Michael Caine

Born

Maurice Joseph Micklewhite , Rotherhithe, London, England, UK

Birthday

1933-03-14

Occupation

Actor

Spouse(s)

Patricia Haines (1955–1962; divorced; 1 child)
Shakira Baksh (1973–present; 1 child)

Years Active

1950–present

Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite on 14 March 1933) is an English actor and author. Renowned for his distinctive Cockney accent, Caine has appeared in over one hundred films and is one of Britain's most recognisable actors. He made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in a number of British films, including, Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). His most notable roles in the 1970s included, Get Carter (1971), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and A Bridge Too Far (1978). He achieved critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983) earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, and in 1986 he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Hannah and Her Sisters. Caine played a British con-man in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), and Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). He received his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules (1999). Caine played Nigel Powers in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember, and more recently portrayed Alfred Pennyworth, the butler in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. He also appeared as supporting characters in Nolan's 2006 film The Prestige and 2010 film Inception. He provided his voice for two animated films in 2011, Gnomeo and Juliet and Cars 2. Caine is one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s (the other one being Jack Nicholson). In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema. 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 who know that!". The line had been used earlier in Spike Milligan's script for The Last Goon Show of All, performed on 5 October 1972. In 1983, Caine was given the line to say as an in-joke in the film Educating Rita. The British comedy sketch show, Harry Enfield's Television Programme, included a series of sketches in which Paul Whitehouse played a character called Michael Paine; an amalgam of previous Michael Caine impressions, who in a reference to the The Ipcress File wears oversized, thick-rimmed glasses and a trench coat. He introduces himself with the line, "My name is Michael Paine, and I am a nosy neighbour" and in a spoof of the stakeout at the beginning of The Ipcress File, recounts to the camera the 'suspiciously' mundane behaviour of his neighbours, before saying, "Not a lot of people know that I know that". Caine himself parodied the phenomenon in an interview with Michael Parkinson, imitating others' impressions of him and including the catchphrase. A parody of Michael Caine also appears in the animated series Ugly Americans, in the episode "The Dork Knight", which also parodies the film The Dark Knight. In the episode, Caine appears as himself, portrayed in the light of his Alfred Pennyworth interpretation, and constantly annoys the protagonists with endless anecdotes of his career. The Trip, starring Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, featured improvised scenes in which the two leads argue over who can do the better Michael Caine impression. Among the lines they repeat in their attempts to outdo each other are, "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" and, "She was only sixteen" - from The Italian Job and Get Carter respectively. Caine lives in Leatherhead, Surrey, and is patron to the Leatherhead Drama Festival. He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire, Clewer near Windsor, Berkshire, Lowestoft in Suffolk and Chelsea Harbour in London. In addition, Caine owns an apartment at the Apogee in Miami Beach, Florida. He still keeps a small flat near where he grew up in South East London. Caine has published two volumes of memoirs, What's It All About? in 1992 and The Elephant to Hollywood in 2010. He was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1955 to 1958. They had a daughter, Dominique (who was named after the heroine of the novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand). He dated Bianca Jagger in 1968. Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh since 8 January 1973. They met after Caine saw her appearing in a Maxwell House coffee commercial and a friend gave him her telephone number. They have a daughter, Natasha Haleema. 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 Cane Hill Mental Hospital his entire life. Although their mother regularly visited her first son in the hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992. 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 was called up for national service in the British Army in 1951 when he was aged 18 and was deployed to South Korea to help in the aftermath of the North Korean invasion. He served as part of the Royal Fusiliers. He said he had gone into it feeling sympathetic to communism, coming as he did from a poor family. But he has said the experience left him permanently repelled. Caine is a frequent collaborator with director Christopher Nolan, having appeared in five of the filmmaker's eight films: Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, and The Dark Knight Rises.

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