121-428: Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite ; 14 March 1933) is an English retired actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over a career that spanned eight decades and is considered a British cultural icon . He has received numerous awards including two Academy Awards , a BAFTA Award , three Golden Globe Awards , and a Screen Actors Guild Award . As of 2017,
242-656: A British Airways pre-flight safety video, appearing with six other British celebrities, including actresses Olivia Colman and Naomie Harris . Promoting the Flying Start children's charity partnership between BA and Comic Relief , they are featured 'auditioning' in humorous sketches while also highlighting important safety messages. As of 2023, Caine divides his time between residences in Chelsea Harbour and Wimbledon , London. He previously lived in Leatherhead , Surrey, in
363-410: A Maxwell House coffee commercial and a friend gave him her telephone number. He called her every day for ten days until she finally agreed to meet him. They have a daughter, Natasha Haleema. Baksh is a Muslim while Caine is a Christian. He reflected in 2009, "My wife is a Muslim and she does Muslim stuff; I'm a Christian and I do Christian stuff, and no questions ever come up. The media view of Muslims
484-598: A Survey of English Dialects fieldworker, concluded that this was not a universal feature of Cockneys but that it was more common to hear this in the London area than elsewhere in Britain. This description may also be a result of mishearing the labiodental R as /w/ , when it is still a distinct phoneme in Cockney. An unstressed final -ow may be pronounced [ ə ] . In broad Cockney, this can be lowered to [ ɐ ] . This
605-409: A cliffhanger , The Italian Job has one of the most discussed end scenes in film; what happened to the coachload of gold teetering over the edge of a cliff has been debated in the decades since the film was released. After working on The Italian Job with Noël Coward , and a role as RAF fighter pilot squadron leader Canfield in the all-star cast of Battle of Britain (both 1969), Caine played
726-480: A multiethnolect particularly common amongst young people from diverse backgrounds. Nevertheless, the glottal stop , double negatives, and the vocalisation of the dark L (and other features of Cockney speech) are among the Cockney influences on Multicultural London English, and some rhyming slang terms are still in common usage. An influential July 2010 report by Paul Kerswill , professor of sociolinguistics at Lancaster University , Multicultural London English:
847-410: A space suit . In a 2010 interview with The Telegraph , Caine spoke of the impersonations and how everyone he meets quotes lines at him, to the point he quotes them quoting him. When asked whether he is ever tired of telling his anecdotes, Caine stated: "I enjoy making people laugh. The trick is to tell them against yourself. If you praise yourself your stories aren't funny." In 2018, Caine starred in
968-480: A "cokenay" as "a child tenderly brought up" and, by extension, "an effeminate fellow" or "a milksop ". This may have developed from the sources above or separately, alongside such terms as " cock " and " cocker " which both have the sense of "to make a nestle-cock ... or the darling of", "to indulge or pamper". By 1600, this meaning of cockney was being particularly associated with the Bow Bells area. In 1617,
1089-654: A BBC Today radio programme interview with Martha Kearney . Referring to The Great Escaper he said, "I keep saying I'm going to retire, well I am now, because I figured, I've had a picture which is — I played the lead and it's got incredible reviews. The only parts I'm liable to get now are old men, 90-year-old men, and I thought well I might as well leave with all this. I've got wonderful reviews. What am I going to do to beat this?" "I kept my cockney accent in order to let other working class boys know that if I made it, they could do it too." —Caine speaking to CNN's The Screening Room in 2007 on retaining his accent. Caine
1210-565: A court orderly in a BBC Television adaptation of the story, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial . Caine moved in with another rising cockney actor, Terence Stamp , and began hanging out with him and Peter O'Toole in the London party scene after he had become O'Toole's understudy in Lindsay Anderson 's West End staging of Willis Hall 's The Long and the Short and the Tall in 1959. Caine took over
1331-641: A cramped flat with an outside toilet, it was luxury." At the age of 10, Caine acted in a school play as the father of the ugly sisters in Cinderella . His trousers' zipper was undone, prompting the audience to laugh, which inspired him to pursue an acting career. In 1944, he passed his eleven-plus examination, winning a scholarship to Hackney Downs School . After a year there, he moved to Wilson's School in Camberwell , which he left at age 16 after gaining School Certificates in six subjects. He then worked briefly as
SECTION 10
#17328516197661452-977: A distinctive visual style wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses combined with sharp suits and a laconic vocal delivery; he was recognised as a style icon of the 1960s. He solidified his stardom with roles in Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), and A Bridge Too Far (1977). Caine received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles as Elliot in Woody Allen 's dramedy Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and as Dr. Wilbur Larch in Lasse Hallström 's drama The Cider House Rules (1999). His other Oscar-nominated film roles were in Alfie (1966), Sleuth (1972), Educating Rita (1983), and The Quiet American (2002)—all four of which were for
1573-455: A few feet to the left, he might have been called "Michael Mutiny". ( Humphrey Bogart was his "screen idol" and he would later play the part originally intended for Bogart in John Huston 's The Man Who Would Be King .) He also later joked in interviews that, had he looked the other way, he would have ended up as "Michael One Hundred and One Dalmatians ". In 1958, Caine played the minor role of
1694-462: A few television films. Caine's performance in Little Voice (1998) won him a Golden Globe Award . Better parts followed, including The Cider House Rules (1999), for which he won his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . In the 2000s, Caine appeared in the comedy Miss Congeniality (2000) as the refined pageant coach opposite Sandra Bullock as the undercover FBI agent. The film
1815-681: A filing clerk and messenger for a film company in Victoria and film producer Jay Lewis on Wardour Street . In 1952, Caine was called up to do his national service . Between 1952 and 1954 he served in the British Army 's Royal Fusiliers , first at the British Army of the Rhine Headquarters in Iserlohn , West Germany , and then on active service in the Korean War . Caine, seeing first-hand how
1936-700: A further four films, Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Bullet to Beijing (1995) and Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996). Caine made his first film in Hollywood 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 . Wayne
2057-677: A house with a theatre which cost him £100,000 to build. He was patron to the Leatherhead Drama Festival. He has also lived in North Stoke, Oxfordshire ; Clewer , Berkshire and Lowestoft , Suffolk. Caine owns an apartment at the Apogee in Miami Beach, Florida . He still keeps a small flat near where he grew up in London. Caine has published three volumes of memoirs, What's It All About? in 1992, The Elephant to Hollywood in 2010 and Blowing
2178-412: A lot of people know that" phrase as a joke in the film Educating Rita . The 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 Caine's character Harry Palmer from The Ipcress File wears oversized, thick-rimmed glasses and
2299-525: A master technician and sometimes he was doing stuff I didn't see, I couldn't register. I'd go back and watch it on the monitor, it was like 'Oh my God, the amount of variety he's put in there is breathtaking". Caine also starred in multiple comedies during this time, including playing Austin's father in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). In 2003 he co-starred with Robert Duvall , and Haley Joel Osment in
2420-653: A new, melting-pot mixture of all those people living here who learned English as a second language ", Kerswill said. A series of new and expanded towns have often had a strong influence on local speech. Many areas beyond the capital have become Cockney-speaking to a greater or lesser degree, including the new towns of Hemel Hempstead , Basildon , and Harlow , and expanded towns such as Grays , Chelmsford and Southend . However, this is, except where least mixed, difficult to discern because of common features: linguistic historian and researcher of early dialects Alexander John Ellis in 1890 stated that Cockney developed owing to
2541-419: A performance that seems to descend perfectly formed. There is no artifice in it, no unneeded energy, no tricks, no effort". Caine earned his sixth Academy Award nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award and British Academy Film Award for his performance. Several of Caine's classic films have been remade, including The Italian Job , Get Carter , Alfie and Sleuth . Caine appeared in Get Carter
SECTION 20
#17328516197662662-652: A recording from a long-time resident of Hackney in the 1950s, and the BBC made another recording in 1999 which showed how the accent had changed. One of the characteristic pronunciations of Cockney is th-fronting . The early development of Cockney vocabulary is obscure, but appears to have been heavily influenced by Essex and related eastern dialects, while borrowings from Yiddish , including kosher (originally Hebrew, via Yiddish, meaning legitimate ) and shtum ( /ʃtʊm/ originally German, via Yiddish, meaning mute ), as well as Romani , for example wonga (meaning money , from
2783-480: A suave English conman, opposite a clumsy American played by Steve Martin , in the crime comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), directed by Frank Oz . The film earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination, losing to Tom Hanks in Big (1988). Caine's other successful films (critically or financially) were the 1980 Golden Globe-nominated slasher film Dressed to Kill ,
2904-405: 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's Harry Palmer character (with the glasses, the girls, and disregard for authority)
3025-479: A variety of spellings, including Cockayne , Cocknay , and Cockney , and became humorously associated with the English capital London . The current meaning of Cockney comes from its use among rural Englishmen (attested in 1520) as a pejorative term for effeminate town-dwellers, from an earlier general sense (encountered in " The Reeve's Tale " of Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales c. 1386 ) of
3146-472: A younger brother, Stanley (1935–2013), who also became an actor, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He grew up in London's Southwark district; during the Second World War , he was evacuated 100 miles (160 km) to North Runcton , Norfolk, where he made his acting debut at the village school and had a pet horse called Lottie. After the war, Caine's father was demobilised and
3267-431: Is Michael Caine. I just want you to know that Peter Sellers is not in. Not many people know that.' He invented that 'not many people know that.' And then everybody who rang him, they got me saying, 'Not many people know that. ' " Over the years Caine himself had parodied his catchphrase and his "interesting facts", and has imitated others' impressions of him. In an interview with Michael Parkinson in 2007, Caine commented on
3388-503: Is a correlation between the two geographic definitions under the typical prevailing wind conditions. The term can apply to East Londoners who do not speak the dialect and those who do. The traditional core districts of the East End include the Middlesex towns of Bethnal Green , Whitechapel , Spitalfields , Stepney , Wapping , Limehouse , Poplar , Haggerston , Aldgate , Shoreditch ,
3509-433: Is a sweet irony that his accent has become his calling card." In 2015 The Times called Caine "the epitome of Sixties cool in his first outing as the secret agent Harry Palmer". A trailer for his second role as Palmer described him as possessing "horn rims, cockney wit and an iron fist". With his distinctive voice and manner of speaking, Caine is a popular subject for impersonators and mimics. Most Caine impressions include
3630-667: Is also transcribed as a semivowel [w] by some linguists, e.g., Coggle and Rosewarne. However, according to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) , the vocalized dark l is sometimes an unoccluded lateral approximant, which differs from the RP [ɫ] only by the lack of the alveolar contact. Relatedly, there are many possible vowel neutralisations and absorptions in the context of a following dark L ( [ɫ] ) or its vocalized version; these include: Cockney has been occasionally described as replacing /ɹ/ with /w/ . For example, thwee (or fwee ) instead of three , fwasty instead of frosty . Peter Wright,
3751-524: Is common to most traditional, Southern English dialects except for those in the West Country . Regarding grammar, Cockney uses me instead of my , for example, "At's me book you got 'ere" [ˈæʔs mɪ ˈbʊk jə ˈɡɔʔ eː] . (where 'ere' means 'there'). It cannot be used when "my" is emphasized; e.g., "At's my book you got 'ere" [æʔs ˈmɑj ˈbʊk jə ˈɡɔʔ eː] . It also uses the term ain't , as well as double negatives , for example, "I didn't see nuffink". By
Michael Caine - Misplaced Pages Continue
3872-472: Is commonly found, and typical Scottish features such as the postvocalic /r/ are reduced. Research suggests the use of English speech characteristics is likely to be a result of the influence of London and South East England accents featuring heavily on television, such as the popular BBC One soap opera EastEnders . However, such claims have been criticized. Certain features of Cockney – Th -fronting , L -vocalisation , T -glottalisation , and
3993-913: Is different from mine, which is very benign and peaceful". Proud of his working class roots, Caine has discussed the opportunities his film career gave him: "I got to play football with Pelé , for God's sake. And I danced with Bob Fosse ." He also became close friends with John Lennon , stating: "With John and I it was a case of bonding because we were both working class and we shared a sense of humour. We were pretending we weren't who people thought we were." His closest friends included two James Bond actors, Sean Connery and Roger Moore . 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
4114-769: Is not wholly correct as they are found in other places across London, including Peckham and Penge in south London. St Olave%27s Hospital St Olave's Hospital was a general hospital serving the Rotherhithe area of London until its closure in 1985. In 1865 the Rotherhithe Workhouse was denounced in The Lancet in its demands for poor law medical reform. There was only one paid nurse, with four pauper assistants. Nurse Matilda Beeton described filth and neglect "where many sick patients were dirty, their bodies crawling with vermin". The Infirmary of St Olave's Union
4235-619: Is one of the most intelligent men among the artists I've known. I don't particularly care to throw the ball to an actor and let him improvise, but with Michael it's different. I just let him get on with it." In 1974, Caine appeared in The Black Windmill , co-starring Donald Pleasence . In 1976, Caine appeared in Tom Mankiewicz 's screen adaptation of the Jack Higgins novel The Eagle Has Landed as Oberst ( Colonel ) Kurt Steiner,
4356-429: Is regarded as a British cultural icon, with Mairi Mackay of CNN stating: "Michael Caine has been personifying British cool since the swinging sixties . He has brought some of British cinema's most iconic characters to life and introduced his very own laid-back cockney gangster into pop culture. He doggedly retained a regional accent at a time when the plummy tones of Received Pronunciation were considered obligatory. It
4477-433: Is traditionally described as having the unaspirated variants. Also, in broad Cockney at least, the degree of aspiration is typically greater than in RP, and may often also involve some degree of affrication [pᶲʰ, tˢʰ, kˣʰ] . Affricatives may be encountered in initial, intervocalic, and final position. This feature results in Cockney being often mentioned in textbooks about Semitic languages while explaining how to pronounce
4598-861: Is used in words such as bath, path, demand . This originated in London in the 16th–17th centuries and is also part of Received Pronunciation (RP). The accent features T-glottalisation , with use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ in various positions, including after a stressed syllable. Glottal stops also occur, albeit less frequently for /k/ and /p/ , and occasionally for mid-word consonants. For example, Richard Whiteing spelled "Hyde Park" as Hy' Par' . Like and light can be homophones. "Clapham" can be said as Cla'am (i.e., [ˈkl̥æʔm̩] ). /t/ may also be flapped intervocalically, e.g. utter [ˈaɾə] . London /p, t, k/ are often aspirated in intervocalic and final environments, e.g., upper [ˈapʰə] , utter [ˈatʰə] , rocker [ˈɹɔkʰə] , up [ˈaʔpʰ] , out [ˈæːʔtʰ] , rock [ˈɹɔʔkʰ] , where RP
4719-500: The Jaws franchise , Jaws: The Revenge (1987), and Without a Clue (1988) (portraying Sherlock Holmes ). Caine's commitment to filming Jaws: The Revenge in the Bahamas meant that he was unable to receive his Academy Award for Hannah and Her Sisters in person and Dianne Wiest accepted it on his behalf. Caine said of Jaws: The Revenge , "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it
4840-757: The Times Educational Supplement in October 1984. Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace Received Pronunciation in the south-east. The phonetician John C. Wells collected media references to Estuary English on a website . Writing in April 2013, Wells argued that research by Joanna Przedlacka "demolished the claim that EE was a single entity sweeping the southeast. Rather, we have various sound changes emanating from working-class London speech, each spreading independently". The Pearly Kings and Queens are famous as an East End institution, but that perception
4961-500: The BBC (except in entertainment programs such as The Sooty Show ) was the RP of Standard English, whereas nowadays many different accents, including Cockney or accents heavily influenced by it, can be heard on the BBC. In a survey of 2,000 people conducted by Coolbrands in the autumn of 2008, Cockney was voted equal fourth coolest accent in Britain with 7% of the votes, while The Queen's English
Michael Caine - Misplaced Pages Continue
5082-706: The BBC Home Service (1963). A big break came for Caine when he was cast as Meff in James Saunders ' Cockney comedy Next Time I'll Sing To You , when this play was presented at the New Arts Theatre in London on 23 January 1963. Scenes from the play's performance were featured in the April 1963 issue of Theatre World magazine. When this play moved to the Criterion in Piccadilly with Michael Codron directing, he
5203-588: The Great Fire of London and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren . Although the bells were destroyed again in 1941 in the Blitz , they had fallen silent on 13 June 1940 as part of the British anti-invasion preparations of World War II . Before they were replaced in 1961, there was a period when, by the "within earshot" definition, no "Bow Bell" Cockneys could be born. The use of such a literal definition produces other problems since
5324-477: 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! Caine later spoke of how Sellers used his impression of him as his answering machine message in the 1970s: "I called Peter one day, he wasn't in. And there was me saying, 'My name
5445-530: The Isle of Dogs , Hackney , Hoxton , Bow and Mile End . The informal definition of the East End has gradually expanded to include such towns in south-west Essex as Forest Gate , East Ham , Leyton , Plaistow , Stratford , Walthamstow and West Ham , as these have formed part of London's growing conurbation . The church of St Mary-le-Bow is one of the oldest, largest, and historically most important churches in
5566-610: The London County Council , stating that "the Cockney mode of speech, with its unpleasant twang, is a modern corruption without legitimate credentials, and is unworthy of being the speech of any person in the capital city of the Empire ". Others defended the language variety: "The London dialect is really, especially on the South side of the Thames, a perfectly legitimate and responsible child of
5687-559: The Royal Shakespeare Company . I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me." He played the beleaguered stage director Lloyd Fellowes in the film adaptation of Noises Off (1992). He also played a villain in the Steven Seagal film On Deadly Ground (1994). He was starred two straight to video Harry Palmer sequels and
5808-659: The glottal stop . Cockney also demonstrates: The diphthong offsets are only fully close in /ɪj/ and /ʉw/ : [əi̯, əʉ̯] . In all other cases, they are more similar to [ɪ̯, ʊ̯] or [e̯, o̯] . According to Beaken, /æj/ and /ɑj/ typically glide towards [ e ] : [æe̯, ɑe̯] , /oj/ towards [ ɪ ] : [oɪ̯] , /əw/ and the wide allophone of /æː/ towards [ ʊ ] : [ɐʊ̯, æʊ̯] , whereas /ɔw/ and /ɒw/ both towards [ o ] : [ɔo̯, ɒo̯] . According to Mott, [e̯, o̯] do not occur at all as glides: [æɪ̯, ɑɪ̯, oɪ̯, ɐʊ̯, æʊ̯, ɒʊ̯] (he does not show /ɪj, ʉw, ɔw/ on his charts). Furthermore, Wells remarks on
5929-579: The 1980s and 1990s, most of the features mentioned above had partly spread into more general south-eastern speech, giving the accent called Estuary English ; an Estuary speaker will use some but not all of the Cockney sounds. The Cockney accent has long been regarded as an indicator of low status. For example, in 1909 the Conference on the Teaching of English in London Elementary Schools issued by
6050-446: The 1981 war film Escape to Victory featuring Sylvester Stallone and footballers from the 1960s and 1970s, including Pelé and Bobby Moore , the 1982 film Deathtrap , and Mona Lisa (1986). In 1987, Caine narrated Hero , the official film of the 1986 FIFA World Cup . That year he starred in the thriller and spy film The Fourth Protocol alongside Pierce Brosnan . In 1988 he played Chief Insp. Frederick Abberline in
6171-408: The 19th century. As the city grew, the definitions shifted to alternatives based on dialect or more specific areas; the East End and the area within earshot of Bow Bells. The East End of London and the vicinity of Bow bells are often used interchangeably, representing the identity of the East End. The region within the audible range of the bells varies depending on the direction of the wind, but there
SECTION 50
#17328516197666292-442: The 2000 American action thriller film directed by Stephen Kay; a remake of his 1971 film Get Carter , in which a younger Michael Caine played the title role. Here in the 2000 remake, Caine's role was originally relegated to a one-scene cameo appearance, which he agreed to do as a favor to his friend Sylvester Stallone. However, after a test screening, additional scenes were scripted and shot to expand his role. The film
6413-449: The 2021 film Best Sellers , Caine suggested that he would not make another film, citing difficulty in walking and his new interest in novel-writing developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns . However, his representatives told Variety that he was not retiring from acting. In 2022, Caine filmed The Great Escaper , a British-French feature film starring Caine and Glenda Jackson , based on
6534-402: The 6'2" Caine that he did not look like a Cockney but like an officer, and offered him a screen test for the role of a snobbish, upper class officer after Caine assured him that he could do a posh accent . Caine believes Endfield offered him, a Cockney, the role of an aristocrat because, being American, he did not have the endemic British class-prejudice. Though he tested poorly, Endfield gave him
6655-550: The BBC was in 1956, where he played Boudousse in the Jean Anouilh play The Lark . Other parts included three roles in Dixon of Dock Green in 1957, 1958 and 1959, prisoner-of-war series Escape (1957), and the crime/thriller drama Mister Charlesworth (1958). Caine continued to appear on television, in serials The Golden Girl and No Wreath for the General , but was then cast in
6776-516: The Batman sequel The Dark Knight Rises , which was released in July 2012. Caine later called The Dark Knight Trilogy , "one of the greatest things I have done in my life." In 2013, Caine appeared in the heist thriller Now You See Me starring alongside Jesse Eisenberg , Mark Ruffalo , Isla Fisher , Woody Harrelson , and Morgan Freeman . Caine played the role of Arthur Tressler, an insurance magnate and
6897-610: The Beatles ' Liverpudlian accents. Zulu was followed by two of Caine's best-known roles: the rough-edged petty-crook-turned-spy Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File (1965) and the titular womanising young Cockney in Alfie (1966). In a 2016 interview Caine cited Alfie as his favourite film of his career, saying, "it made me a star in America as well, and it was my first nomination for an Academy Award". He went on to play Harry Palmer in
7018-624: The Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life in 2018. Caine was married to actress Patricia Haines from 1954 to 1958. They had a daughter, Dominique (who was named after the heroine of Ayn Rand 's novel, The Fountainhead ). He dated Edina Ronay , Nancy Sinatra , Natalie Wood , Candice Bergen , Bianca Jagger , Jill St. John , Élisabeth Ercy and Françoise Pascal . Caine has been married to actress and model Shakira Baksh since 8 January 1973. They met after Caine saw her in
7139-633: The British drama Is Anybody There? , which explores the final days of life. It was reported by Empire magazine that Caine had said that Harry Brown (released on 13 November 2009) would be his last lead role. Caine later clarified that he had no intention of retiring, stating that "You don't retire in this business; the business retires you." Caine appeared in Christopher Nolan 's science fiction thriller Inception as Prof. Stephen Miles, Cobb's ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) mentor and father-in-law. The film
7260-536: The Chinese used human wave tactics, was left with the sense that the communist government did not care about its citizens. Having been previously sympathetic towards the ideals of communism, Caine was left repelled by it. He experienced a situation in which he thought he was going to die, the memory of which stayed with him and "formed his character". In his 2010 autobiography The Elephant to Hollywood , he wrote that "The rest of my life I have lived every bloody moment from
7381-606: The City of London. The definition based on being born within earshot of the bells, cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry , reflects the early definition of the term as relating to all of London. The audible range of the Bells is dependent on geography and wind conditions. The east is mostly low lying, a factor which combines with the strength and regularity of the prevailing wind, blowing from west-south-west for nearly three-quarters of
SECTION 60
#17328516197667502-452: The Cockney dialect is, to an extent, being replaced by Multicultural London English —a new form of speech with significant Cockney influence. The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in passus VI of William Langland 's Piers Plowman , where it is used to mean "a small, misshapen egg ", from Middle English coken + ey ("a cock 's egg"). Concurrently, the mythical land of luxury Cockaigne ( attested from 1305) appeared under
7623-498: The Cockney dialect spread along the main railway routes to towns in the surrounding counties as early as 1923, spreading further after World War II when many refugees left London owing to the bombing, and continuing to speak Cockney in their new homes. A more distant example where the accent stands out is Thetford in Norfolk, which tripled in size from 1957 in a deliberate attempt to attract Londoners by providing social housing funded by
7744-1052: The Four Horsemen's sponsor. The film, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, was a financial success at the box office and spawned a sequel, Now You See Me 2 (2016). He appeared in Nolan's 2014 science-fiction film Interstellar as Professor Brand, a high-ranking NASA scientist, ideator of Plan A, former mentor of Cooper and father of Amelia. The film starred Matthew McConaughey , Anne Hathaway , and Jessica Chastain . In 2015, Caine co-starred in Matthew Vaughn 's action spy comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service starring Colin Firth , Taron Egerton , and Samuel L. Jackson . In May 2015, Caine starred in Paolo Sorrentino 's Italian comedy-drama film Youth alongside Harvey Keitel , Rachel Weisz , Paul Dano , and Jane Fonda . Caine appeared in
7865-612: The London County Council. As with many accents of the United Kingdom, Cockney is non-rhotic . A final -er is pronounced [ ə ] or lowered [ ɐ ] in broad Cockney. As with all or nearly all non-rhotic accents, the paired lexical sets COMM A and LETT ER , PALM/BATH and START , THOUGHT and NORTH/FORCE , are merged. Thus, the last syllable of words such as cheetah can be pronounced [ ɐ ] as well in broad Cockney. A broad /ɑː/
7986-423: The Poseidon Adventure (1979). In the early 1980s Caine appeared in The Island (1980), The Hand (1981), and had a reunion with his Sleuth co-star Laurence Olivier in The Jigsaw Man (1982). During the 1980s Caine enjoyed further acclaimed roles and awards attention. He co-starred with Julie Walters in Educating Rita (1983), for which he won a BAFTA and a Golden Globe Award . In 1986, he portrayed
8107-400: The Romani "wanga" meaning coal), and cushty (Kushty) (from the Romani kushtipen , meaning good) reflect the influence of those groups on the development of the speech. John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary of 1859, refers to "their use of a peculiar slang language" when describing the costermongers of London's East End. A dialectological study of Leytonstone in 1964 found that
8228-414: The area around the church is no longer residential, and the noise pollution means few are born within earshot. Regional definitions are sometimes blurred. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, West Ham United released an away shirt which it called the ‘Cockney Kit’. The promotional material celebrated a Cockney identity for East London based on a territory rather than dialect. The kit featured the Bow Bells on
8349-433: The area's dialect was very similar to that recorded in Bethnal Green by Eva Sivertsen , but there were still some features that distinguished Leytonstone speech from Cockney. Linguistic research conducted in the early 2010s suggests that today, some aspects of the Cockney accent are declining in usage within multicultural areas, where some traditional features of Cockney have been displaced by Multicultural London English ,
8470-451: The bloody doors off!" and, "She was only sixteen years old"—from The Italian Job and Get Carter , respectively. Coogan and Brydon later did their impressions from a balcony at the Royal Albert Hall during a celebration of Caine's work, only to be interrupted by the real Caine informing them that they were out of shape: "For me, it's a full-time job." Craig Ferguson ran segments on his show where he parodied Caine, usually while wearing
8591-460: The catchphrase "Not a lot of people know that." The catchphrase emanates from Caine's habit of informing people of obscure "interesting facts" that he has collected. Referring to Caine as being the "biggest mine of useless information ", Peter Sellers initiated the catchphrase 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
8712-422: The central offglides [ə̯] and [ʉ̯] are transcribed as non-syllabic vowels due to the lack of appropriate glide symbols. Diphthong alterations in Cockney are: Other vowel differences include The dialect uses the vocalisation of dark L , hence [ˈmɪwwɔw] for Millwall . The actual realization of a vocalized /l/ is influenced by surrounding vowels, and it may be realized as [u] , [ʊ] , [o] or [ɤ] . It
8833-468: The children's fantasy film, Come Away (2020) starring Angelina Jolie , David Oyelowo , and Gugu Mbatha-Raw . The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to mixed reviews, with critics praising its performances and lavish production design. In the 2021 film Twist , an adaptation of Charles Dickens ' Oliver Twist set in the present day, Caine plays Fagin . In interviews promoting
8954-483: The commander of a Luftwaffe paratroop unit disguised as Polish paratroopers , whose mission was to kidnap or kill the then- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill , alongside co-stars Donald Sutherland , Robert Duvall , Jenny Agutter and Donald Pleasence. Caine also was part of an all-star cast in A Bridge Too Far (1977). In 1978, Caine starred in Silver Bears , an adaptation of Paul Erdman 's 1974 novel of
9075-797: The company's production of Wuthering Heights . He moved to the Lowestoft Repertory Company in Suffolk for a year when he was 21. It was here that he met his first wife, Patricia Haines . He has described the first nine years of his career as "really, really brutal" as well as "more like purgatory than paradise". He appeared in nine plays during his time at the Lowestoft Rep at the Arcadia Theatre with Jackson Stanley's Standard Players. When his career took him to London in 1954 after his provincial apprenticeship, his agent informed him that there
9196-495: The contract, telling him, "I know you're not, but you gotta face the fact that you look like a queer on screen." Levine gave his contract to his Zulu co-star James Booth. Subsequently, Caine's agent got him cast in the BBC production Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) as Horatio , in support of Christopher Plummer 's Hamlet . Horatio was the only classical role which Caine, who had never received dramatic training, would ever play. Caine wrote, "...I decided that if my on-screen appearance
9317-475: The emergence, acquisition, and diffusion of a new variety , predicted that the Cockney accent would disappear from London's streets within 30 years. The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council , said that the accent, which has been around for more than 500 years, is being replaced in London by a new hybrid language. "Cockney in the East End is now transforming itself into Multicultural London English,
9438-476: 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 2010 television series 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
9559-1128: The family comedy Secondhand Lions . Caine played family elder Henry Lair in the 2004 film Around the Bend . Also in 2005, he played as Isabel's ( Nicole Kidman ) father in Bewitched alongside Will Ferrell and Shirley MacLaine . In 2005, he was cast as Bruce Wayne 's butler Alfred Pennyworth in Batman Begins , the first film in the new Batman film series known as The Dark Knight Trilogy . In 2006, he appeared in Alfonso Cuaron 's acclaimed dystopian drama Children of Men alongside Clive Owen and Julianne Moore as well as Nolan's mystery thriller The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale . In 2007 he appeared in Flawless , and in 2008 and 2012 he reprised his role as Alfred in Christopher Nolan 's critically acclaimed Batman sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises as well as starring in
9680-564: The family were rehoused by the council in Marshall Gardens in London's Elephant and Castle area, where they lived in a prefabricated house made in Canada as much of London's housing stock had been destroyed during the Blitz in 1940 and 1941. Caine later wrote in his autobiography, "The prefabs, as they were known, were intended to be temporary homes while London was reconstructed, but we ended up living there for eighteen years—and for us, after
9801-531: The films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $ 7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is one of only five male actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades. In 2000, he received a BAFTA Fellowship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II . Often playing a Cockney, Caine made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in British films such as Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). During this time he established
9922-618: The fronting of the GOAT and GOOSE vowels – have spread across the south-east of England and, to a lesser extent, to other areas of Britain. However, Clive Upton has noted that these features have occurred independently in some other dialects, such as TH-fronting in Yorkshire and L-vocalisation in parts of Scotland. The term Estuary English has been used to describe London pronunciations slightly closer to RP than Cockney. The variety first came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in
10043-423: The hospital, even her husband did not know the child existed. David died in 1992. In July 2016, Caine changed his name by deed poll to his long-time stage name to simplify security checks at airports. Caine stated that because the security guard often recognised him but was unaware of his real name, it would waste a considerable amount of his time as he tried to prove that he and "Maurice Joseph Micklewhite" were
10164-412: The impersonations of his voice, "I can do it. 'Hello. My name is Michael Caine. Not many people know that.' I sound like a bloody moron. You know where they've got me now? On birthday cards. 'It's your birthday today. Not many people know that'. Now they've got me on Satellite navigation. It's me going, 'take the second turn on the right, and you'll wind up right in the shit. ' " In 1983, Caine used his "not
10285-605: The influence of Essex dialect on London speech. Writing in 1981, the dialectologist Peter Wright identified the building of the Becontree estate in Dagenham as influential in the spread of the Cockney dialect. This vast estate was built by the Corporation of London to house poor East Enders in a previously rural area of Essex. The residents typically kept their Cockney dialect rather than adopt an Essex dialect. Wright also reports that
10406-535: The intention of doing a "big job" in Italy to steal gold bullion from an armoured security truck. One of the most celebrated roles of his career, in a 2002 poll his line "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" was voted the second-funniest line in film (after "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy" from Monty Python 's Life of Brian ), and favourite one-liner in a 2003 poll of 1,000 film fans. Culminating in
10527-485: The laxness of the unrounded offset of /əw/ , which is a kind of a centralized [ ɤ ] : [ɐɤ̯] . In the rest of the article, this is treated as a simple allophonic rule and only ⟨ j ⟩ and ⟨ w ⟩ are used for the diphthong offsets. In narrow phonetic transcription, their rounded and unrounded counterparts are written with ⟨ ɥ ⟩ and ⟨ ɰ ⟩ (phonetically [ʏ̯ ~ ø̯] and [ɯ̜̽ ~ ɤ̯] in fully narrow transcription). Only
10648-491: The lead in Get Carter (1971), a British gangster film. Caine also starred in a comedy thriller Pulp (1972). Caine continued with successes including Sleuth (1972) opposite Laurence Olivier , and John Huston 's The Man Who Would Be King (1975) co-starring Sean Connery , which received widespread acclaim. The Times applauded the "lovely double act of Caine and Connery, clowning to their doom", while Huston paid tribute to Caine's improvisation as an actor: "Michael
10769-687: The lead role of retired composer Fred Ballinger, where he and the film won great acclaim at its debut at the Cannes Film Festival . Caine received a London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actor of the Year nomination for his performance. In October 2015, Caine read Hans Christian Andersen 's "Little Claus and Big Claus" for the children's fairytales app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF , together with Sir Roger Moore , Stephen Fry , Ewan McGregor , Dame Joan Collins , Joanna Lumley , David Walliams , Charlotte Rampling and Paul McKenna . In 2017, Caine
10890-1108: The leading actor category . Other notable performances occurred in the films California Suite (1978), Dressed to Kill (1980), Mona Lisa (1986), Little Voice (1998), Quills (2000), Children of Men (2006), Harry Brown (2009), and Youth (2015). Caine is also known for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and for his comedic roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Miss Congeniality (2000), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Secondhand Lions (2003). Caine portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan 's Batman trilogy (2005–2012). He has also had roles in five other Nolan films: The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), and Tenet (2020). He announced his retirement from acting in October 2023, with his final film being The Great Escaper , which came out in
11011-414: The modern era, noise pollution means that the bells can only be heard as far as Shoreditch . According to legend, Dick Whittington heard the bells 4.5 miles away at Highgate Hill, in what is now north London . The studies mean that it is credible that Whittington might have heard them on one of the infrequent days that the wind blows from the south. The church of St Mary-le-Bow was destroyed in 1666 by
11132-469: The moment I wake up until the time I go to sleep." Caine has said that he would like to see the return of national service in Britain, to help combat youth violence , stating: "I'm just saying, put them in the Army for six months. You're there to learn how to defend your country. You belong to the country. Then, when you come out, you have a sense of belonging, rather than a sense of violence." Caine's film debut
11253-420: The neurotic Elliot in Woody Allen 's ensemble comedy Hannah and Her Sisters , starring Barbara Hershey , Dianne Wiest , and Mia Farrow . For his performance he won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote in 2011, "Caine's performance, so fervent, so agonisingly dedicated, actually gains in force and touching sincerity with the years." Caine also played
11374-575: The old Kentish tongue [...] the dialect of London North of the Thames has been shown to be one of the many varieties of the Midland or Mercian dialect, flavoured by the East Anglian variety of the same speech". Since then, the Cockney accent has been more accepted as an alternative form of the English language rather than a lesser one, though the low status mark remains. In the 1950s, the only accent to be heard on
11495-540: The original, there’s a tremendous nostalgia attached to the original. And quite often they’re not done as well." In the 2007 remake of Sleuth , Caine took over the role Laurence Olivier played in the 1972 version and Jude Law played Caine's original role. Caine is one of the few actors to have played a starring role in two versions of the same film. In an interview with CNN, Law spoke of his admiration for Caine: "I learned so much just from watching how he monitored his performance, and also how little he has to do. He's
11616-457: The part that would make him a film star. Location shooting for Zulu took place in Natal , South Africa, for 14 weeks in 1963. According to his 2010 autobiography The Elephant to Hollywood , Caine had been signed to a seven-year contract by Joseph E. Levine , whose Embassy Films was distributing Zulu . After the return of the cast to England and the completion of the film, Levine released him from
11737-660: The play The Compartment , written by Johnny Speight , a two-hander also starring Frank Finlay . This was followed by main roles in other plays including the character Tosh in Somewhere for the Night , a Sunday-Night Play written by Bill Naughton televised on Sunday 3 December 1961, another two-hander by Johnny Speight, The Playmates , and two editions of BBC plays strand First Night , Funny Noises with Their Mouths and The Way with Reggie (both 1963). He also acted in radio plays, including Bill Naughton 's Looking for Frankie on
11858-462: The reverse as a symbol of the area, and the promotional video included the church of St Mary-le-Bow and parts of East London within earshot of the bells – such as Brick Lane , Upper Clapton and Stratford – as well as a scene in Romford , in suburban East London. Cockney speakers have distinctive accents and dialects and occasionally use rhyming slang . The Survey of English Dialects took
11979-630: The role when O'Toole left to make Lawrence of Arabia and went on to a four-month tour of the UK and Ireland. Caine's first film role was as one of the privates in George Baker 's platoon in the 1956 film A Hill in Korea . The stars of the film were Baker, Harry Andrews , Stanley Baker and Michael Medwin , with Stephen Boyd and Ronald Lewis ; Robert Shaw also had a small part. Caine also appeared regularly on television in small roles. His first credited role on
12100-412: The same month. Michael Caine was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite at St Olave's Hospital in the Rotherhithe district of London on 14 March 1933, the son of cook and charwoman Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell; 1901–1989) and fish market porter also called Maurice Joseph Micklewhite (1899–1957). His father was a Catholic Irish Traveller . Caine was raised in his mother's Protestant faith. He had
12221-540: The same name, and co-starred in the Academy Award-winning California Suite . In the late 1970s, Caine's choice of roles was frequently criticised—something to which he has referred with self-deprecating comments about taking parts strictly for the money. He averaged two films a year, but these included such films as The Swarm (1978) (although critically panned it was Academy Award-nominated for Best Costume Design), Ashanti (1979) and Beyond
12342-616: The same person: Cockney Cockney is a dialect of the English language , mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower middle-class roots. The term Cockney is also used as a demonym for a person from the East End , or, traditionally, born within earshot of Bow Bells . Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation , also widely spoken in and around London, as well as in wider South Eastern England. In multicultural areas of London,
12463-413: The spread of Cockney English since the 1960s. Cockney is more and more influential and some claim that in the future many features of the accent may become standard. Studies have indicated that working-class adolescents in areas such as Glasgow have begun to use certain aspects of Cockney and other Anglicisms in their speech. infiltrating the traditional Glasgow patter . For example, TH -fronting
12584-455: The travel writer Fynes Moryson stated in his Itinerary that "Londoners, and all within the sound of Bow Bells, are in reproach called Cockneys." The same year, John Minsheu included the term in this newly restricted sense in his dictionary Ductor in Linguas . Initially, when London consisted of little more than the walled City , the term applied to all Londoners, and this lingered into
12705-512: The true-life story of a British World War II veteran who 'broke out' of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France, in June 2014. The film was released on 6 October 2023. Caine officially confirmed his retirement from acting on 13 October 2023, mainly because of the decreasing likelihood of him getting any more leading roles. Caine announced his retirement from acting in
12826-611: The two-part TV drama Jack the Ripper , which co-starred Jane Seymour and was produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Jack the Ripper murder spree in Victorian London. Despite his success in the 1980s, Caine also appeared in some poorly received films such as Blame It on Rio (1984), the Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais comedy Water (1985), the fourth and final film in
12947-409: The year, to carry the sound further to the east, and more often. A 2012 study showed that in the 19th century, and under typical conditions, the sound of the bells would carry as far as Clapton , Bow and Stratford in the east but only as far as Southwark to the south and Holborn in the west . An earlier study suggested the sound would have carried even further. The 2012 study showed that in
13068-468: Was a fan of Caine's performance in Alfie and suggested to Caine, "Speak slow and speak low". Caine was always grateful for that advice. Caine starred in the film The Magus (1968) which, although BAFTA -nominated for Best Cinematography, failed at the box office. Caine starred in the 1969 comedy caper film The Italian Job as Charlie Croker, the leader of a Cockney criminal gang released from prison with
13189-515: Was a financial and critical success, earning 8 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. He voiced Finn McMissile in Pixar 's 2011 film Cars 2 and also voiced a supporting role in the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet . He also starred in the 2012 film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island , as Josh Hutcherson 's character's grandfather; the film also featured Dwayne Johnson and Vanessa Hudgens . Caine reprised his role as Alfred Pennyworth in
13310-617: Was a massive box office success and Caine earned praise for his comic turn. That same year Caine also appeared in Philip Kaufman 's controversial yet acclaimed film Quills (2000) as Dr. Royer-Collard opposite Geoffrey Rush , Kate Winslet , and Joaquin Phoenix . In 2001, Caine starred in the ensemble dramedy Last Orders starring Helen Mirren , Bob Hoskins , and Tom Courtenay . Caine's next film The Quiet American (2002) won him great critical acclaim with Roger Ebert writing, "[it's]
13431-540: Was already a Michael White performing as an actor in London and that he had to come up with a new name immediately. Speaking to his agent from a telephone booth in Leicester Square , London, he 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 joked on television in 1987 that, had a tree partly blocking his view been
13552-470: Was among the many British pop cultural influences for Mike Myers ' Austin Powers films. At Myers' request, Caine himself starred in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), with his portrayal of Nigel Powers, father of Austin Powers, spoofing Harry Palmer. A parody of Caine appears in the animated series Ugly Americans , in the episode "The Dork Knight", which also parodies the film The Dark Knight . In
13673-727: Was an uncredited walk-on role in Morning Departure (1950). A few years later in Horsham , Sussex, he responded to an advertisement in The Stage for an assistant stage manager who would also perform bit parts for the Horsham-based Westminster Repertory Company, who were performing at the Carfax Electric Theatre. Adopting the stage name "Michael White", in July 1953 he was cast as the drunkard Hindley in
13794-484: Was cast as Sir Michael Crosby, a British Intelligence officer, in Christopher Nolan 's Tenet (2020). The film starred John David Washington , Robert Pattinson , Elizabeth Debicki and Kenneth Branagh . The film received an American release during the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020 after being delayed multiple times and became a box office disappointment, despite receiving positive reviews. Caine also appeared in
13915-694: Was cast in a spoken cameo role in Christopher Nolan's action-thriller Dunkirk (2017), based on the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II , as a Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot, as a nod to his role of RAF fighter pilot Squadron Leader Canfield in Battle of Britain (1969). In 2018, Caine starred as Brian Reader in King of Thieves , which was based on the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of 2015. In May 2019, Caine
14036-436: Was considered the coolest, with 20% of the votes. Brummie was voted least popular, receiving just 2%. The Cockney accent often featured in films produced by Ealing Studios and was frequently portrayed as the typical British accent of the lower classes in movies by Walt Disney , though this was only so in London. Studies have indicated that the heavy use of South East England accents on television and radio may have caused
14157-692: Was established by Order of the Local Government Board in 1875. After being known as the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Hospital in the 1920s, the facility was renamed St Olave's Hospital in 1930 and transferred from the Bermondsey Board of Guardians to the London County Council . It had 687 beds at that time. In 1948, with the formation of the National Health Service , St Olave's came under
14278-497: Was going to be an issue, then I would use it to bring out all Horatio's ambiguous sexuality." Caine's roles as effete-seeming aristocrats were to contrast with his next projects, in which he was to become notable for using a regional accent , rather than the Received Pronunciation then considered proper for film actors. At that time his working-class Cockney speech stood out to American and British audiences alike, as did
14399-402: Was released in the U.S. on October 6, 2000. Critical reaction was negative, and the film flopped at the box office, with worldwide earnings of approximately only $ 19 million against a production budget of nearly $ 64 million. Stallone said: "Believe it or not, I think Get Carter was really underrated. That was a big disappointment. I learned the hard way that [remakes], even if you do it better than
14520-755: Was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific." "It was absolutely perfect at that time for what I wanted. I could make it, and my daughter could see it. That's why I did it. And it was lovely." ―Caine on playing Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol . In the 1990s, Caine found good parts harder to come by. He played the mysterious bartender Mike in Mr. Destiny in 1990 and appeared with Roger Moore in Bullseye! (1990).He played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). Having been chosen by Brian Henson , Caine stated: "I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with
14641-510: Was visited backstage by Stanley Baker , one of the four stars in Caine's first film, A Hill in Korea , who told him about the part of a Cockney private in his upcoming film Zulu , a film Baker was producing and starring in. Baker told Caine to meet the director, Cy Endfield , who informed him that he already had given the part to James Booth , a fellow Cockney who was Caine's friend, because he "looked more Cockney" than Caine did. Endfield then told
#765234