Acclaimed British actress Dame Judi Dench has hinted that her remarkable 60-year career in film may finally be nearing its end due to her ongoing vision struggles. The 89-year-old screen legend, who has won an Oscar, BAFTAs and countless other accolades, revealed this week that she currently has no new movie projects lined up, telling a journalist bluntly: “No, no. I can’t even see!”
Dench has been open about her battle with age-related macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes progressive loss of central vision over time. The condition affects over 700,000 people in the UK alone and is the leading cause of sight loss in the country.
While her revelation at the Chelsea Flower Show signals a potential retirement from film, it marks a change from Dench’s previous determination to power through her vision impairment. In a past interview, she stated: “I don’t want to retire. I’m not doing much at the moment because I can’t see. It’s bad.”
However, the veteran actress expressed that her famously photographic memory has helped compensate, noting: “A person saying to me, ‘This is your line…’ I can do that.”
As recently as 2021, Dench remained defiant about finding ways to cope with macular degeneration’s challenges. “You find a way of just getting about and getting over the things that you find very difficult,” she said at the time. “I’ve had to find another way of learning lines and things, which is having great friends of mine repeat them to me over and over again.”
If she does opt to finally exit movies, it would cap one of the most acclaimed careers in British screen history. Dench made her professional stage debut in 1957 at London’s Old Vic Theatre and quickly became one of the most respected classical actresses of her generation.
Her big screen breakthrough came in 1998 when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her scene-stealing eight-minute portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love. She then earned a whole new generation of fans playing the no-nonsense M, head of Britain’s MI6, in seven James Bond films between 1995 and 2015.
Other iconic roles include Mrs. Fairfax in Jane Campion’s The Piano, Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice, and Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown. She has been nominated for seven Oscars in total.
While Dench’s words this week cast doubt on her future movie prospects, she has not definitively announced her retirement yet. Many are surely hoping the Dame finds a way to continue gracing screens despite her immense physical challenges. Hers is a career for the ages that fans will be loath to see end.