Most actors spend their entire career carefully managing what people think of them. Michael Caine spent sixty years saying exactly what he thought and letting everyone else deal with it.

He became an actor for two reasons. One — he couldn't do anything else. Two — he wanted to meet beautiful girls. He said this to an interviewer. Completely straight faced. No pause. No apology.

When he told his father he wanted to be an actor, his father assumed he was gay. Caine explained this was a perfectly reasonable conclusion given how actors carried themselves in those days. He wasn't offended. He just moved on.

The first piece of advice he ever received from a major star came from John Wayne — who pulled him aside after telling him he was going to be famous and said never wear suede shoes. Because the man standing next to you at a urinal is going to recognise you and pee all over your shoes. That was the entire lesson. Caine never forgot it.

He went to a party in Manila during a film shoot. The hostess spent the entire evening looking at him strangely. Eventually walked over and asked if he was a drug dealer. He said no. She said — then why is everybody calling you my cocaine. The party had been running for hours. Nobody had corrected this.

He stood outside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel talking to Cary Grant. A tourist who had been in Beverly Hills for three weeks without seeing a single celebrity ran over, got his autograph, turned to Grant and said you never see any movie stars do you. Grant said no my dear you don't. Caine stood there and said absolutely nothing.

At his knighthood ceremony the Queen told him she had a feeling he'd been in the business for a very long time. Caine said yes ma'am. What he did not say — and spent years telling people he almost said — was and so have you haven't you. He stayed quiet. He has described this as the greatest performance of his career.

He was nineteen years old in a Korean rice paddy, surrounded and outnumbered. He and three soldiers decided they were going to die and charged. They charged the wrong way. Straight toward the enemy. They ran all night. When they realized they were heading the wrong direction they took a left turn and kept running. He told this story on a talk show. The audience laughed. He looked mildly surprised they found it funny.

He accepted his second Oscar for The Cider House Rules and used the entire speech to roast his fellow nominees. Told Tom Cruise directly that if he'd won his price would have gone down so fast. Then asked if Cruise had any idea what supporting actors get paid. Cruise sat in the audience and smiled. Nobody argued.

Two Oscars. One accent. Not one moment where he pretended to be something he wasn't.

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