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Michael Caine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Michael Caine | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr. | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 14 March 1933 London, England |
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| Spouse(s) | Patricia Haines (1955-1958; 1 child) Shakira Caine (8 January 1973; 1 child) |
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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.
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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.[1] Caine's father was Catholic, though Caine was raised in his Protestant mother's religion.[2] 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.[3] 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.
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.[4] 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 four films, Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion-Dollar Brain (1967), Bullet to Beijing (1995) and Midnight in St. Petersburg (1995). 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.[5]
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."[6]
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.
On 16th December 2007 Caine was the second guest on Michael Parkinson's Final Conversation.
Caine lives near Leatherhead in Surrey. He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire; Clewer near Windsor, Berkshire; 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 8, 1973; they have a daughter, Natasha. [7]
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.[8]
Caine is a fan of the football team Chelsea FC.[9]
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.
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.[10] 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.[11]. 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.
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.
- 1966 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Alfie
- 1972 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Sleuth
- 1983 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - Educating Rita
- 1986 - Won - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Hannah and Her Sisters
- 1999 - Won - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - The Cider House Rules
- 2002 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Quiet American
- New York Film Critics' Best Actor Award for Alfie
- BAFTA for Best Actor for Educating Rita
- Golden Globe for Best Actor for Educating Rita
- GQMan of the Year - Lifetime Achievement Award
- Golden Globe for Best Actor for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
- Golden Globe for Best Actor for Jack the Ripper[12]
- Golden Globe for Best Actor for Little Voice
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/90/Michael-Caine.html
- ^ http://www.aboutfilm.com/features/statement/caine.htm
- ^ *Michael Caine's Norfolk childhood
- ^ http://www.hiddenhorsham.co.uk/30/electrictheatre.htm
- ^ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2006928.ece
- ^ Michael Caine Biography. Tiscali.
- ^ http://www.michaelcaine.com/Dates.htm Michael Caine's Important dates
- ^ The Biography Channel: Michael Caine
- ^ Your Chelsea: Celebrity Fans
- ^ http://www.umtv.co.uk/release.php?id=524
- ^ Michael Caine to release chill-out album Times Online, accessed 2007-07-31
- ^ Jack the Ripper (1988) (TV). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
- The Official Michael Caine Website
- Michael Caine at the Internet Movie Database
- PLAY DIRTY/Caine Special on Location in Spain
- Carfax Theatre Horsham Scene of Sir Michael's first professional acting role
- Martyn Palmer, Double act: Michael Caine and Jude Law (lunch and discussion), The Times, 17 November 2007
| Preceded by Sammy Davis, Jr., Helen Hayes, Alan King, and Jack Lemmon 44th Academy Awards |
Oscars host 45th Academy Awards (with Carol Burnett, Charlton Heston, and Rock Hudson) |
Succeeded by John Huston, David Niven, Burt Reynolds, and Diana Ross 46th Academy Awards |
| 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 | |
Categories: 1933 births | BAFTA winners (people) | Best Miniseries or Television Movie Actor Golden Globe | Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) | Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners | British Army soldiers | British military personnel of the Korean War | Commanders of the Order of the British Empire | English film actors | Knights Bachelor | Lincoln Center Gala Tribute recipients | Living people | People from Chelsea | People from Leatherhead | People from Oxfordshire | People from Southwark