Michael Caine Biography
Summary
"Sir Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr.", CBE (born March 14, 1933), known professionally as "Michael Caine", is a two-time Academy Award-winning English film actor.
Biography
Early life
Caine was born in Rotherhithe, South East London, to Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Sr., a fish market porter, and Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell), a cook and charlady. Caine's father was Catholic, though Caine was raised in his Protestant mother's religion. 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. 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.
Acting career
When 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 once joked to an interviewer that had he looked the other way, he would have ended up as 'Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians'.
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. After several minor roles, 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, 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 two films, "Funeral in Berlin" (1966) and "Billion-Dollar Brain" (1967). 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.
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. 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. By the end of the decade, he had moved to the U.S., but his choice of roles was beginning to be criticised. 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 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). 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.'
The 1990s were a lean time for 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, 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".
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, becoming "Sir Maurice Micklewhite". Unlike many actors who adopt their stage name for everyday use, Caine still uses his real name when he is not working.
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, 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.'
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.
Personal life
Caine lives near Leatherhead in Surrey, He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire, and Chelsea Harbour in London.
He was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1955 to 1958; they had one daughter, Dominique.
Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh since January 2, 1973; they have a daughter, Natasha.
Some time after his mother died, 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 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.
Caine is a fan of the football team Chelsea FC.
Trivia books written by Caine include "Not a Lot of People Know That", "Not a Lot of 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.
Musical Career
Caine is a fan of chillout music and to that end has compiled a mix CD called "Cained" which was released in early October. According to 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. He now has a contract with EMI, believed to be in the region of £5,000,000 per annum.
.. Also in music, 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.
Friendship with Terence Stamp
In the 1960s, actor Terence Stamp shared a flat with Caine before and during their rise to fame (Stamp became famous first after his Oscar-nominated role in "Billy Budd"). In his autobiography, 'Double Feature', Stamp describes various incidents with Caine, including the moment when Caine was offered his breakthrough role in "Zulu". This was a couple of hours before Caine's thirtieth birthday, which was a deadline Caine had set himself to 'make it' or quit acting. Also, Caine tried to force Stamp to reverse his decision to turn down the role of "Alfie"; a star role that Caine later accepted. In his later autobiography, "What's it All About", Caine states that he still wakes up sweating in the night as he sees Terence agreeing to 'accept my advice'. The friendship eventually dwindled at the tail-end of the '60s, and this is described in contrast by Stamp and Caine in their respective autobiographies.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Michael Caine.
