Michael Caine has confirmed that he has said goodbye to the acting profession after declaring a month ago that he was "more or less retired". 90 years, of which 66spent acting, the two-time Oscar winner told the BBC that this time is the right time.
"I decided. I made a starring film and receivedincredible reviews. What could I do better?", said the star whose real name is Michael Micklewhite: "The only possible parts are those of the ninety-year-old. At most an 85-year-old.
I will no longer be a protagonist. So I said to myself: Better leave now. I am 90 years old. My concern is to arrive alive at lunchtime."
Caine had previously announced plans for retirement and that The Great Escaper would be his last film.
Today's announcement comes just weeks after the actor told the Guardian he planned to play Charles Darwin in a production scheduled for 2024.
In The Great Escaper, Caine plays Bernard Jordan, a Royal Navy veteran who escaped from a Sussex retirement home in 2014 to attend ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings. Michael stars alongside Glenda Jackson, the great actress and Labour MP who died in June, and John Standing, the latter in the fictional role of an RAF pilot who befriends old Bernardon the ferry that is taking them to France.
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