Acting star terminally ill: Judi Dench can no longer learn texts without help

The now 88-year-old Judi Dench can still be seen in the cinema.

Acting star terminally ill: Judi Dench can no longer learn texts without help

The now 88-year-old Judi Dench can still be seen in the cinema. But it is becoming increasingly difficult for the actress to learn texts for her roles. She suffers from macular degeneration. Nonetheless, it makes one thing clear.

On the guest sofa of the "Graham Norton Show" and in an extremely illustrious group, Oscar winner Judi Dench spoke about her advanced macular degeneration. Accordingly, due to the disease, which severely limits vision, it is now "impossible" for her to learn her role texts without outside help.

Because of her photographic memory, it used to be easy for her to memorize the screenplays. Now, on the other hand, she would have to "find a machine that not only gives me my text, but also tells me where it is on the page". That's the only way she'd be able to remember it, she explained her frustrating situation to host Graham Norton and fellow attendees Hugh Jackman, Michael Douglas, Michael B. Jordan, Paul Rudd, Eugene Levy and Pink.

Macular degeneration is an incurable disease of the retina that affects the central point of sharpest vision. As a result, those affected find it difficult to read and write, or, as Judi Dench now describes it, it is completely impossible.

The actress revealed in October last year that she suffers from severe macular degeneration. Even then, however, she had emphasized that acting retirement was still not an option for her: "I don't want to retire," Dench said in a TV interview on BBCTwo.

As depressing as this situation is for her, the 88-year-old still doesn't think about quitting. This is shown by the fact that Dench attended The Graham Norton Show primarily to promote her new film Allelujah. And she has been seen regularly in the cinema for the past three years, even getting an Oscar nomination in the category "Best Supporting Actress" in the drama "Belfast" in 2022. Judi Dench has certainly not lost her joy in her profession.