Judi Dench She is one of the most emblematic modern actresses but, also, a woman who does not give up despite life’s obstacles. Because just as she was not intimidated in her early days, back in the 1960s, when a director told her that “he would never make a movie because his face was badly arranged” (as a covert way of calling her “ugly”), carving out a successful career in theater, television and film; neither is she doing it now at 87 years old.
A decade ago he revealed that he suffers from a degenerative eye disease that has been progressing little by little, forcing her to find methods and strategies that would allow her to learn lines and phrases from dialogues, such as taking memory drugs and having friends help her by repeating them aloud. “This is how I learn them, through repetition” explained to Guardian in 2021. And it is that she, despite everything, has continued to work. She like she keeps doing now even though can’t see anymore.
The Lady of the Order of the British Empire told the BBC’s Louis Theroux program (via The Sun) who can no longer read or write due to advancing macular degeneration. Confirm that the situation is “Very bad” To the point that she recently went out to dinner with her partner, David Mills, and had to cut up his food and hold his fork out to him because he couldn’t see what was on the plate. “I don’t know if I finished it, I don’t even know what I did. I probably picked it all up and threw it over the edge of the plate.” he told between laughs as a reflection of his good humor despite the difficult circumstances. However, she does not intend to lower her arms. “I don’t want to retire, I’m not doing much right now because I can’t see. It is bad” assured.
In any case, the actress continues to look for ways to follow her great artistic passion and is determined to “teach herself” new ways of learning.. “I have a photographic memory so if a person tells me ‘This is your line…’ I can do it. I have many people who can help me” Add.
“I’ll show myself a way [de hacerlo]I know I will” decided sentence.
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The incredible thing about his story, in addition to his admirable resilience, is that despite the deterioration of his eyesight he has continued to be active. In 2015, with the disease already advanced, he appeared in the play The Winter’s Tale, in success The new exotic Marigold Hotel and was even the protagonist of Queen Victoria and Abdul (2017) giving life to Queen Victoria, among other projects. He gave the note Murder on the Orient Express (2017), was the protagonist of the biopic about an undercover spy in the red spy (2018) and even lent himself to the disastrous cats (2019). She never stopped working and even gave us an exquisite piece of work in Belfast last year, Kenneth Branagh’s most personal film that was not only nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture but also earned Judi Dench the eighth nomination, in this case for Best Supporting Actress (she won it once for shakespeare in love). While this same 2022 he also appeared in a drama about a geriatric ward (to be released in many territories) titled Allelujah which was presented at the recent London Film Festival.
In other words, neither age nor loss of sight are impediments for Judi Dench to want to continue enjoying her great passion in life. If she has to learn new techniques to learn and memorize scripts, she is willing to do it. “As long as there are no things that I can fall on” adds as an apparent requirement for those who want to have their services.
In addition, he recently showed that he is far from withdrawing from the media spotlight after generating headlines for having joined the request that Netflix include a label warning that The Crown is a fictional dramatization, calling the series “cruelly unfair” with the British royal family. There are many characters who have been asking for it for a long time, more so now after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and it was after the criticism of the actress that the platform took action on the matter, adding said warning in the trailer for the fifth season .
Judi Dench grew up surrounded by actors as her father was a general practitioner at the Theater Royal in York and her mother was the costume designer, often opening the doors of the family home to different artists. However, she had initially studied to be a set designer until she became interested in drama as she watched her brother train to be an actor, feeling the ultimate call when she saw Peggy Ashcroft on stage playing Cleopatra. . And she hasn’t looked back ever since, making her first professional performance at age 23 as Ophelia in an interpretation of Hamlet in 1954.
The winner of the Oscar and countless awards already said in 2014 to The Hollywood Reporter that she was not going to let anyone impose on her what she could or could not do. She back then she did it by criticizing the prejudices against the age of women in the industry, assuring that she felt “Tired of being told I’m too old to try anything.” when at that time I was already suffering from progressive loss of vision. “I should be able to decide for myself if I can’t do things and not have anyone tell me I’m going to forget my lines or trip and fall on set. […] Age is a number. It is something that is imposed on you. It makes me absolutely free when people say, ‘Are you going to retire? Isn’t it time you put your feet up?” pointed. Phrases that he seems to continue applying to his existence, paddling against all odds in order to continue enjoying the profession that he is so passionate about.
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Judi Dench has lost her sight but not her great passion in life