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Actor Quotes by Michael Caine

40 Actor quotes by Michael Caine

All Actor quotes Michael Caine’s page

Michael Caine says great acting feels like watching a real person, not a performance. He recalls years of playing a new character each week, showing how actors can switch roles quickly. He also notes that a star must be able to carry a whole movie on their shoulders.

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In England, I was a Cockney actor. In America, I was an actor.

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To be a movie star, you have to invent yourself.

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As an actor, I'll play anything.

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I just work in order to improve myself as an actor which is what I've always done.

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I learned about life before I went into the theater, which is why I've been so happy. I was a soldier.

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I'm not a betting man, and even if I was, I certainly wouldn't bet on this! I would not bet on the…

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If I work with a bad actor, my reaction is to immediately become worse than they are.

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That to me is what my idea of film acting should be. There shouldn't be any acting. You should just be watching…

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I've made the transition from star to character actor and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

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My view of actors is that basically they're all harmless lunatics who'd be on the psychiatrist's couch.

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The first actor I ever saw was The Lone Ranger. I thought, That's what I want to do.

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I am a great admirer of other actors, but I never compete with other actors. I always compete with what I did…

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The three actors I admire the most are all dead. Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy and the French actor, Jean Gabin. They're all…

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In film, other actors' performances really are not your concern. If the other actor isn't giving you what you want, act as…

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My view of actors is that basically they're all harmless lunatics who'd be on the psychiatrist's couch, except that we get this…

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When you're a movie star and you're young, you are always playing someone who's a better fighter, a better lover, a better…

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When I was a young actor I was in a lot of film doing one day work and two days' work, and…

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The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this - a movie star will say, 'How can I change…

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My closest friends are Roger Moore, who is an actor, Sean Connery, who is an actor, Terry O'Neill, who is a photographer,…

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If you really want to become an actor, but only providing that acting doesn't interfere with your golf game, political ambitions and…

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To be a movie star, you have to carry a movie. And to carry a movie where you play the title role…

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The old guys like me started in the theatre. I was in the theatre for nine years.

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The best research for playing a drunk is being a British Actor for twenty years

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My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.

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If you're a leading actor you don't work with another actor. You work with a lady.

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I'm forever testing myself. As a person and as an actor, I have no sense of competition.

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The best research for playing a drunk is being a British actor for 20 years.

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If you're an actor and you don't act for a long time you sort of think, I wonder if I can still…

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I'll always be there because I'm a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I've any talent is beside the point.

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People say I've 'retained' my Cockney accent. I can do any accent, but I wanted other working-class boys to know that they…

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You can see all sorts of things in film acting if you know where to look and what to look for. One…

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If you're a movie star, you get the girl, you lose the girl, and then you get her back. But if you're…

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Such is an actor's life. We must ride the waves of every film, barfing occasionally, yet maintain our dignity, even as the…

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When you're a young actor you ring your agent every evening. It's not like when you're in Hollywood where you do one…

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I was a repertory actor, which meant that I did a play every week. I was a different character every week; for…

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I had been nine years in the theatre and hadn't had massive success. My only thing was I wanted to be an…

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“In a close-up, choose just one eye of the actor you’re playing opposite, don’t skip between the eyes or you will just…

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Since I was 19, I've had the most fun possible every single day, even when I had a rough life. It was…

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Movie acting is about covering the machinery. Stage acting is about exposing the machinery. In cinema, you should think the actor is…

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Let me put it this way: If you're sitting in a movie and you're watching me, and you say, 'Isn't that Michael…

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More by Michael Caine

That to me is what my idea of film acting should be. There shouldn't be any acting. You should just be watching a real…

Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser

If you're a leading actor you don't work with another actor. You work with a lady.

“Be a duck, remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.”

I try to make everyone around me feel comfortable.

You can see all sorts of things in film acting if you know where to look and what to look for. One thing I…

I was a repertory actor, which meant that I did a play every week. I was a different character every week; for a year,…

You start pretending to have fun, you might have a little by accident.

If you held a pistol at my head, I couldn't tell you who they're going to vote for Best Actor.

I wear a baseball cap all the time, which I would never normally wear, and I walk very fast.

I've always loved reprehensible people because they're so much more interesting to play on screen.

I want to stick around with the big boys. I don't want to be in the old folks home.

I've been on movies where I literally couldn't hear what the other actor was saying. It's very awkward.

My father was a fish market porter. So I grew up on fish, because he used to steal one a day, I grew up…

The trouble with women? Elbows.