Sir Michael Gambon, who has struggled to remember his lines in recent years, has decided to stop working in the theatre, bringing down the curtain on an illustrious stage career.

Currently starring in Fortitude, Sky Atlantic’s Scandinavian thriller, the 74-year-old told the Sunday Times magazine that it was time to admit defeat.

“It’s a horrible thing to admit but I can’t do it. It breaks my heart. It’s when the script’s in front of me and it takes forever to learn. It’s frightening,” he said.

Gambon, who made his professional stage debut in 1962 in Othello in Dublin, admitted last April to wearing an earpiece on stage through which a prompter could feed him lines. He put his forgetfulness down to age and was worried it was a sign of encroaching Alzheimer’s, although doctors gave him the all-clear and his long-term memory remained sharp.

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/may/20/michael-gambon-interview

Jack Nicholson has retired for the same reason.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/01/26/article-1350653-0CD4A9C3000005DC-358_306x423.jpg