Judi Dench has revealed that her worsening eyesight has left her unable to act in films or on stage.
More than a decade after she was diagnosed with macular degeneration, the 91-year-old actor shared an update with the BBC on Thursday. “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 said.
During the interview, Dench explained that she could not see the interviewer’s face, despite her sitting just feet away.
Asked how she was finding life with her deteriorating sight, she replied: “I have to put up [with it].”
Recognising people has also become difficult. Dench described approaching people she thought she knew, greeting them and offering a hug before discovering her mistake.
Dench has previously spoken about the impact of her condition. In a 2025 interview with ITV alongside Ian McKellen, she revealed that she could no longer recognise people, watch television or read. “I can’t see anymore. I’ve got, you know, that thing,” she said at the time.
When McKellen joked that audiences could still see her, Dench replied: “Yes, and I can see your outline, and I know you so well. But I can’t recognize anybody now. … I can’t see the television, I can’t see to read.”
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She also revealed in 2023 that her deteriorating vision had made learning lines increasingly difficult, despite previously relying on her photographic memory to memorise scripts. “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 during an appearance on “The Graham Norton Show”.
Dench first publicly discussed losing her sight in 2012. The condition has since placed increasing limitations on both her professional and personal life.
Her career has moved between Shakespeare’s leading women and one of cinema’s most formidable bosses. She has played Juliet, Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra on stage, and M in eight “James Bond” films. Over seven decades in theatre, film and television, she has earned an Oscar, a Tony and seven Olivier Awards.
In her latest BBC interview, Dench also discussed her enduring love of Shakespeare’s sonnets and the nerves that came with performing, describing fear as a source of energy for her work.
Her more recent credits include “The Magic Faraway Tree,” released earlier this year, starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy. Dench supplied the voice of a technologically advanced refrigerator that spies on its users, giving audiences another opportunity to hear her as her deteriorating eyesight continues to limit her work.
From Mediaweek