Michael Caine - 1973 interview

Drama critic Elliot Norton interviews English television and film actor Michael Caine about his career. Caine talks about how he did not go to acting school and was forced into working class roles because of his cockney accent. His acting career started when he answered an advertisement for an assistant stage manager at the Horsham-based Westminster Repertory Company, where he started in some small roles. He later came to London with the Joan Littlewood workshop and the Royal Court. Joan Littlewood ended up firing him because she thought that he was trying to stand out as a solo actor, while she was looking for group actors. He talks about his first film, Zulu (1964), whose producer told him that he had a talent for listening to actors, but could not act himself. He talks about a technique he learned from Spencer Tracy, in which he holds his eyes down and waits for the perfect moment to look up and command the audience’s attention. He notes that Tracy did this because he could not see marks on the ground and thus followed them on the ground until he had to look up. He learned at a young age that it looks better if one does not blink much while acting, so he would practice not blinking. He talks about working with Sir Laurence Olivier in Sleuth (1972). He says that Olivier would call him out on not paying attention if he lost focus for even a moment.