Judi Dench suffered from cinema phobia as a teen

A phobia of dark theatres caused Dame Judi Dench to miss many, many films in her youth. The 79-year-old Oscar-winner reveals she went through a kind of claustrophobic phase in her early teens.

Veteran Hollywood actor Dame Judi Dench missed out on a string of cinematic treats in her youth, as she had a phobia of dark theatres.

The 79-year-old Oscar-winner reveals she went through a kind of claustrophobic phase in her early teens, said the The Hollywood Reporter.

“(It was) a ghastly thing... And so I didn’t go to the cinema, actually, for a very long time, and the consequence is that it’s left me with a huge amount of films that I’ve never seen,” said Dench.

“Now, with DVDs and things like that, you can actually see it (film) on a screen and not be in a long black tunnel, and I’m ­better about it. So, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” she added.