Born Maurice Micklewhite in Bermondsey, London, the son of a fish porter
and charwoman grew up in the slums of South London with dreams of becoming
an actor. After dropping out of school, he was called up to do his National
Service at the age of 18 and sent to fight with the Royal Fusiliers
in Korea. After his discharge in 1953, he began acting in regional and
repertory theatre, and took the stage name Michael Caine; taking his
new surname from the film, The Caine Mutiny. He came to prominence as
one of the representative figures of London's 'swinging 1960s'. A graduate
of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, he played bit parts in such films
as Carve Her Name with
Pride (1958) and The
Wrong Arm of the Law (1962), before attracting increased attention
as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead in Zulu
(1963). Caine finally achieved stardom as the anti-hero Harry Palmer
in the espionage trilogy The
Ipcress File (1965), Funeral
in Berlin (1966) and The
Billion Dollar Brain (1967).
His persona as a crafty Cockney lothario was established in Alfie
(1966), a film which was surprisingly successful in the US and which
won him his first Oscar nomination. Never a romantic star, marked indelibly
as an ordinary bloke by his accent, Caine is an intensely professional
cinematic actor, whose performances are carefully measured and whose
stardom is based on craft as much as charisma. He wrote himself, and
the Mini car, into British iconography as the mastermind of a gold-bullion
heist in the classic action comedy The
Italian Job (1969). Next came another landmark film, Get
Carter (1971), a noir thriller with Caine cast as a ruthless gangster
seeking revenge. He stole the Oscar nomination from Laurence
Olivier in their psychological duel, Sleuth
(1973). He gave one of his best performances in partnership with Sean
Connery in John Huston's The
Man Who Would Be King (1975).
Not always wise in his choice of films, Caine churned films out at
an incredible rate. In 1983, he nominated for another Best Actor Oscar
for his portrayal of an alcoholic professor in Educating
Rita (1983). He finally won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in
Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). He continued hectically
producing films of differing quality, notably a chilling pornographer
in the stark Mona
Lisa (1986), a dim-witted Sherlock Holmes in the spoof Without
A Clue (1988), and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), in which Caine
and Steve Martin played two charming con artists. During the late 1990s
Caine enjoyed a career revival, as Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol
(1992), he won plaudits for his turn as Ray Say in the independent film
Little Voice
(1998) and scooped a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The
Cider House Rules (1999). Caine returned to British cinema to feature
in Last Orders
(2002), as a deceased London butcher whose family and friends perform
his last wish. In the 1992 Queen's birthday honours, he was awarded
the CBE and in 2000 he was knighted by the Queen and is now Sir Michael
Caine.
