The Elephant to Hollywood

It's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood.

With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all.

Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings us his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven. Hollywood has been his home and his playground. But England is where his heart lies. And where he blames the French for the abundance of snails in his garden.

A plaque now celebrates him at the Elephant in London. His handprint is one of only 200 since 1927 to decorate the hallowed pavement outside that mecca of Hollywood stars, Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

The Elephant to Hollywood is the remarkable full circle of Michael Caine's life.

“uproarious and unflinching”

Michael Caine has so much to talk about he's just written his second autobiography in which, in glamorous detail, he writes about his time working and living in Hollywood. But for all his tantalising titbits about the movie game it's Michael's private life that is the most fascinating, his personal account of hardship and tragedy. - 60 Minutes

'It's filled with anecdotes of his movie career, his big breaks in Zulu and Alfie, as Harry Palmer in The Iperess File and as the ageing professor in Educating Rita, his encounters with the rich and famous, from The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Brigitte Bardot to Laurence Olivier, Sidney Poitier, Jude Law, Scarlett Johansson and other stars both at home and abroad. - The Canberra Times

The Elephant to Hollywood covers some familiar ground, but deals with the later years in the effortlessly entertaining way that seems to come naturally to Caine. If it seems he's name dropping, he isn't he's simply spent his working life surrounded by the great and good and he knows how to tell a good tale. Elephant is up there with the memoirs of the late David Niven. . - Sunday Herald Sun

Reading Caine is like watching him. You can t dislike him. He s the right man to confront us with the deflating realities of his trade. - Weekend Australian

In print, as in person, this gregarious English movie veteran knows how to drop a name and tell a tale... Just make sure that Caine s marvellous Cockney accent is narrating the text in your head as you read. - The Herald Sun

- Mail on Sunday

Mr Caine is a charming raconteur....he writes with a quality that has grown rare among memoirists: good cheer - New York Times

Michael Caine s second work of memoir brims with his gift for genial anecdote, but this time there s a hint of sadness as he looks back - Sunday Times

Sir Michael Caine CBE has been Oscar-nominated six times, winning his first Academy Award for the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters and his second in 1999 for The Cider House Rules. He has starred in over one hundred films, including his first major film role in Zulu in 1964, followed by films including Get Carter, Alfie, The Italian Job, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Educating Rita, and more recently The Dark Knight, Is Anybody There? and Harry Brown. He was appointed a CBE in 1992 and knighted in 2000 in recognition of his contribution to cinema. Married for more than 30 years, with two daughters and three grandchildren, he and his wife Shakira divide their time between England and the United States.

It's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood.With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all.Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings us his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven. Hollywood has been his home and his playground. But England is where his heart lies. And where he blames the French for the abundance of snails in his garden.A plaque now celebrates him at the Elephant in London. His handprint is one of only 200 since 1927 to decorate the hallowed pavement outside that mecca of Hollywood stars, Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The Elephant to Hollywood is the remarkable full circle of Michael Caine's life.

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