Judi Dench Moved To Tears As She Fulfills A Lifelong Dream Despite Failing Eyesight

Sep 12, 2023 by apost team

Dame Judi Dench is an English actress who is famous for her performances on screen as well as on the stage. Her work spans a variety of genres and has been critically acclaimed. Dench has received several accolades throughout her six-decades-long career. She has won an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and four British Academy Television Awards. She has also taken home six British Academy Film Awards and seven Olivier Awards. 

Born Judith Olivia Dench on Dec. 9, 1934, in the Heworth area of York, the star gained contact with the theater through her dad. Her father was a doctor and became the general practitioner for the York Theatre Royal. 

The legendary actress' career began on stage in 1957. Dench made her debut with the Old Vic Company, and she played Ophelia in "Hamlet." She performed Shakespearean plays with the company for the next few years. Later, she was a member of the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

Dench has had an ever-lasting love affair with the theater ever since – so it's no surprise she met her first husband in one. The two first laid eyes upon one another in 1962, when the actress was cast in "Romeo and Juliet." Dench married her fellow actor, Michael Williams. They were together for 30 years before he passed away from lung cancer in 2001. Their daughter, Finty Williams, was born in 1972.

Even though Dench loves performing, whether for film and television or theater, it’s common knowledge that the actress has been aging after decades of working to the point that her health condition is hindering her from doing her best on set.

In a 2023 interview with The Mirror, it appeared that Judi Dench didn’t have any plans to retire as she continued to work in the field of entertainment.

However, due to her age, which was 88 at the time of the interview, the actress revealed she had problems reading her lines as well as seeing on set due to age-related macular degeneration, also known as AMD.

“I mean I can’t see on a film set anymore,” she told the outlet. The actress also added that she can’t “see to read” and “can’t see that much.”

Despite her medical condition, the actress continued with her job as she noted, “But you know you just deal with it. Get on. It’s difficult for me if I have any length of a part. I haven’t yet found a way.”

Thankfully, Dench sought help from her friends who were willing to teach her the script.

This was not the first time the actress opened up about her struggles with reading scripts as she also spoke about it in an interview on “The Graham Norton Show.”

She told host Graham Norton that she had been having a hard time with her scripts, but in the past, learning lines for her was easy.

“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 added.

Since Dench is determined that she will always find a way to memorize her lines, she told actor Hugh Jackman at the time that she could still do “the whole of 'Twelfth Night'” at that moment.

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According to the National Eye Institute, AMD is an eye disease that could impact a person’s central vision. Some of the symptoms include the loss of central vision as well as blurry and wavy areas in a person’s central eyesight.

Although the medical condition won’t cause complete blindness to a person, it’s hard to live a normal life because the patient will have a hard time seeing faces and doing close-up work.

Dench gave more details about her condition in an episode of “Louis Theroux Interviews,” released in 2022, after she was asked by the host how bad her condition had gotten.

"Bad. Bad enough. Bad enough in that you're quite fuzzy. You're just a tad fuzzy,” she told Louis Theroux. 

Regarding her plans to step away from the limelight in order for her to rest, Dench said, "I don't want to retire. I'm not doing anything much at the moment because I can't see."

In a 2021 interview with Radio Times, as reported by Hello Magazine, the actress also opened up about one of the most “traumatic” moments in her life as she noted that she was forced to stop driving in 2017 due to her eyesight.

"A couple of years ago I stopped driving… But I just know I'll kill somebody if I get behind the wheel of a car now," she said.

Dench was not the only person in her family to have the disease as her mother also had the same medical condition as it is genetic.

Elsewhere in the interview, the actress said she feared that her daughter would suffer the same fate as her, which is why she made sure her child always went to the doctor to get tested.

Meanwhile, her health condition hasn’t stopped her from making television appearances or fulfilling life goals – even at the same time! In 2023, the British acting legend joined “Strictly Come Dancing” winner and wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin in the Scottish Highlands for an episode of "Countryfile," where Dench was able to fulfill one of her life’s dreams. In a preview of the episode, Dench was seen getting emotional after realizing she had indeed caught sight of one the most spectacular birds of prey: a golden eagle.

“(I’m) very overcome… It’s an enormous privilege, don’t you (think)? I never quite thought it would happen,” Dench said tearfully in the clip, adding the sight of the raptor in the wild was “breathtaking.”

According to Daily Mail, Dench later revealed in the preview that she considered Scotland her “spiritual home.” The star has shot many classic films in the country, including 1997’s “Mrs Brown,” for which she won a Bafta, and the 2012 James Bond film, “Skyfall.” 

“I would say, actually, that my spiritual home is Scotland, simply because I just feel comfortable here,” Dench said.

Elsewhere in the episode, Dench opened up about her love of nature and trees, in particular, revealing she has “a lot of famous people in my garden,” as she has a habit of planting a tree in her backyard every time a friend passes away.

“As a child I used to get irrationally upset to see long lorries with huge trees on. I can't explain that. I still don't like seeing trees being felled,” the star added. 

Dench also touched on her failing eyesight, saying that she keeps positive as she has “no option or I’ll just fall over. But I've got wonderful people who help me.”

What do you think of Judi Dench’s medical condition? Do you think she would ace her future roles despite her eyesight problems? Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to pass this on to your friends and family.