WORKING-CLASS HERO

“I'm the original bourgeois nightmare - a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars,” says Caine, who was born in Rotherhithe, southeast London in 1933, to a charlady and a fish market porter.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Christened Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr, Caine is still known by his friends and family as Maurice. He initially adopted the stage name Michael Scott, until his agent informed him that another actor was using it. Looking out of the phone box he was in for inspiration, he saw that the Leicester Square Odeon was showing The Caine Mutiny. “If I'd looked the other way,” he later joked, “I could have been Michael 101 Dalmatians.”

FAMILY BUSINESS

Caine divorced his first wife, Patricia Haines, in 1958 and has been married to Shakira Baksh since 1973. He has two daughters, Dominique and Natasha, one from each marriage. Caine's younger brother Stanley has appeared in several of his films. It was only after the death of their mother that they discovered the existence of an older half-brother, David, a severe epileptic who died in 1992 after a lifetime in hospital.

HAROLD AND MIKE

In 1957 Caine appeared in The Room, the debut play by a fellow actor, David Baron, who informed him that he would write under his real name to avoid confusion with his acting career. “What's your real name?” Caine asked. “Harold Pinter,” was the reply.

ZULU (1964)

Caine was offered his breakthrough role just hours after his 30th birthday, which was the deadline he had set himself to make it as an actor or quit.

ALFIE (1966)

A crucial role in Caine's career - and one that Mike Meyers says influenced Austin Powers - was originally turned down by his flatmate Terrence Stamp, whose mind Caine tried unsuccessfully to change. He later said that he still wakes up sweating, imagining what might have happened if Stamp had followed his advice.

SLOGAN'S RUN

The much-repeated catchphrase “Not a lot of people know that” was actually coined by Peter Sellers when he did an impression of Caine on Michael Parkinson's show in 1972. Eleven years later Caine was given the line to say as an in-joke in Educating Rita.

QUALITY CONTROL

Caine was unable to pick up his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) due to filming commitments on Jaws 4, of which he later said: “I have never seen it but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.”

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

Three of Caine's most iconic films - Alfie, The Italian Job (1969) and Get Carter (1971) - have all been remade. “I wish they would remake the bad ones,” he opined recently.

EXPLOSIVE DIALOGUE

“You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” Caine's line from The Italian Job was voted the best film one-liner of all time by UK cinemagoers in 2003.

MELODY MAKER

Having collaborated with Madness on their track Michael Caine in 1984, Caine, a keen creator of homemade mix tapes, was last year inspired by his friend Elton John to compile his own chill-out album, Cained, which featured tracks by Stan Getz, Eva Cassidy and St Germain.

The HD remastered version of The Italian Job gets its world premiere on Sky Movies on Sunday, as part of a season of Michael Caine films to celebrate his 75th birthday

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