diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/interactive/display/pipeline_graph.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/interactive/display/pipeline_graph.py
index 10058351938e..098f3eb48bb7 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/interactive/display/pipeline_graph.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/interactive/display/pipeline_graph.py
@@ -237,6 +237,12 @@ def _construct_graph(
       default_edge_attrs: (Dict[str, str]) a dict of attributes
     """
     with self._lock:
+      try:
+        pydot.Dot()
+      except NameError:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            'pydot is required for pipeline graph generation. '
+            'Install it with: pip install pydot')
       self._graph = pydot.Dot()
 
       if default_vertex_attrs: