The actor Judi Dench has spoken about her worsening eyesight and increasing memory problems, saying she struggles to recall immediate appointments – but is still able to remember reams of Shakespeare.
“I can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow, I swear to you,” she told the Radio Times; her assistants then confirmed that she does sometimes require such help.
Dench added that her age-related macular degeneration now means that, even up close, faces are “in a fog”.
“It’s a crusher,” she added, saying that she can no longer watch television. “I miss seeing Clive Myrie doing Mastermind,” she said, “but I can hear the questions.”
Dench, who turns 91 on Tuesday, is fronting a new documentary about her relationship with the works of Shakespeare, and will be seen being interviewed by Kenneth Branagh on another programme, to be broadcast over Christmas.
Dench also said that she is in contact with Kevin Spacey, the actor, who in 2023, was found not guilty of sexually assaulting four men. “Kevin has been exonerated,” she said, “and I hear from Kevin, we text.”
Earlier this year, Dench said she now requires full-time assistance when in public, lest she “fall over” due to her vision problems. In 2012, she first revealed a diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, a degenerative eye condition that is the biggest cause of sight loss in the UK, affecting more than 700,000 people.
She has credited the condition with her de facto retirement from acting. “I can’t see on a film set any more,” she said in 2023, adding: “And I can’t see to read. But you just deal with it.
“It’s difficult 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.”
Dench’s most recent screen credit was a small role in the Christmas movie Spirited in 2022; earlier that year she had a more substantial part in Allelujah, Alan Bennett’s adaptation of his play. The same year, she also received her eighth Oscar nomination for her work on Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast.
Dench still appears frequently in public, however, at charity events including one last month alongside Ian McKellen for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In May, she was sculpted live in aid of lymphoedema research. She would not be able to see the finished sculpture, she said, but would touch it “if they let me”.
