Michael Caine Announces His Official Retirement From Acting at Age 90
Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Michael Caine has a career that spans 77 years. Beginning in 1946 with a small uncredited role at the age of 13, he began acting consistently in film and TV a decade later, and never really slowed down. With 175 acting credits to his name, he made famous the roles he played in Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), Sleuth (1972), Beyond the Limit (1984), Educating Rita (1984), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Jekyll and Hyde (1990), The Cider House Rules (2000), The Quiet American (2003), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Now You See Me (2013), Interstellar (2014), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Tenet (2020), and so many more.
But as the actor hit the milestone of his 90th birthday this year, he has announced his official retirement. He made the decree on BBC Radio 4’s Today show on Saturday, explaining, “I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well, I am now.” He had previously suggested his retirement was imminent in an interview with The Telegraph last month, saying he was “sort of” retired.
Caine reflected on the success of his career and the parts that are likely to be offered to him at his age, saying, “I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and it’s got incredible reviews. The only parts I’m likely to get now are old men, 90-year-old men, maybe 85. And I thought, ‘Well, I might as well leave with all this — I’ve got wonderful reviews. What have I got to do to beat this?'”
He added, “You don’t have leading men at 90, you’re going to have young handsome boys and girls.”
However, he does find value in older people being portrayed on screen: “With me, it’s not quite as diminishing as you think,” he explained. “I remember when I was young talking to old men of 90 and they weren’t a little bit like me. They were little tiny old men with humped shoulders…And I thought, I’m not like that and it’s changed.”
His final appearance on screen is in Oliver Parker’s The Great Escaper, a biographical film about World War II veteran Bernard Jordan breaking out of a care home to attend the 70th anniversary commemoration of D-Day in 2014. The film was released on October 6th.
via: Variety