Julie Christie thinks she has never been that pretty or clever. And, I must say, I’m inclined to agree with her. It’s true: Julie Christie isn’t pretty or clever. No, Julie Christie is beautiful and brilliant.

The Oscar-nominated actress recently gave a fascinating and free-flowing interview with the U.K. Telegraph. She discussed everything from her phenomenal performance in Away From Her to her aversion to celebrity and her passion for social activism. Though, if Christie had her way, she wouldn’t be in the news at all: “All these paragraphs about stupid old me — when there’s a war going on!”

In Away From Her, Christie gave a singular performance, rare both in its quality and its very existence. Since becoming the iconic face of the '60s, Christie retired herself from the Hollywood scene in the late '70s. While she still acted, she reemerged mostly in smaller roles by design. “It’s not my taste, being a film star,” she said. “It’s nothing I’ve ever longed for or admired.”

Instead of giving interviews or acceptance speeches, Christie would much rather work against rendition and torture, global warming and the so-called War on Terror. While celebrity causes are a dime a dozen these days, what makes Christie’s activism so interesting is that it seems not only organic, but also completely un-showy. I mean, lots of stars have a have a hybrid car they tool around town in, but how many of them cut up newspapers and give them to their guests as toilet paper? I am a little relieved, however, to hear that she relented when her friends kept complaining about the ink on their bums.

So what, then, could lure Christie back into the limelight? Canadian actress and first-time director Sarah Polley, who adapted Away From Her with the British star specifically in mind — that’s what. In fact, Christie gave L.A. Weekly an intriguing quote about their relationship that will surely make all her gay fans, me included, go misty.

“I hope Sarah doesn’t mind me saying this, but I think you might say we developed a crush on each other. I was very flattered when she asked me to do it.”

Well, that certainly makes me go ahhhh!

Also making me go ahhhh! is Christie’s effortless self-deprecation. She joked about fitting into her Oscar outfit (“should I have the potatoes, or not?”) and even confessed her inability to enjoy her own beauty:

“I think I’m probably so vain it’s quite impossible. But I look back now and I see photos and I think, ‘Coo! Phwoar!’ And I think, wouldn’t it have been nice to have had that knowledge when you were walking into a room?”

So true. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all knew how lovely we really are? And at age 66, Christie is as lovely as ever. Still sexy yet refined, still brash yet delicate. Forty years after she became the face of a generation, there may be more wrinkles and more gray, but true beauty and brilliance lasts forever.