Judi Dench: I can't travel alone

Actress Judi Dench arrives at the Royal Film Performance and world premiere of the film, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", at Leicester Square, London February 17, 2015. (Reuters)

At the age of 80, Dame Judi Dench has no plans to slow down. However, she admits that her failing eyesight is making things rather difficult.

“These days I can’t really travel on my own because I need someone to say, ‘Look out, there’s a step here!’” she told the UK’s Radio Times (via the Mirror). “Or else I fall all over the place like a mad, drunk lady.”

The James Bond actress, whose career spans more than 50 years, was diagnosed with macular degeneration two years ago. As a result, daily activities such as reading or learning lines for a movie have become difficult.

“I can’t read scripts anymore because of the trouble with my eyes,” she detailed. “And so somebody comes in and reads them to me, like telling me a story.”

The Oscar winner enlists the help of her daughter, agent or a close friend. “I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind … The most distressing thing is in a restaurant in the evening, I can’t see the person I’m having dinner with.”

Dench traveled to India to film her upcoming movie “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and says she relied on her co-stars, Maggie Smith, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton and Bill Nighy.

“It was just glorious going back to India again with Mags, Celia, Pep and Bill,” she added. “We’re all great friends and we’ve done masses of things together. It was like an old traveling theater company coming back together — old being the operative word.”

This article originally appeared in the New York Post.