Sir Richard Eyre, who directed Judi Dench in the Oscar-winning 2001 film Iris about author Iris Murdoch’s heartbreaking decline from Alzheimer’s disease, is now facing the same illness in his personal life. The celebrated director has revealed that his wife, Sue Birtwistle, is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
“My wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s early on [during COVID] lockdown,” 82-year-old Eyre shared, per The Daily Mail. “Now, five years later, the decline is very conspicuous.”
Sue, 80, is a renowned television producer best known for costume dramas, including the acclaimed 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice featuring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. The couple shares a daughter, the novelist Lucy Eyre.
He has been caring for Sue, his wife since 1973, while also directing and adapting Dance of Death for its recent London opening.
In May, he will debut as a director at the Royal Shakespeare Company with The Tempest starring Sir Kenneth Branagh. “When I’m working, I have carers,” Eyre explained. “I’m about to open the play, so it means the carers are going to be pretty well 24 hours.”
“Then I’m shooting a film, so they’ll continue while I’m shooting the film,” the director added.
“It’s very, very difficult, and it’s a burden in a number of ways, not least financially. There’s so much attention on cancer, and I feel not sufficient attention on Alzheimer’s disease and consequent dementia,” Eyre continued.
“There’s never a landmark moment at which you can say goodbye to them,” the director added. “Just little by little, you’re losing them.”
The director’s mother, Minna, also had Alzheimer’s, which inspired him to helm Iris.