The International Movie Database (IMDb) remains the best single source for information about filmmaking and those who create them. I urge you to check it out. For example, here is a portion of the information IMDb provides about Michael Caine, a highly versatile actor I first saw in Zulu, one of the finest (albeit underappreciated) films about combat.
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o His first American accent was in the film Hurry Sundown (1967). He was taught the Southern drawl by Vivien Leigh, who told him to say “four door Ford” all day long for weeks. (source – “What’s it all about?” Michael Caine’s autobiography – 1992)
o Took his name from the film The Caine Mutiny (1954)
o The production offices of Mona Lisa (1986) were located in the disused St. Olave’s hospital, the very hospital in which Caine was born.
o The title role in Alfie (1966) was turned down by Anthony Newley and Terence Stamp before this was offered to him.
o Lodged with composer John Barry in the early 1960s for several months, after being forced to leave his own flat, penniless. He returned the favor in 1998 when agreeing to introduce the composer’s Royal Albert Hall concert – his first in the United Kingdom for 25 years.
o Lobbied for the lead role in The Day of the Jackal (1973) but was rejected by director Fred Zinnemann, who felt that the character of The Jackal, who essentially is a cipher, should not be played by a movie star.
o Four of his memorable films (Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), Get Carter (1971), and Sleuth (1972)) have all been remade.
o 1987: Was not present at the Academy Awards ceremony when he won best supporting actor for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) because he was filming Jaws: The Revenge (1987), for which he was nominated for worst supporting actor at the Razzie awards the following year.
o Has stated that the character of Vichy war criminal Pierre Brossard in The Statement (2003) was his least favorite. He said that all the other characters he played in his career, whether good or evil, had a sense of humor on some level that he would try to convey in his performance. He felt that Brossard had no sense of humor whatsoever, in part because the character was such an intense man.
o The soundstage at Shepperton Studios, in which he filmed Batman Begins (2005), is also the one where he filmed his very first film, Hell in Korea (1956).
o Close friends with Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Elton John and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
o Throughout the 1960s, he was by his own estimation drinking two bottles of vodka and smoking at least eighty cigarettes a day. He quit smoking cigarettes following a stern lecture from Tony Curtis at a party in 1971, and finally quit smoking cigars shortly before his 70th birthday in 2003.
o Was the first person to be nominated for an acting Razzie Award for more than one title. He was nominated for Worst Actor of 1980 at the very first Razzie Awards for his roles in the films Dressed to Kill (1980) and The Island (1980).
o In 1957, at Brighton University, Caine appeared in a one-act play written by a fellow actor who went by the name of David Baron. It was Baron’s very first play. He later changed his name back to Harold Pinter, the name under which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.
o Near the end of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), he passes by a store called “Micklewhite’s”. His real name is Maurice Micklewhite.
o It was rumoured that he did not get along with Steven Seagal while filming On Deadly Ground (1994). He has stated that while they got on fine, but he hated filming in Alaska, even joking that “On Deadly Ground” was an apt title.
o Mike Myers said that he based the character Austin Powers partially on Caine’s character in Alfie (1966). Caine would play Austin Powers father in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
o Visited John Wayne several times when the veteran star was dying of cancer in hospital.
o Caine has been very open about his political views. He left the United Kingdom in 1979 for tax reasons and did not return until 1987 when Margaret Thatcher had cut the top rate of income tax. An ardent Thatcherite during the 1980s, Caine switched his support to Tony Blair’s New Labour Party shortly before the 1997 General Election. In an interview with “The Sunday Telegraph” on 26 April 2009, Caine admitted that he was considering becoming a tax exile again if Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown increased taxes on high earners. He confirmed in an interview with “The Mail on Sunday” newspaper on 1 November 2009 that he had dropped his support for Labour and would vote Conservative at the next General Election. He publicly supported Conservative Party leader David Cameron for Prime Minister in the 2010 General Election. In January 2016, he also publicly called for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
o Has been nominated for an Oscar at least once in five consecutive decades (1960s-2000s).
o Turned down the role of Robert Rusk in Alfred Hitchcock’s crime thriller Frenzy (1972). He thought the character was disgusting and said “I don’t want to be associated with the part.” After Caine declined the role he later mentioned in his memoirs how Hitchcock completely ignored him when they met in a hotel a few years later.
o He legally changed his name to Michael Caine in 2016. He said in an interview that he’d had too many problems travelling with a passport that didn’t match his stage name.
o He is a huge fan of chill-out music and released a compilation CD called “Cained” (2007) on the UMTV record label. He met Sir Elton John and was discussing musical tastes, when Caine said that he had been creating chill-out mix tapes as an amateur for years.
o Has appeared in the remakes of two of his films: Get Carter (2000) and Sleuth (2007). Both were remade with Jude Law taking over his role.
o He is famous for the catch-phrase “Not a lot of people know that”, though he never actually said it. The phrase was probably first said by Peter Sellers when he appeared in Parkinson (1971) 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!”.
o His all-time favorite actor, his inspiration to become an actor and his hero is Humphrey Bogart.
o Once said that he knew he had made it as an actor when he started getting scripts to read that no longer had coffee stains already on them (meaning that he was the first choice for that role).
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To learn more about Michael Caine and his brilliant work, please click here.