14 October 2023 , 06:16
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British acting legend Sir Michael Caine has devastated fas after confirming he has retired from acting after the release of his latest film.
Sir Michael, 90, told the BBC : “You don't have leading men at 90."
"I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well I am now. I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and had incredible reviews… What am I going to do that will beat this?”
The Oscar, Golden Globe and Bafta-winning actor has an extensive filmography, including classic films ranging from Zulu and The Italian Job to more recently in Interstellar and The Dark Knight franchise, alongside Christian Bale. He has appeared in more than 160 films over a career that has spanned seven decades.
In his final film, The Great Escaper which was released on October 6, he plays real-life World War Two veteran Bernie Jordan who escaped from a care home to attend D-Day celebrations in France.
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Actor Michael Caine with his wife Shakira at Buckingham Palace in London, after receiving a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II (PA)
Sir Michael Caine and Sir Michael Gambon - who passed away earlier this month (Mike Raison)“The only parts I’m liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“They’re not going to be the lead. You don’t have leading men at 90, you’re going to have young handsome boys and girls. So I thought, I might as well leave with all this.”
Sir Michael said he had turned the film down three times before accepting the role as he considered himself retired. He stars alongside Glenda Jackson, who died in June after the completion of the film.
His announcement comes a month before Sir Michael’s novel Deadly Game is scheduled for release. The novel follows the adventures of DCI Harry Taylor, a detective with no respect for red tape or political reputations.
Sir Michael Caine at the world premiere of what will be his final movie The Great Escaper (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
Sir Michael Caine starring in the 1966 hit film Funeral In Berlin (Moviepix)Sir Michael said in June: “It’s been my ambition for years to write a thriller. It’s the genre I most love to read and I’ve really got a buzz out of working on Deadly Game and teaming up with Hodder once again to publish it. I hope readers enjoy getting to know Harry Taylor as much as I did.”
At the premiere for the new movie, the actor was seen with a walking aid, which he has been using in public since 2018 when a nasty fall left him with a broken ankle. The Educating Rita star attended the event with his wife of 50 years Shakira Caine and two daughters, Dominique, 67 and Natasha, 50.
Caine has previously said the secret to his good health is the food he had to eat during the Second World War. He grew up in Bermondsey in South London and he believes the lack of sugar in his diet due to rationing and the amount of fish he had to eat taught him important lessons about food and nutrition which have lasted throughout his entire life.
Michael even learned how to catch rabbits and other animals when he was evacuated from London and into the countryside to escape the Nazi bombings.
He said: “I was born in Bermondsey which is South London, but I’m a Cockney because I was born in a part of Bermondsey which is opposite Bow Bells, and if you’re born within the sound of Bow Bells you’re a Cockney.
"My memory of food is this, my father was a Billingsgate fish market porter and he was a big gambler so he never bought steak because it was too dear but he used to nick a lot of fish. So for 15 years I ate fish, every kind of fish you can imagine and I later realised it was a very healthy thing.
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"Another accidental healthy thing for me was the Second World War, you couldn’t get any sugar you couldn’t get any of those drinks you have now with all this sugar in it. Then I was evacuated to the country away from the smog which in Bermondsey then was terrible because everyone had coal fires."
“I lived on a farm for six years. The food was wonderful. Some of the food I caught myself because I could outrun a rabbit, I used to catch a rabbit with a stick and give it to my mother to cook for dinner. Pheasant, partridge, I remember all those things. “Thinking back on it, health wise I was very lucky. And my mother insisted I ate porridge for breakfast for 15 years. We also had fresh vegetables because we lived on a farm so we would go and nick a cabbage.”
Caine said he still cooks now and his speciality is Sunday lunch, and he boasts he make the best roast potatoes you will ever taste.