Michael Caine

April 29, 7:34 PMCelebrity Profile ExaminerAndy Williamson

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MICHAEL CAINE

One of the most respected actors of any generation, a veteran of over 100 films, and a Cockney bloke who escaped his ‘umble beginnings, Sir Michael Caine is abso-bloody-lutely a legend in his own time.

Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr. on March 14th, 1933 in Rotherhithe, Southeast London.  His father, Maurice Sr., was a fish market porter -- his mother, Ellen Francis Marie Burchell, a cook and charlady (an English cleaning woman).  Though Maurice Sr. was partially of Gypsy ancestry and a Catholic, young Maurice was raised in his mother’s Protestant religion.  Leaving school at the age of 15 (after getting his School Certificate, an early version of a GED), Maurice Jr. took a few working-class jobs at a film production company, before joining the British Army in 1952.  After two years of service (where he saw combat in the Korean War), Maurice returned to England where he became heavily involved with theater, taking a job as an assistant stage manager.

As the lure of the footlights pulled him from behind the curtain, Maurice thought “Micklewhite” as a stage name was a bloody mouthful.  He instead chose the name “Michael Scott.”  Calling his agent from a London phone booth and informing him of his new moniker, the agent told him another actor was already using that name.  Maurice looked around Leicester Square and saw that The Caine Mutiny was showing at the cinema across the street.  “Michael Caine” was born.  (Michael has often joked that if he had looked the other way, his name would have been “Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians.”)

MICHAEL CAINE

Between 1956 and 1963, Michael appeared in dozens of small roles in British films and television shows.  However, it wasn’t until he was cast waaaay against type as a stodgy, upper-class British officer in the 1964 film Zulu, that casting agents began to take notice of the erstwhile Cockney-accented actor.  Over the next couple of years, Michael appeared in two of his signature roles: spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File, and a charming-but-womanizing bloke in Alfie.  These two films alone would bring the actor worldwide acclaim.  (Michael went on to portray Harry Palmer in four sequels: Funeral in Berlin - 1966, Billion Dollar Brain - 1967, Bullet to Bejing - 1995, and Midnight in Saint Petersburg - 1995.  Decades after the original, bespectacled-spy Palmer would be part of the inspiration for Mike Myers’ Austin Powers -- Michael would play Austin’s dad in 2002’s Goldmember.  Got all that?)

Michael’s first American film came in 1966, when Shirley MacLaine invited him to play opposite her in Gambit.  Over the next few years, Michael made MANY films (those named here in no wise infer an exhaustive list), including Play Dirty (1968), The Italian Job (1969), Battle of Britain (1969), Get Carter (1971), and Sleuth (1972 - one of his best).  Though many of Michael’s films from the 1970’s were not up to the caliber of his previous efforts, there were some that stood out: The Man Who Would Be King (1975 - with Sean Connery), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and Neil Simon’s California Suite (1978).  Regarding this time, Michael has admitted to (and even joked about) taking too many parts in too many bad movies strictly for the paycheck ... but enough about The Swarm, Beyond The Poseidon Adventure, The Island, The Hand, etc ...

MICHAEL CAINE AS ALFIE

By the end of the 70s, Michael had moved to the US.  He started off the 1980’s by appearing in director Brian De Palma’s widely-acclaimed (and very scary) Dressed to Kill.  Over the next decade, Michael may have been a little more careful about his roles (which still doesn’t explain Jaws: The Revenge) -- his films during this period include: Victory (1981 - with Sylvester Stallone), Deathtrap (1982 - with Christopher Reeve, another gem), Educating Rita (1983), Blame it on Rio (1984), The Holcroft Covenant (1985), Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (1986 - Best Supporting Actor), Sweet Liberty (1986), Mona Lisa (1986), Half Moon Street (1986), and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988 - with Steve Martin).  Again, this is only a fraction of the man’s prolific celluloid output.

By the 1990s, Michael found worthy roles a bit harder to come by -- he no longer needed to take jobs strictly for the money.  Some of the films he did deem worthy of his time included: Jeckyl and Hyde (1990 TV movie), Mr. Destiny (1990), Noises Off (1992), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), On Deadly Ground (1994), Blood and Wine (1996), Little Voice (1998), and The Cider House Rules (1999 - for which he won his second Oscar).

MICHAEL CAINE

The “aughties” saw Michael in Quills (2000), a remake of Get Carter (2000 - reuniting him with Victory costar Sly Stallone), Miss Congeniality (2000 - with Sandra Bullock), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Secondhand Lions (2003), Batman Begins (2005 - with Christian Bale), The Weather Man (2005), The Prestige (2006), Sleuth (2007 - an ill-conceived remake of his classic ... stick with the original), The Dark Knight (2008), and Is Anybody There? (2009).

Michael was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1992 Queen’s Birthday Honours.  In the New Years Honours of 2000, he was knighted as Sir Maurice Micklewhite (knighthood must be conferred upon the recipients' legal name), though he is now known professionally as Sir Michael Caine.

In 1993, Michael published his autobiography, What’s It All About?  Highly recommended.

Michael was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1955 to 1958 -- they had one daughter, Dominique.  Michael married actress and model Shakira Baksh on January 8th, 1973 -- they have been married ever since.  The couple divide their time between homes in Miami Beach, Florida, and one near Leatherhead in Surrey, England.  They have one daughter named Natasha.

Widely respected, globally admired, internationally loved -- long live Sir Michael Caine.

Up next: Harry Brown (2009) and Inception (2010).

MICHAEL CAINE

Michael Caine Quotes:

“My name is Michael Caine.”

Regarding Jaws: The Revenge -- “I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible.  However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.”

“The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years.”

“First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.”

"The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this -- a movie star will say, "How can I change the script to suit me?" and a movie actor will say, "How can I change me to suit the script?"

“Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me.  Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.”

“I'm the original bourgeois nightmare -- a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars.”

“I've made an awful lot of films.  In fact, I've made a lot of awful films.”

“Do I believe in God?  Yes I do.  When you've had a life like mine, you have to.”

Regarding telling his parents he wanted to be an actor:  “That's what we thought actors were, all poofs.  And sometimes we were right. ... My father said nothing, but I know that he thought I'd just confessed to being gay.  Back then, everyone thought all actors were gay, and most of them were right.  But it must have been the right move -- did you know that the only good word you can make from 'Michael Caine' is 'cinema'?  I discovered that in a crossword 10 years ago.”