Judi Dench Explains How Losing Sight Has Changed Her Life

Now aged 91, it's understandable that Judi Dench might not appear in as many films as she did at the peak of her 70-year career. But the outspoken actor, known for taking unexpected positions on topics as varied as The Crown (she's against it), Harvey Weinstein (she encourages forgiveness), and trigger warnings in the theater ("if you’re that sensitive, don’t go") says her retirement isn't consensual, and is instead a result of her deteriorating eyesight.

In 2012, Dench was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, a condition that progressively impairs vision. In 2023, she admitted that she could no longer learn lines for a role, and that a community of friends and family assisted her in that task. “I can’t see on a film set any more,” she said then. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. But, you know, you just deal with it. Get on."

By 2025, her vision loss had grown so severe that she had reached a stage of “no eyesight," which required her to enlist a companion any time she ventures out. “I can’t see and I’ll walk into something or fall over,” she said then.

In an interview broadcast Thursday by BBC Radio 4, Dench provided an update on her condition. Speaking on the Today program, the Shakespeare in Love star said her career is essentially over. “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 told interviewer Emma Barnett.

However, the actor says she doesn't let the general effects of aging hold her back. “There's nothing to say for it at all," she said when asked about getting older. "[I] don't think about it too much."

Judi Dench's long career has spanned theater, television, and film. In 1999, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, despite her relatively brief screen time. She also broke ground in t1995's GoldenEye, as the first woman to portray “M,” the James Bond world's fictional head of British intelligence. She continued in the role until 2012, when her character was killed off in the franchise's 25th film, Skyfall.