“An over-fat, flatulent windbag”: The acting legend who didn’t care for Michael Caine
Any actor who gets their big break studying under one of the greats can count themselves lucky for getting the chance to absorb as much as possible so early on in their career, but it was something of a double-edged sword for Michael Caine.
One of his first notable roles treading the boards came in a 1959 production of The Long and the Short and the Tall, where he was an understudy to the legendary Peter O’Toole. While the latter was no doubt fond of dispensing wisdom to be soaked up by his protégé, it forced Caine into trying to keep up with his mentor’s ferocious appetite for alcohol.
The pair lost an entire weekend after embarking on a binge-drinking odyssey, which was admittedly par for the course on the British acting scene at the time. Caine lived with Terence Stamp during that period, and alongside the likes of O’Toole, Richard Burton, and Richard Harris, it was becoming widely accepted that to be regarded as one of the nation’s finest actors, a copious amount of libations were required.
Harris was famed for his hell-raising antics, with alcoholism and cocaine addiction garnering just as many headlines as his acclaimed work on stage and screen. However, he didn’t take too kindly to being lumped in as one of the hard-partying heavyweights listed by Caine, causing him to pen a three-page letter of rebuttal where he completely, utterly, and absolutely incinerated the two-time Oscar winner.
Describing Caine as an “over-fat, flatulent windbag,” the late Harry Potter star and Oscar nominee eloquently blasted the man born Maurice Micklewhite for being “a master of inconsequence masquerading as a guru, passing off his vast limitations as pious virtues.” Clearly, Harris was not a fan of Caine’s filmography or talents as a thespian, but that was barely the tip of the iceberg.
Continuing to scorch the earth, Harris elaborated on how Caine “once claimed to be England’s Cary Grant, but time proved the evaporation of that prophecy, having neither the charm nor the required sex appeal.” He’d played plenty of on-screen tough guys in Get Carter, The Italian Job, and more, but Harris wasn’t buying that persona for a single second, either.
“Mr. Caine is about as dangerous as Laurel or Hardy or indeed both, and as intimidating as Shirley Temple,” he mused, which left Caine so flustered that he tried to clear the air to no avail. In an interview with Gyles Brandreth of all people, the Jaws: The Revenge paycheque-grabber claimed, “there isn’t a feud because I don’t know enough about him to take part.”
Still, his comments on drinking culture “provoked a nasty attack from Mr. Harris,” which is putting it lightly when he placed Caine’s alleged lack of talents under the spotlight and held them there until they burst into flames and turned to ash.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Michael Caine Newsletter
All the latest stories about Michael Caine from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.