Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: And Other Lessons in Life

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I recommend this book to everyone, but especially to Michael Caine fans, actors and people aspiring to be actors. At the very end the book does devolve a little too much essentially into lists of actors he's met and friends that have passed away. Then, I switched to the audiobook read by the author himself and just loved listening to Michael Caine tell his story in his own sublime voice. Hollywood legend, British national treasure and raconteur Michael Caine shares the wisdom, anecdotes, an insights that life has taught him.

His wonderful personality, sense of humour and talent really shine through the pages and it was such a treat to read about his life. Over my 60 years in the movie business and my 85 years of life, I have learnt a lot from my many glittering successes and my many disastrous failures.One thing is certain Sir Michael Caine is still very much a busy actor even only because Christopher Nolan does employ him on a very regular basis, most famously as Alfred the butler in the Dark knight trilogy. He comes across as a lovely, accepting, and kind man and speaks with much grace about all the actors and directors he has encountered and sometimes developed deep friendships with over the years. Over the six decades of his remarkable career, film legend Michael Caine has starred in some of the biggest movies of all time – and made it look easy. This is good advice, although I'm not sure we then need so complete a run-down of all the steps he takes in preparation for a day's performance, from packing his bag the night before, getting a good night's sleep, and allowing for unexpected delays in the journey.

Michael Caine says he's been extremely lucky in life, and perhaps that's true, but he's also worked--worked very hard--to be where he is today. My one big take-away from reading this was learning that Caine is not a rich, movie star, playboy, but rather a down-to-earth good guy who cares more about family than fame. If you want to know more about his biography go to Elephant to Hollywood and, if you are interested in, try this one after.He has starred in a huge range of films from the classic British movies Alfie, Zulu and The Italian Job. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

In addition, Caine speaks with great wisdom about acting and all aspects of film making, which I found truly fascinating. Caine not only waxes lyrical about his friends and family but entire sections of the book read like extended acknowledgements to those who've helped him on his way, from the bloke at the butter factory where Caine was working who first told him about the Stage newspaper, to Hollywood royalty John Wayne. Although primarily aimed at those with a yen for performance, his advice is useful for anyone wanting to better themselves. He refers a bit to his time in the infantry, of which he observes almost everything is pleasant by comparison.He is such a celebrated, successful actor that it would be easy for him to lose perspective, but he didn't. There's something refreshingly wholesome about Caine's unpretentious attitude, even if it doesn't always make for the most thrilling reading. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. With brilliant new insight into his life and work and with his wonderful gift for story, this is Caine at his wise and entertaining best. He was forced to take on plenty of "dead-end" jobs en route to the heights of stardom – from washing dishes to packing laundry and working in a steel yard .