Veteran English actor Christopher Lee has been bemoaning Hollywood's obsession with youth and with casting young actors in emotionally complex roles.

Lee, who turns 84 in May, says: "They are playing very large parts in huge films and they simply, through no fault of their own, don't have the background and the experience and the knowledge to pull it off. And it's dangerous for them because if they are in one failure after another, sooner or later people are going to say, 'Well, he may have a pretty face but he's not bringing the public in.'

"So many of these good-looking - sometimes even pretty - boys and girls are getting these good roles and it's not fair on them. At some point it's going to catch up."