Michael Caine’s “crucial” acting break came from “a little old man in a butter factory”
Many people dream of being actors, but few actually take the (often gruelling) steps to become one.
It’s not an easy industry to get a start in, especially if you’re not well-off or have any prior connections, but sometimes, you just have to find a way in – no matter what it takes.
For Michael Caine, a working-class upbringing didn’t exactly prime him for a life on stage and screen. During the 1950s, most British actors were posh and well-educated (as they still are now), and Caine couldn’t exactly see a way in for someone like himself. At the same time, he knew he had nothing to lose, and his dream of becoming an actor wasn’t going to sit at the back of his mind as a ‘what if’. He was going to make it happen.
But how? After appearing in Roy Ward Baker’s Morning Departure as an extra in 1950, Caine would go off to serve in the Army after getting called up to do his national service. Once he was back – a little traumatised but still set on being an actor – he had to find a job to tide him over. This ended up being a rather unusual role, mixing butter, but it was during this period of employment that everything changed for the budding star.
“My first crucial break came from a little old man in a butter factory. When I came out of the army, I was more determined than ever to follow my dream of being an actor, but I had no idea how to go about it,” Caine wrote in his book Blowing the Bloody Doors Off.
Elaborating, “The old man working alongside me said, ‘What the hell are you doing here? A young lad like you. What is it you want to be?’ And I told him. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘I want to be an actor.’ I braced myself for the usual response, but instead of cracking up, he just nodded, like this was a normal thing for someone like me to want. ‘But I don’t know how,’ I said.”
Caine found advice in the most unexpected of places. The man told him to go to a certain newsagent on Charing Cross Road, which stocked a paper called The Stage that advertised for actors, stating that his daughter was a semi-professional singer. So, that’s exactly what Caine did.
The actor added, “That Saturday, I was outside Solosy’s when it opened. I bought The Stage and there on the back page was an advert for an assistant stage manager (plus minor acting roles) with a small repertory theatre company in Horsham, Sussex. Applicants should send a photo. The old man in the butter factory was probably just passing the time of day, but he had given me a piece of advice I desperately needed and set me on my way.”
From there, Caine started working the job in Sussex, and he began to earn small acting parts that eventually led him to bigger projects. By the end of the 1950s, working-class actors were gaining more opportunities in Britain, and Caine was one of the most prominent, taking the following decade by storm with roles in the likes of Zulu, Alfie, and The Italian Job.
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