You don't lose your sexuality as you get older, says Glenn Close

Hollywood veteran Glenn Close believes people do not suffer a loss in their sexuality as they grow older.

The actor, whose stellar performance in "The Wife" is generating Oscar buzz, stars in the title role of Joan Castleman, a woman who takes a back seat to her husband, Joe's success, born from her own work.

Jonathan Pryce plays Joe in the film.

Close recalled that the opening sex scene between her and Pryce's characters was the first thing they shot.

"We arrived on set in our jammies. We were both thinking the same thing: 'We're pros, we've been doing this a long time. Let's just get down to it'," she told The Guardian.

The scene is being described as "drowsy, vocal" sex between a couple in their 70s.

Agreeing, the actor said, "It's one of the great myths that you lose your sexuality as you get older. One night last year, I was coming across town from the East Village to the West. It was late on a Friday night and there were a lot of couples on the street.

"Pippy (Close's dog) and I were looking out of the car window and I could feel what all those couples were feeling. I could feel their excitement, the sense of intimacy about to happen. It was extremely powerful," she said.

Close believes she is in her prime today.

"I feel as free and as creative, as sexual and as eager, as I ever have. And it's ironic because I'm thinking: 'How much time do I have left now?' There are so many things I'm interested in doing.

"It's one of those ironies, I suppose, that we sometimes start feeling comfortable in our own skin only late in our lives, but hopefully with enough time to benefit from it. I'm so glad to do what I do because even though I'm not a method actor and I don't use my life in my acting, my work is still a progression," she said.