench has revealed the profound impact her deteriorating eyesight is having on her life and career, stating she can no longer recognize people. Speaking candidly in a recent interview with ITV, Dench explained her decision to step away from acting, simply saying, “I can’t see anymore. I’ve got, you know, that thing.”
The 90-year-old Oscar winner was joined by her friend and fellow actor, Sir Ian McKellen. McKellen lightened the mood by joking that while Dench’s vision may be impaired, it hasn’t stopped audiences from seeing her. Dench responded with her characteristic wit, explaining her current visual experience. “Yes, and I can see your outline, and I know you so well,” she told McKellen. “But I can’t recognize anybody now. … I can’t see the television, I can’t see to read.”
McKellen pressed on with the playful banter, asking Dench, “But do you go up to total strangers and say, ‘Lovely to see you again?’” The actress, maintaining her sense of humor despite the serious topic, quipped back, “Sometimes.”
This is not the first time the acclaimed star has discussed her struggles with sight. In a 2023 appearance on “The Graham Norton Show,” Dench shared that her eye condition was making the fundamental task of learning lines “impossible.” Due to her reliance on visual memory, Dench requires assistance. “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 explained, contrasting it with her earlier ease. “I used to find it very easy to learn lines and remember them. I could do the whole of ‘Twelfth Night’ right now.”
Despite the increasing challenges, Dench maintains an admirable and humorous outlook. She recalled an instance of how she now relies heavily on her colleagues in performance. “I was doing the ‘Winter’s Tale’ with Kenneth Branagh a couple of years ago, playing Paulina, and after we had been running for three weeks or so at the Garrick he said to me — I have a long speech at the end — he said: ‘Judi, if you were to say that speech about eight feet to your right, you’d be saying it to me and not to the pros.’ I rely on people to tell me!”