Michael Caine announces retirement from acting

LOS ANGELES

Veteran British actor Michael Caine, a Hollywood icon with a decades-spanning career littered with awards and acclaim, revealed on Oct. 14 that he has retired from acting at the age of 90.

The Oscar-winner bows out following another widely-praised performance in his final film, "The Great Escaper," which was released on Oct. 6.

In it he plays real-life World War II British veteran Bernie Jordan, who escaped from an elderly residential care home to attend 2014 D-Day celebrations in France.

"I keep saying I'm going to retire. Well I am now," Caine told BBC Radio 4's Today program. "The only parts I'm liable to get now are 90-year-old men. Or maybe 85. 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."

A prolific actor known for his amiable Cockney persona and deadpan acting style, Caine has appeared in more than 160 films during his seven-decade career.

Possessing one of Hollywood's most recognizable - and imitated - voices, he has long enjoyed iconic status in Britain, where he became a defining face of the so-called Swinging Sixties.

His filmography includes classic films ranging from "Zulu" and "The Italian Job" to more recently appearing in "Interstellar" and "The Dark Knight" franchise, alongside Christian Bale.

A six-time Oscar nominee, who has won two Academy Awards, in 1986 (‘Hannah and Her Sisters’) and 2000 (‘The Cider House Rules’), he has also earned Golden Globes, BAFTAs and numerous other gongs.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000.

Caine's acting retirement announcement comes a month before his first novel, "Deadly Game," is scheduled for release. He revealed in June that it had been a long-held ambition to write a thriller, noting it is the genre he most enjoys reading.

Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in 1933 to a fish-porter father and cleaner mother, the eventual star chose his stage name in tribute to his favorite movie "The Caine Mutiny."

Early starring roles included as working-class spy Harry Palmer in the 1965 Cold War drama "The Ipcress File" and a year later as womanizing Alfie Elkins in "Alfie."

The 1983 comedy "Educating Rita" saw him praised for his portrayal of a jaded university professor, while he featured in "The Muppet Christmas Carol" in 1992 as a singing and dancing Ebenezer Scrooge.