Caine retired from acting in October 2023 after the release of his film “The Great Escaper”
Michael Caine is feeling the birthday love.
“Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes,” The Dark Knight actor wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on his 91st birthday Thursday.
This is the first birthday Caine is celebrating since announcing his retirement from acting in October 2023.
“I keep saying I’m going to retire. Well, I am now,” he said on BBC Radio 4’s Today.
“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,” he said, referring to his film The Great Escaper, which was released in October. “And I thought, well I might as well leave with all this — what have I got to do to beat this?”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stoies.
Caine plays Bernard Jordan in the drama about a man who escapes his care facility to attend the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings in France.
Although he decided to retire, Caine explained in the interview why he thinks it’s important that people in his age range are represented in films.
He said he didn’t find it “diminishing” to portray his age on film.
“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,” the Miss Congeniality star said.
Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes.
— Michael Caine (@themichaelcaine) March 14, 2024
During the interview, Caine said he intended to focus on writing in retirement.
The screen legend is also an accomplished writer, and released his most recent book, a thriller called Deadly Game, in late 2023. Before releasing the novel, which was his fiction debut, he’d written several nonfiction titles about his life and the craft of acting.
He told BBC Radio 4 he was “amazed” to have a work of fiction published and confirmed there was no chance he’d return to acting.
“The thing about movie-making is that you have to get up at 6:30 in the morning, learn your lines in the bloody car, and then get there and work until 10 at night,” Caine explained. “With writing you don’t have to get out of bed — all you need is pencil and paper and you can start.”
