Judi Dench says it's 'ghastly' not to be able to read scripts anymore

LONDON: Actress Judi Dench, 88, says it's “ghastly” to be “so dependent” on others and unable to read scripts because of her degenerative eye condition, which has left her barely able to see.

The ‘Skyfall’ star says she wants to work “as much as I can”, despite the difficulties she’s having learning her lines.

Dench was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2012, and the star's sight has deteriorated a lot.

Despite the difficulties, the star, once described as “the best thing about Britain alongside fish and chips”, has no plans to retire anytime soon, Mirror UK reported.

Dench, perhaps most famed for her role as M16 chief M in James Bond, says she wants to work “as much as I can”.

“I mean I can’t see on a film set any more,” Dench told Notebook. “And I can’t see to read. So I can’t see much. 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. Because I have so many friends who will teach me the script. But I have a photographic memory.”

She was forced to give up driving a few years ago when her eyesight began to worsen.

“It’s the most terrible shock to the system,” she had said previously. “Ghastly. It’s terrible to be so dependent on people.”

Judi has achieved what most actors can only dream of in a career spanning six decades. In addition to numerous BAFTAs, a Tony Award and an Oscar – awarded for her powerful portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in ‘Shakespeare In Love’ – Judi made theatre history in 2016 when she picked up a record-breaking eighth Olivier Award.

Judi has remained mostly tight-lipped about her private life.

In the past, she had cryptically revealed she’d had four marriage proposals over her lifetime -- two from her late husband, Michael Williams, one from a judge in the Midlands and “one other, early on”.

The first time Michael, a fellow actor, proposed they were on tour Down Under. Judi told him she couldn’t trust a proposal because of the nice weather and that she’d prefer to wait for “a rainy day in Battersea”. They married in 1971.

Michael died of lung cancer in 2001.

Judi still lives in the Surrey farmhouse she bought 40 years ago with her late husband. Their daughter, Finty, 50, also an actress, lives there.