Quotes By Michael Caine

The three actors I admire the most are all dead. Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy and the French actor, Jean Gabin. They're all very natural, sort of masculine without being overly macho.

January is the garbage can of movies in America, directly after all the Oscar contenders have been out.

My own mentality is that I've retired. They send me these scripts and if I absolutely have to do it, then I go to work.

Hollywood is a cross between a health farm, a recreation center and an insane asylum. It's a company town, and I happen to like the company!

Anyone can write. But comedy, you've got to do some writing. You get one comedy script to every 20 dramas.

Things are not quite what they seem always. Don't start me on class, otherwise you'll get a four-hour lecture.

You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one.

When I'm doing an accent, you shouldn't notice it for a while, if I'm doing it right.

I used to get the girl; now I get the part. In 'The Quiet American' you may have noticed I got the part and the girl. It's a milestone for me, because it's the last time I'm going to get the girl.

At 69, I got the girl! And it wasn't a 68-year-old girl, either.

A lot of my best parts I've been the second choice for, so you never get too egotistical about anything.

I don't work very much, and I just sit here waiting for a script that I can't refuse - and I'm not talking about money.

Obsession is a young man's game, and my only excuse is that I never grew old.

My problem was that I was blond. There were no heroes with blond hair. Robert Taylor and Henry Fonda, they all had dark hair. The only one I found was Van Johnson, who wasn't too cool. He was a nice, homely American boy. So I created my own image. It worked.

I'm a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a good scriptwriter.

I wouldn't make an anti-American film. I'm one of the most pro-American foreigners I know. I love America and Americans.

My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.

I've made the transition from star to character actor and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

I am in so many movies that are on TV at 2:00 a.m. that people think I am dead.

I admired Marlon Brando as I grew up. I though he was one of the finest screen actors around.

If you go away on location for three months and your wife stays at home, you've made a whole new load of friends and she's made a whole new load of friends and you get home and you're kind of strangers.

I regard myself as someone who is retired but who occasionally goes out to work. In fact, I'm offered so much good stuff that it's not so occasional.

There's quite a lot of bad stuff written about me. My wife even says a lot of bad stuff about me. But she is wonderful.

If you think you're going to be up for an Oscar, you schedule your moviemaking.

I am a great admirer of other actors, but I never compete with other actors. I always compete with what I did last, and I'm my own most vicious critic. So I'm always trying to do it better.

I see myself as 38, but you don't notice it.

When you reach the top, that's when the climb begins.

Save your money. You're going to need twice as much money in your old age as you think.