Judi Dench recently said that because of her eye disease, she “can’t recognize anyone.”
Asked by ITV why she left acting, Dench said: “I can’t see anymore. That’s what I have.” Ian McKellen, who appeared with her in an interview, joked that her eyesight did not prevent the audience from seeing her. Dench replied, “Yes, I can see your outline and I know you very well. But I don’t recognize anyone right now. … I can’t see the TV, I can’t read.”
McKellen quipped, “But do you walk up to a stranger and say, ‘It’s nice to see you again?'” to which Dench joked, “Sometimes.”
This isn’t the first time Dench has opened up about her vision. She said in a 2023 interview on “The Graham Norton Show” that eye problems made it “impossible” for her to memorize lines.
“That’s no longer possible. I have a photographic memory, so I have to find a machine that not only teaches me the lines, but also tells me where the lines are on the page,” Dench said. “I thought it was so easy to memorize and memorize the lines. I could now perform the entirety of Twelfth Night.”
Despite his struggles, Dench maintains a good humor about his situation and the sometimes awkward moments that result. “A few years ago, I was doing The Winter’s Tale with Kenneth Branagh as Paulina, and after about three weeks of running at Garrick, he said to me — there’s a long speech at the end — he said, ‘Judy, if you were to say that speech eight feet to the right, you’d be saying it to me, not to a professional.’ I rely on people to tell me! ”
