Jack Nicholson may or may not be retired

If Jack Nicholson has decided to put his acting career behind him, he apparently doesn't want anyone to know about it.

On Wednesday, conflicting reports indicated that the 76-year-old Oscar winner has either retired from performing - or is still in the business and simply waiting for his next great project. Nicholson's rep has not yet responded to CNN's requests for comment.

According to RadarOnline, Nicholson has "quietly retired" and has "no plans to appear in films again," based on the insight from a "well-placed Hollywood film insider."

This insider added that the primary reason was the actor's memory: “Quite frankly, at 76, Jack has memory issues and can no longer remember the lines being asked of him," the source said.

Nicholson, whose 55-year career includes classics like "Easy Rider," "Chinatown," "The Shining," "A Few Good Men" and "The Departed." The last time Nicholson graced the big screen was in the 2010 Reese Witherspoon movie, "How Do You Know." That role came three years after his starring role with Morgan Freeman in "The Bucket List," so perhaps the actor is just spacing things out in his older years.

NBC's Maria Shriver said as much to E! News, calling the rumors "100 percent false." An anonymous source close to the actor added that he's "actively reading scripts and looking forward to his next project."

NBC Nightly News later tweeted "Despite rumors, Jack Nicholson isn't retiring from acting and is not suffering from memory loss, spokesman tells NBC News."

We'll have to wait for Nicholson to weigh in, but we do know this - the Oscar winner did seem awfully sprightly when he was flirting with Jennifer Lawrence earlier this year:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jwRgH7bA0U&w=420&h=315]