Share on Facebook
Sir Michael Caine is an English actor and author, who has appeared in over 115 films. Caine is regarded as a British film icon. Here are 50 interesting facts about the actor.
- He was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite on 14 March 1933, in St Olave’s Hospital Bermondsey, London.
- He was born to Ellen Frances Marie who was a cook and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite who was a fish market porter.
- He has a maternal half elder brother David William Burchell and a younger brother Stanley Micklewhite.
- He didn’t know about his brother David until his mother’s death. Even his father didn’t know that the child existed.
- His mother used to visit David regularly in Cane Hill Mental Hospital. He was suffering from severe epilepsy and spent his entire life in hospital.
- He grew up in Southwark in South London, but was evacuated to North Runcton in Norfolk.
- He worked as a messenger and a filling clerk for a film company in Victoria Street and to film producer Jay Lewis.
- He was called up for national service for 1952 to 1954. He served in British Army’s royal Fusilier in Iserlohn, Germany and later active service in Korean War.
- During the Korean War he went to Korea feeling sympathetic but the experience changed his life forever.
- He was in a situation where he was going to die and the memory which stayed with him formed his character.
- He once said, “The rest of my life I have lived every bloody moment from the moment I wake up until the time I go to sleep."
- He currently lives in Leatherhead, Surrey. He is also a patron to the famous Leatherhead Drama Festival.
- He owns an apartment in Miami Beach, Florida and still keeps a flat in south east London where he grew up.
- He has a daughter named Dominique form his marriage to actress Patricia Haines from 1955 to 1962.
- He named her daughter after the heroine of the novel The Fountainhead written by Ayn Rand.
- He married actress and model Shakira Baksh on January 8 1973. They have a daughter named Natasha Haleema.
- He first saw his wife in a Maxwell House coffee commercial and got her phone number from his friend.
- He attributes his acting career for providing opportunities to meet and befriend many personalities. His closest friends include Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore.
- He wrote some trivia books namely “Not Many People Know That” , “And Not Many People Know This Either”, “Not a Lot Of People Know This is 1988” and “Michael Caine’s Moving Picture Show”.
- He started his acting career at the age of 20 when he responded to the advertisement for an assistant stage manager who would also perform walk-on parts for Westminster Repertory Company performing at Carfax Electric Theatre.
- He adopted his stage name as Michael Scott in July 1953 and performed as a drunkard in the company’s production Wuthering Heights.
- He moved to Lowesoft Repertory Company in Suffolk in 1953 and worked for a year. That’s where he met his first wife.
- He moved to London in 1954 and was informed by his agent that already a Michael Scott was performing as an actor in London theatres. He was talking to his agent via a phone booth and looked around for inspiration to change his name.
- He happened to come across the poster of “The Caine Mutiny” that was being shown in Odeon Theatre and quickly changed his name to “Michael Caine”.
- In 1959 he was Peter O’Toole’s understudy for the stage program “The Long and The Short and The Tall”. He took over Toole’s role when the later went to make Lawrence of Arabia.
- His first film role was a private in George Baker’s platoon in the movie “A Hill in Korea.”
- His big break came when he was performing for “Next Time I’ll Sing TO You” as Meff in a Cockney comedy at the New Arts Theatre in London on January 23, 1963.
- Stanley Baker, one of the four stars from Caine’s previous film approached him for a Cockney role in the upcoming film “Zulu”.
- He tested poorly for the role but eventually played the part in the movie. His performance was appreciated by many and that earned him the film star status.
- In 1964 he played as Horatio in “Hamlet at Elsinore”, the only classical role ever played by Caine.
- He was cast as a womanizer in the 1966 movie Alfie alongside Shelley Winters. The film is noted as one of the greatest ever still.
- Terence Stamp who played Alfie in Broadway refused to reprise his role and gave his friend Michael Caine the breakthrough role of his career.
- Whenever director Christopher Nolan and Michael Caine come together for a movie, the later is involved in either nurturing or educating or assisting the protagonist in the movie, such as in “The Prestige” ,“The Dark Knight” Trilogy, “Inception” and “Interstellar”.
- He is the only man to win Oscars for the performances in the movies directed by Woody Allen. The others are Diane Keaton, Dianne Wiest (twice), Mira Sorvino, Penelope Cruz, and Cate Blanchett.
- He has appeared in four films that were nominated for Oscars for Best Picture category: Alfie (1966), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The Cider House Rules (1999), Inception (2010).
- He had once said that a painful childhood memory helps him in crying on cue in the sets.
- He hated the smell of Garlic for many years as it brought the memories of the Korean War. In the war the Koreans and the Chinese troops would munch on it as a snack.
- “Educating Rita”, a 1983 movie is his favourite of his own and the performance he is proud of. He had to gain 30 pounds for his role as a drunkard in the movie.
- While attending Oscar ceremony as part of crew of “Educating Rita” he immediately knew that Best Actor Oscar was not to be given to him as he was seated away from the front row.
- Caine was impressed with the performance of co-star Julie Walters and thought she was natural as this was her film debut and she had not acted in any movie before.
- He was voted as one of the 50 Most Stylist men in the past 50 years by GQ magazine.
- He was honoured with a fellowship at the British Film Institute for his outstanding contribution to the film industry.
- He got his inspiration to become an actor from Humphrey Bogart, who is his all time favourite actor.
- In 2004 his movie “Get Carter” (1971) was selected as the #1 British movie of all time by Total Film, a British magazine.
- The character of Austin Powers was based on Caine’s Character in Alfie (1966). Caine played as the father of Austin Powers in “Austin Powers in Goldmember” in 2002.
- He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards for his performance in “Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), but was not present as he was shooting for “Jaws: The Revenge”.
- Incidentally he was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor at the Razzie Awards for his role in “Jaws: The Revenge”.
- He was of the habit of drinking two bottles of Vodka and smoking 80 cigarettes a day during 1960’s. He quit them following a stern lecture form Tony Curtis at a party in 1971.
- He was forced to lodge with composer John Barry in early 1960 as he was penniless. He returned the favour by introducing the composers Royal Albert Hall Concert in 1988.
- Caine’s most recent appearance was in the movie “Kingsman: The Secret Service” directed by Matthew Vaughn.
