Michael Caine didn’t attend the 1987 Oscars where he won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Hannah and her Sisters because he was exhausted from filming Jaws: The Revenge — quite possibly the least respected film of his entire career.
“When people said to me, ‘That was the worst film I’ve ever seen!’, I’d say, ‘Probably, but it paid for a beautiful house for my mother, so what’s your problem?’” he recalls in his new memoir Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over, exclusively obtained by Closer. “Second, I won my first Oscar just after filming Jaws. Talk about a contrast.”
With wit and wisdom, Michael, 91, shares the highs and lows of his long life and Hollywood career in the new book written in a conversational style with coauthor Matthew d’Ancona. In it, he talks about how a strong work ethic, positivity and a bit of luck took him from the projects of south London to Hollywood’s A-list.
“Make an effort to look for the bright side,” advises the two-time Oscar winner who has more than 150 credits to his name. “Very few failures are definitive or even important.”
The son of a fish market porter and a cleaning woman, Michael, who was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, fell in love with the movies during his childhood. Humphrey Bogart was and still is a great favorite of the actor.
“He wasn’t tall, dark and handsome and I looked at him and thought, well, he became a movie star, why can’t I?” Michael recalls.
He joined his first theater group at age 11 because all the pretty girls were members.
“I wanted to be around the best-looking girls,” he says. “And, pretty soon, I realized that acting itself was something I might just be good at.”
Michael Caine’s Body of Work
Michael’s career took off with the 1966 film Alfie, in which he played a London bachelor who discovers the lonely price of his swinging lifestyle. Over the decades that followed, he worked in war epics, dramas, comedies, thrillers, adventure films and more, often appearing in three or more films a year.
“I have a strong work ethic from my upbringing. You never lose it,” Michael explains. “The old saying that the harder you work, the luckier you get — there’s a lot to be said for that.”
In 2023, Michael announced his retirement from films, but that same year he released his first nonfiction novel, a thriller called Deadly Game. He says he started writing it during the pandemic to keep himself busy.
“It was something I’d wanted to do for a long time,” he says. “Shows you can still be doing new things, aged ninety.”
This doting granddad of three adds that although he enjoyed talking about his earlier years for this book, he doesn’t live there.
“You can remember the past with fondness, but you should never get trapped in it,” he says. “We only get one life — or at least that’s what I believe…it is just common sense to treat every day as a gift and make the most of it.”
Michael’s memoir, Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over, is set to be released on March 25.
