The many lives of Michael Caine

Michael Caine has come a long way in his 77 years, said Peter Aspden in the Financial Times. Born Maurice Micklewhite in working-class South London to a cockney charwoman and a porter, Caine had a childhood out of Dickens—or J.K. Rowling. An awkward boy with “sticking-out ears’’ and rickets, he was shipped off to the countryside during World War II to escape the London bombings. The abusive couple who took care of him locked him in a closet when they went out. “They took the children in for money, and then didn’t want to look after them.” He shrugs. “Of course, when my mother came, she nearly went to prison for assaulting the woman.”

Later, he joined the army and served in the Korean War. “It was a nightmare,” he says. “But I saw the world, and mixed with people from all classes and societies.” After the service, he turned to acting, and over five decades has been one of the busiest actors in the business, doing dozens of films. “My film career has meant I’ve done all sorts of things. I got to play football with Pelé for God’s sake. And I danced with Bob Fosse. I love being an actor. And I love not being me.”

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