“I feel like 35. At 35 you’re old enough to know something and young enough to look forward to what you can do with the knowledge. So I stayed at 35!”
SIR MICHAEL CAINE
I have been fortunate enough to meet Sir Michael Caine twice. Once was in a Pinewood restroom during Sir Roger Moore’s Memorial where we both stood and politely nodded at the task in hand.
The second was a pavement dance where we collided one rainy Tuesday afternoon in Soho and were instantly caught in that very British thing of ‘No, you first.’ As I tried to steer clear of Charlie Croker himself, he just collided with me again. At which point Harry Palmer said with a wink in his post-lunch eye “Son, as much as I want to dance all day with you, one of us needs to keep still.” We both then weirdly froze until we parted with a gentlemanly flourish and he jumped in his waiting car with an amused wink and I smiled in the rain at the moment.
Today Mr. Caine turns ninety years old. His creative, social and working worlds have always included Bond alumni, artists and friends. And 73 years after his first screen moment, one of Britain’s few and rare real movie stars is still a force of cinematic, mod and cool nature.
Happy 90th birthday, Carter!
