Legendary British actor Sir Michael Caine has announced that he will retire from acting at age 90.
Caine confirmed his retirement in an interview with BBC radio on 14 October, following the release of his last film, The Great Escaper.
"I keep saying I'm going to retire. Well, I am now," Caine said.
"I've played the lead and it's got incredible reviews. The only parts I'm going to get now are old men — 90-year-old men, or maybe 85, you know — and I thought, well, I might as well leave with all this. I've got wonderful reviews. What am I going to do to beat this?" he added.
The Great Escaper is a biographical drama featuring an 89-year-old British World War II Royal Navy veteran who sneaks out from his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary of D-Day in France.
Caine worked alongside two-time Oscar winner Glenda Jackson in The Great Escaper, which concluded filming months after Jackson's passing in June at aged 87. The two first worked together on the 1975 film The Romantic Englishwoman.
In 2021, the British film icon had hinted about retirement due to his health problems.
"I haven't worked for two years, and I have a spine problem, which affects my legs. So, I can't walk very well," Caine said in an interview. He had previously declared that his onscreen role in the 2021 comedy-drama film Best Sellers would be his last.
The two-time Oscar winner and three-time Golden Globe winner has appeared in over 160 films across eight decades. With his lengthy and successful acting career, his films have grossed $7.8 billion worldwide.
Caine gained worldwide acclaim in the 1960s through his breakthrough role in the epic film Zulu (1964). He became a bona fide leading man in Alfie (1966), an action hero in The Italian Job (1969) and a stalwart presence in other era-defining films such as Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), The Cider House Rules (1999), Miss Congeniality (2000), and more.
He is also widely regarded for his portrayal of Alfred Pennyworth in Christoper Nolan's Batman trilogy (2005-2012). Since then, he has appeared in five other Nolan films: The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020).