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Sat 27 September 2025 18:45, UK
Some actors refuse to watch their own work, but not Michael Caine. Having chipped away at his career for years before eventually landing a prominent role in 1964’s Zulu, Caine isn’t afraid to discuss his achievements.
The young Caine never thought he’d become an Oscar-winning star, but a mixture of luck and talent allowed him to emerge triumphant during the era of ‘angry young men’ in British cinema, which prioritised the visibility of working-class actors and social realism. With his distinctive Cockney accent, the actor was keen to represent a side of Britain that was rarely depicted until this point, leading him to some of the country’s most iconic cinematic output.
In his book, The Elephant to Hollywood, Caine outlined the movies of his that he considers the greatest, and alongside Zulu – “my first big break” – he highlighted another one of his earlier roles which helped to catapult him to fame. The Ipcress File, released in 1965, “was the first movie in which my name was ‘above the title,’” Caine wrote.
The movie was the making of Caine’s star status, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. Soon, he would be experiencing the dazzling lights of Hollywood following an Academy Award nomination for another one of his self-confessed greatest films, Alfie. “The biggest movie of my career to this point and the first movie of mine that was not only a success in the UK but also got a US release,” he explained.
As Caine’s career continued, he took on parts that he found more challenging, like Sleuth, which he called “the hardest and the best work I had done up until then.”
He added, “It was a two-handed show and the other hand was Lord Olivier, the greatest actor in the world. I was the greatest actor from the Elephant and Castle.”
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Amazing opportunities just kept on rolling in, like being directed by John Huston in The Man Who Would Be King, “In which I played the part intended for Humphrey Bogart, my great and longtime inspiration.”
The Italian Job, a British classic, was another favourite of Caine’s because it allowed him to live the high life; he couldn’t believe this was actually what he could call work. It was “written for me by my friend Troy Kennedy Martin, shot in Italy, co-starring Noël Coward – enough said…”
Caine really likes the movies in which he gets to play characters that he finds to be completely far-removed from himself, accepting the challenge of morphing into someone otherwise unfamiliar to him. One of these is The Quiet American from 2002, in which he played a journalist. “I really feel that this is among my best work. The character I played is the least like me of any characters I have played – but you’d never know,” Caine admitted.
The same goes for Educating Rita, in which he gave an incredible turn as an alcoholic professor opposite Julie Walters. Difficult but also endearing, it’s one of Caine’s finest works. Here, he admits he “was playing another character I had little in common with.”
Caine has played a diverse array of characters over the years, which has seen him collaborate with some of the biggest names in the business. Who would’ve thought that the South Londoner would’ve risen from his humble beginnings in a local theatre with no formal acting training to become a two-time Oscar winner? Yet, the actor has a terrific filmography to show for his career, anchored by his ability to slip into the shoes of any character as though he’d met them a thousand times before.
Michael Caine’s 13 greatest movies:Zulu (Cy Endfield, 1964)The Ipcress File (Sidney J Furie, 1965)Alfie (Lewis Gilbert, 1966)The Italian Job (Peter Collinson, 1969)Sleuth (Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1972) Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971)The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975)Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert, 1983)Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz, 1988)The Cider House Rules (Lasse Hallström, 1999)The Quiet American (Phillip Noyce, 2002)Harry Brown (Daniel Barber, 2009)
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