Michael Caine - The Elephant to Hollywood

Sleuth – the hardest and the best work I had done up until then. 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.

The Man Who Would be King – a movie co-starring Sean Connery, my great and long time friend, directed by John Huston, my great and long time idol, in which I played the part intended for Humphrey Bogart, my great and long time inspiration… As the line in the movie went: ‘we were not little men.’

The Italian Job – written for me by my friend Troy Kennedy Martin, shot in Italy, co-starring Noël Coward – enough said…

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – the funniest film I ever made – and the happiest.

Get Carter – based on people I knew in my earlier life (not that they ever found out), this was made partly as a protest against the pornography of violence. And it’s about honour, which was every bit as important where I came from as it was for the British aristocracy or the Sicilian Mafia.

The Quiet American – 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…

Educating Rita – like The Quiet American , I was playing another character I had little in common with – and I got an Academy Award nomination for them both.

Hannah and Her Sisters – I was working with Woody Allen, one of my favourite directors, in New York, one of my favourite places. Oh – and I got an Oscar.

The Cider House Rules – perhaps this character was even less like me – but I got my second Academy Award.

Harry Brown – a beautifully made film by the young first time director Daniel Barber. It was shot on my home patch and shocked me when I discovered just how bleak it had become.

Author’s collection, with thanks to family and friends: 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 19 below, 21 below, 22 below, 28, 29 above, 31 below, 32 above and middle. BBC Photo Library: 5 above and below. BridgeClimb Sydney: 28 below. Camera Press/Keystone France: 11 below.

Corbis: 17 middle/Christian Simonpietri, 19 middle/Albane Navizet, 25 above/Sam Mircovich, 26 below/Fred Prouser. Jillian Edelstein/Camera Press London: 27 above. Getty Images: 6 below, 7 middle, 15 below/Lichfield, 18 above/Terry O’Neill, 19 above, 30 above, 31 above, 32 below. Ronald Grant Archive: 9 below/Otto Preminger Films, 10 below/Lowndes Productions, 14 middle/Palomar Pictures, 15 middle/Allied Artists, 21 above/21st Century Film Corp, 30 below/Sony Pictures Classics. Courtesy of Dorrit Grimsson: 28 above.

Kobal Collection: 5 middle/Diamond Films, 7 below /Universal, 11 middle/Cinerama, 14 below/MGM, 15 above/Allied Artists, 16 above/Dial/Meric-Matalon, 16 middle/Columbia, 17 above/Filmways, 17 below/Warner Bros/Louis Goldman, 18 middle/Orion/Bob Penn, 22 above/Blood & Wine Prods, 24 middle/Castle Rock/Fortis/Ron Batzdorff.

NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images: 24 below. Courtesy of Terry O’Neill: 29 below. Press Association Images: 8 above, 13 below, 14 above/AP Photo/Bob Dear, 24 above/Michael Stephens, 25 below/Fiona Hanson. Rex Features/Everett Collection: 7 above, 9 above, 13 above, 20 below. Rex Features: 6 above/ITV, 8 below/ITV, 10 above and middle/Snap, 11 above/Globe, 16 below/Snap, 23 above/Karen Davis, 23 below/Richard Young, 27 middle/Tim Rooke, 27 below/Richard Young.

Reuters: 22 middle/Mike Hutchings, 26 above. TopFoto: 18 below/PA, 20 above/UPPA.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but if there are any errors or omissions, Hodder & Stoughton will be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent edition.

First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Hodder & Stoughton

An Hachette UK company

Copyright © Michael Caine Business 2010

The right of Sir Michael Caine to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.