Michael Caine

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This article is about the English actor. For the song by Madness, see Michael Caine (song).
Michael Caine

Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite
March 14, 1933 (1933-03-14) (age 75)
London, England
Years active 1956 - present
Spouse(s) Patricia Haines (1955-1958)
Shakira Baksh (1973-present)

Sir Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr., CBE (born March 14, 1933), known commonly as Michael Caine, is an English film actor. Having appeared in over one hundred films, he is one of few actors to win all four major motion picture acting awards.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Michael Caine was born in Rotherhithe, South East London, the son of Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell), a cook and charlady, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Sr., a fish market porter.[2] Michael Caine's father was Catholic, though Michael Caine was raised in his Protestant mother's religion.[3] He grew up in Camberwell, attending Wilson's School (at that time Wilson's Grammar School) and during World War II was evacuated to North Runcton in Norfolk.[4] In 1944 he passed his eleven-plus exam. He left school at sixteen after gaining four O-Levels and did his National Service from April 1952 to 1954 in the Royal Fusiliers, serving in Germany and in combat in the Korean War.

[edit] Acting career

When Michael Caine first became an actor, he adopted the stage name "Michael Scott". His agent soon informed him, however, that another actor was already using the same name, and that he had to come up with a new name immediately. Speaking to his agent from a telephone box in Leicester Square in London, Caine looked around for inspiration, noted that The Caine Mutiny was being shown at the Odeon Cinema, and decided to change his name to "Michael Caine". He has joked in interviews that had he looked the other way, he would have ended up as "Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians".[5]

Michael Caine's acting career began in Horsham, West Sussex. He responded to an advertisement for an assistant stage manager for the Horsham-based Westminster Repertory Company. This led to walk-on roles at the Carfax Theatre.[6] After several minor roles, Michael Caine came into the public eye as an upper-class British army officer in the 1964 film Zulu. This proved paradoxical, as Caine was to become notable for using a regional accent, rather than the received pronunciation hitherto considered proper for film actors. At the time, Michael Caine's working-class cockney, just as with The Beatles' Liverpudlian accents, stood out to American and British audiences alike. Zulu was closely followed by two of his best-known roles: the spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965), and the woman-chasing title character in Alfie (1966). He went on to play Palmer in a further four films, Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion-Dollar Brain (1967), Bullet to Beijing (1995) and Midnight in St. Petersburg (1995). Michael Caine made his first movie in the United States in 1966, after an invitation from Shirley MacLaine to play opposite her in Gambit. During the first two weeks, whilst staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, he met long term friends John Wayne and agent "Swifty" Lazar.[7]

After ending the 1960s with the equally iconic The Italian Job, with Noel Coward, and a solid role as an RAF fighter pilot, Squadron Leader Canfield, in the all-star cast of Battle of Britain (1969), Caine entered the 1970s with Get Carter, a British gangster film. Michael Caine was busy throughout the 1970s, with successes including Sleuth (1972), opposite Sir Laurence Olivier and The Man Who Would Be King (1975), costarring Sean Connery and directed by the legendary John Huston. By the end of the decade, he had moved to the U.S., but his choice of roles was beginning to be criticised; he admitted to and has since made many self-deprecating comments about taking parts in numerous movies he knew to be bad strictly for the money. Michael Caine was averaging two films a year, but these included such failures as The Swarm (1978), Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979), The Island (1980) and The Hand (1981). Although Michael Caine also took better roles, including a BAFTA-winning turn in Educating Rita (1983) and an Oscar-winning one in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), he continued to appear in notorious duds like Jaws: The Revenge (1987) and Bullseye! (1990); his appearing in so many bad films made him the butt of numerous jokes on the subject. Of the former, Caine famously said "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."[8]

The 1990s were a lean time for Michael Caine, as he found good parts harder to come by. His early '90s output included playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the whimsical Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), a villain in the Steven Seagal flop On Deadly Ground (1994), two straight to video Harry Palmer sequels and a few television movies. However, Michael Caine's reputation as a pop icon was still intact, thanks to his roles in films such as The Italian Job and Get Carter. His performance in 1998's Little Voice was seen as something of a return to form, and won him a Golden Globe Award. Better parts followed, including The Cider House Rules (1999), for which he won his second Oscar, Last Orders (2001), The Quiet American (2002) and others which helped rehabilitate his reputation. Several of Caine's classic films have been remade to appeal to new, younger audiences, including The Italian Job, Get Carter, and Alfie. In 2005, he was cast as Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred in the Batman film series. In 2006, he appeared in the films Children of Men and The Prestige.

Michael Caine has been Oscar-nominated six times, winning his first Academy Award for the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters, and his second in 1999 for The Cider House Rules, in both cases as a supporting actor. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1993 for services to drama, and in 2000 he was knighted as Sir Maurice Micklewhite, CBE.[9] Unlike many actors who adopt their stage name for everyday use, Caine still uses his real name when he is not working.

Michael Caine is a popular subject for impressionists and mimics, having a voice and manner of speaking that are distinctive, yet fairly easy to imitate. Most Caine impressions include the catchphrase "Not a lot of people know that." Peter Sellers initiated this when he appeared on BBC1's Parkinson show on 28 October 1972 and said: "Not many people know that. This is my Michael Caine impression. You see, Mike's always quoting from the Guinness Book of Records. At the drop of a hat he'll trot one out. 'Did you know that it takes a man in a tweed suit five and a half seconds to fall from the top of Big Ben to the ground? Now there's not many people know that!'"

In 1983, Michael Caine was given the line to say as an in-joke in the film Educating Rita. The line was parodied in Harry Enfield's Television Programme by Paul Whitehouse, who introduced himself with the line "My name is Michael Paine, and I am a nosey neighbour."

Michael Caine is one of only two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting (either lead or supporting) in every decade since the 1960s. The other is Jack Nicholson.

He also starred in Austin Powers: Goldmember as Austin's Father.

On 16 December 2007 Michael Caine was the second guest on Michael Parkinson's Final Conversation.

[edit] Personal life

Michael Caine lives near Leatherhead in Surrey, and is patron to the Leatherhead Drama Festival[10]. He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire, Clewer near Windsor, Berkshire, and Chelsea Harbour in London. In addition, Caine owns a penthouse in Miami Beach, Florida.

He was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1955 to 1958; they had one daughter, Dominique. Michael Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh since January 8, 1973. They have a daughter named Natasha.[11]

Some time after his mother died, Michael Caine and his younger brother, Stanley, learned they had an elder half-brother, named David. He suffered from severe epilepsy and had been kept in Cane Hill Mental hospital his entire life. Although their mother regularly visited her first son in hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992.[12]

Michael Caine is a fan of the football team West Ham United[13]

Trivia books written by Caine include Not Many People Know That!, And Not Many People Know This Either!, Michael Caine's Moving Picture Show and Not A Lot of People Know This is 1988. Proceeds from the books went to the National Playing Fields Association (now Fields In Trust) of which Caine was a prominent supporter.

[edit] Musical career

Michael Caine is a fan of chillout music and to that end has compiled a mix CD called Cained which was released in early October by UMTV.[14] According to Michael Caine, he met with Elton John, and was discussing musical tastes, when Caine claimed that he had been creating chillout mix tapes as an amateur for years.[15]. Also in music, Michael Caine provided vocal samples for British band Madness for their 1984 hit Michael Caine as his daughter was a fan. He has sung in movie roles as well, including for the musical movie, the Muppet Christmas Carol.

[edit] Filmography

Main article: Michael Caine filmography

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Academy Awards

[edit] Other awards

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  1. ^ Michael Caine (I) - Awards
  2. ^ Michael Caine Biography (1933-)
  3. ^ Profile and Interview: Michael Caine
  4. ^ *Michael Caine's Norfolk childhood
  5. ^ Michael Caine (I) | Interviews | guardian.co.uk Film
  6. ^ Horsham Carfax Electric Theatre - Hidden Horsham
  7. ^ Best of Times, Worst of Times: Michael Caine - Times Online
  8. ^ Michael Caine Biography. Tiscali.
  9. ^ Official announcement knighthood. The London Gazette. 2 March 2001.
  10. ^ Welcome to the Leatherhead Drama Festival 2008 - This is the fifth Leatherhead Drama Festival (LDF) and we are proud of our achievement. When so many Arts activities are failing or at least contracting, the LDF is growing from strength to strength
  11. ^ http://www.michaelcaine.com/Dates.htm Michael Caine's Important dates
  12. ^ The Biography Channel: Michael Caine
  13. ^ Your Chelsea: Celebrity Fans
  14. ^ UMTV
  15. ^ Michael Caine to release chill-out album Times Online, accessed 2007-07-31
  16. ^ Jack the Ripper (1988) (TV). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
Ben Kingsley
for Gandhi		 BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1984
for Educating Rita		 Succeeded by
Haing S. Ngor
for The Killing Fields
Preceded by
Dustin Hoffman
for Tootsie		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1984
for Educating Rita		 Succeeded by
Dudley Moore
for Micki and Maude
Preceded by
Randy Quaid
for LBJ: The Early Years		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made of Television
1989
for Jack the Ripper		 Succeeded by
Robert Duvall
for Lonesome Dove
Preceded by
Jack Nicholson
for As Good as It Gets		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1999
for Little Voice		 Succeeded by
Jim Carrey
for Man on the Moon
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

John Gielgud (1981) · Louis Gossett, Jr. (1982) · Jack Nicholson (1983) · Haing S. Ngor (1984) · Don Ameche (1985) · Michael Caine (1986) · Sean Connery (1987) · Kevin Kline (1988) · Denzel Washington (1989) Joe Pesci (1990) · Jack Palance (1991) · Gene Hackman (1992) · Tommy Lee Jones (1993) · Martin Landau (1994) · Kevin Spacey (1995) · Cuba Gooding, Jr. (1996) · Robin Williams (1997) · James Coburn (1998) · Michael Caine (1999) · Benicio del Toro (2000)

Complete list · (1936–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)
v • d • e
Hosts of the Academy Awards ceremonies

Bob Hope (1961) · Bob Hope (1962) · Frank Sinatra (1963) · Jack Lemmon (1964) · Bob Hope (1965) · Bob Hope (1966) · Bob Hope (1967) · Bob Hope (1968) · Helen Hayes / Alan King / Sammy Davis, Jr. / Jack Lemmon (1972) · Carol Burnett / Michael Caine / Charlton Heston / Rock Hudson (1973) · John Huston / Burt Reynolds / David Niven / Diana Ross (1974) · Sammy Davis, Jr. / Bob Hope / Shirley MacLaine / Frank Sinatra (1975) · Goldie Hawn / Gene Kelly / Walter Matthau / George Segal / Robert Shaw (1976) · Warren Beatty / Ellen Burstyn / Jane Fonda / Richard Pryor (1977) · Bob Hope (1978) · Johnny Carson (1979) · Johnny Carson (1980)
Persondata
NAME Caine, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Micklewhite, Sir Maurice Joseph
SHORT DESCRIPTION actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Rotherhithe, London, UK
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH