MERYL STREEP - STREEP GLAD SHE NEVER PUSHED SEXY IMAGE

MERYL STREEP is glad she has built a career based on acting talent rather than looks - because she can get better parts than her contemporaries now she's in her 50s.

The KRAMER VS KRAMER actress, 55, understands Hollywood's reluctance to give older actors lead roles - so she's relieved she has always promoted herself as an actor and not a sex symbol.

Streep says, "People just don't like older people on screen. And it's understandable, because movies are a fantasy.

"Maybe because I screwed around with how I looked early on, and deconstructed it to a point where how beautiful or sexy I was wasn't the main thing that made me hireable."