Dame Judi Dench has delivered heartbreaking news to her fans. Regarded as one of the greatest actors of the stage and screen, Dench is a legendary figure known for roles like M in multiple James Bond films, A Room with a View, and her various Shakespeare plays, including playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth alongside Ian McKellen. Yet it has been some time since Dench appeared on screen, with her last film role being a brief cameo as herself in 2023’s Apple TV+ comedy, Spirited.
Speaking with ITV News alongside her former Macbeth co-star Sir Ian McKellen, Dench detailed her loss of vision from macular degeneration, which has kept her off the stage and screen.
“No, you don’t [see me on camera], because I can’t see anymore.” She then told McKellen “I can see your outline and I know you so well, in your Macbeth scarf. But I can’t recognize anybody now. I can’t see the television, I can’t see to read.”
Judi Dench’s History with Macular Degeneration
Dench first went public with her macular degeneration in 2012, saying at the time she needed people to read scripts for her. Yet even in that period, she was still appearing in movies like Skyfall, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Murder on the Orient Express. By 2024, it had worsened, and she all but retired from acting, as she was unable to leave the house without assistance. In 2024, her last acting role was for a holiday commercial for ShelterBox International.
Dench has been nominated eight times for an Academy Award, including her first and only win for her role as Elizabeth I in 1998’s Shakespeare in Love. Her other nominated roles include Mrs. Brown, Chocolat, Iris, Miss Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal, and Philomena. Dench’s last Oscar nomination was for Best Supporting Actress at the 94th Academy Awards for her role in Belfast. Her other honors include being made a Dame in 1988.
While Dench might be retired from acting at 90 years old, she is not slowing down. She and McKellen have teamed up to back a new teaching course titled the Shakespeare curriculum, one that makes the legendary playwright’s work more accessible. The hope is that it will lead to a new generation of great Shakespearean-trained talent, like Dench herself, who played Ophelia in Hamlet back in 1957 at 23. Since then, she has gone on to have one of the greatest careers anyone on stage or screen could ask for, and the audiences are all the better for it.
- Birthname
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Judith Olivia Dench
- Birthdate
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December 9, 1934
- Birthplace
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York, North Yorkshire, England, UK