Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Britain's Dame Judi Dench losing eyesight

|
|
 
  
Judi Dench arrives on the red carpet for the Premiere of "Nine" at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on December 15, 2009. UPI/John Angelillo 
License photo
Published: Feb. 18, 2012 at 12:20 PM

LONDON, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- British actress Judi Dench has said friends must read film scripts to her because she is gradually losing her eyesight to macular degeneration.

"I can't read scripts any more before because of the trouble with my eyes and so somebody comes and reads them to me, like telling me a story," she said.

The actress, who won an Oscar for her role in "Shakespeare in Love," said she can no longer see faces in front of her due to the condition, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

"You get used to it. I've got lenses and glasses and things and very bright light helps. I can do a crossword if it's bright sunshine, but if a cloud comes out the next minute I can't see anything," she said.

Dench's mother also suffered the disease, which typically affects the elderly, the newspaper said.

Dench, 77, says she has been losing her battle with macular degeneration and has little eyesight left.

Age-related macular degeneration, known as AMD, affects nearly 240,000 people in Britain and is the leading cause of blindness in the world, the Mirror said.

Dench told The Telegraph injections seem to have arrested the degeneration in her eyes and she has no plans to retire.

Dench will be returning to her role as M in the next James Bond film, "Skyfall."

Topics: Judi Dench, James Bond
Recommended Stories
© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Movies Stories
1 of 29
Members of the Army's Old Guard place flags at Arlington National Ceremtery
View Caption
U.S. flags are seen in the rucksack of a soldier with the Army's 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, as he places flags at gravesites in Arlington National Cemetery as part of the Flags-In Memorial Day ceremony on May 24, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. American flags were placed at each of the more than 220,000 grave markers in honor of those who served and Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietshc
fark
Come listen to a story about a man named John / A poor farmer, barely kept his family fed / Then...
Reporter shows up too late to cover a sandstorm, tries to recreate it
How to be #1 SUPER-PATRIOT. USA USA USA USA
If you don't like these amusing examples of passive aggressive behavior, than you can kindly piss...
128 drivers fined for driving below speed limit. Obviously not in Florida
Hey dude, it's a holiday. I'm just going to sit around getting sconed