Academy and Tony Award-winning actress Judi Dench detailed the realities of her eye condition, which has led to a loss of sight and her stepping back from the stage and screen, reported Deadline.

Dench, considered one of the greatest actresses, is known for her versatile roles on stage and screen.

She has garnered various accolades throughout a career that spans seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards, and seven Olivier Awards.

"No, you don't [see me on camera], because I can't see anymore," she told an ITV News reporter as quoted by Deadline in a recent joint interview with longtime collaborator and friend Ian McKellen, with whom she starred in Macbeth in 1979.

When McKellen joked that they could see her, the veteran star responded, "Yes, and I can see your outline, and I know you so well, in your Macbeth scarf. But I can't recognise anybody now."

The Notes on a Scandal star continued, "I can't see the television, I can't see to read."

The X-Men alum then jokingly asked Dench if she ever goes up to "total strangers [to] say, 'Lovely to see you again,'" to which she laughed and answered, "Sometimes!"

Dench, who has led a storied career from her memorable appearance in Shakespeare in Love to her formidable portrayal as M in Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig's run as James Bond, has been open about her diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration, a degenerative eye condition that affects the central part of the retina and results in central vision distortion or loss, since 2012, reported Deadline.

She hinted at her retirement last year, and the year prior, said, "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," as quoted by Deadline.

Her most recent credits include a cameo in the 2022 Apple TV+ Christmas musical comedy Spirited, starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.

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