Judi Dench Facing Blindness

[+ Lucky]

Perhaps many of you, like me, are fans of Judi Dench. I would like to believe that I saw her on Broadway once, but my ancient mind cannot remember for sure. She was voted Britain's best stage actor, but is known to us mostly for her films.

Now she faces macular degeneration, and can barely read her own scripts.

 

AP reports: The 77-year-old told the Daily Mirror that she was relying on friends and family to keep her up to speed with her lines.

“It’s usually my daughter or my agent or a friend and actually I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind,” she told the newspaper during an interview at a London hotel. “The most distressing thing is in a restaurant in the evening I can’t see the person I’m having dinner with.”

 

So, best wishes to Judi Dench. I hope you can continue to perform.

 

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/judi_dench_says_she_battling_blindness_aGNmQuaNQFi8ADzRArdyzO#ixzz1mk67rIAr

[wayout]

I did not hear about her condition until this thread so I am grateful to Lucky for posting. One of my great fears in life is to go blind. While there are worse things of course, I certainly can't imagine how difficult it would be to not be able to enjoy so many things involving eyesight that we probably all take for granted.

 

I also give my best wishes to her and hope that her great acting talent continues to be shared with us.

[+ Lucky]

Now the Lady says that perhaps the media took her comments too far:

"In response to the numerous articles in the media concerning my eye condition — macular degeneration — I do not wish for this to be overblown," the actress told Reuters in a statement.

 

"This condition is something that thousands and thousands of people all over the world are having to contend with," she continued. "It's something that I have learned to cope with and adapt to — and it will not lead to blindness."

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/judi-dench-responds-speculation-macular-degeneration-diagnosis-i-blind-article-1.1025637#ixzz1mxLUJUIa

[adriano46]

What a classy actress in so many ways. Her renditions of Elizabeth I were phenomenal (only to be perhaps outclassed by the older production of Elizabeth R on Masterpiece Theatre with the legendary Glenda Jackson as the Virgin Queen.

[+ Charlie]

Most people with macular degeneration retain a good deal of peripheral vision, so although they are sight impaired, they are not really blind. My mother began to develop it in her early 70s, and managed to still do some reading into her 90s. However, it is progressive, and the original doctors who reassured her, "You'll never go completely blind," weren't figuring on her living into her 100s, when she had almost no functional sight left.

[+ Lucky]

I wish I could edit the headline to be in accord with Lady Dench's latest remark. It would now read: Judi Dench NOT facing blindness!