winning British actress Judi Dench, who has revealed she is suffering from a degenerative eye condition, played down concern over her sight Monday, saying she was not going blind. In an interview published Saturday, Dench said an age-related condition called macular degeneration meant she had lost part of her eyesight and struggled to read film scripts or see people sitting in front of her. The admission led to widespread media speculation about the 77-year-old, who won an Oscar in 1998 for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in “Shakespeare in Love” and who also plays the spy chief M in the James Bond films. “In response to the numerous articles in the media concerning my eye condition — macular degeneration — I do not wish for this to be overblown,” Dench said in a statement emailed to Reuters. “This condition is something that thousands and thousands of people all over the world are having to contend with. It's something that I have learnt to cope with and adapt to — and it will not lead to blindness.” According to Britain's National Health Service (NHS), just under a third of Britons aged 75 or over have signs of macular degeneration, a painless condition that erodes central vision and leaves peripheral sight unaffected. __
