It was the initial phase of Sir Michael Caine's film career, and he was shooting a pivotal scene in the film.

The cameras rolled, and Caine erupted like a volcano, delivering what he thought was perfection.  To his surprise, the director asked for another take, requesting that Caine underplay the scene.

Caine delivered again, intensely but with a bit of restraint, but to Caine's dismay, another retake and further subtlety were requested.

The cycle continued for a while until, exasperated, Caine said to the director, "If I keep underplaying, I will reach a point where I'm doing nothing."  The director smiled and told Caine, "Now you get it."

This was an important lesson in film acting that Caine never, ever forgot.

Caine's film performances always appeared spontaneous, as if he was reacting to real-life situations — a delicate balance between projecting for the camera and maintaining restraint.  It's being extraordinary by being ordinary.  Caine never allowed the effort to show.

As Caine turns 90, we revisit some of his finest works.

Zulu (1964)

This was Caine's first major film role, about the 1879 siege of Rorke's Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War, where 150 British successfully held off against 4,000 Zulu warriors.  Caine delivers a nuanced performance of an upper-crust English officer who is conflicted about the course of action against the siege.

The Ipcress File (1965)

Caine played Harry Palmer in the thrilling 1965 adaptation of Len Deighton's spy novel The Ipcress File.  Palmer was a working-class intelligence officer, a counter to the fantasy-based James Bond.  Caine's performance of a conflicted patriot with tendencies of irreverence and insubordination was masterful.  It was his first major hit that made him a star.

Funeral in Berlin (1966), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Bullet to Beijing (1995), and Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996) were follow-ups.

Alfie (1966)

Caine played a swaggering cockney womanizer named Alfie who often broke the third wall to confide with the audience regarding his exploits.  Caine's flawless performance caused the audience to empathize with Alfie despite his morally questionable actions and self-centeredness.  Alfie reflected the carefree '60s quite perfectly.

The Italian Job (1969)

Caine leads a ragtag gang of thieves planning to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin in this lighthearted and very entertaining caper.  The film has a rare appearance by Noel Coward.

Get Carter (1971)

Caine played Jack Carter, a cold-blooded British gangster out to avenge the killing of his brother.  Caine delivered perfectly, depicting the cold and calculated side as well as the ruthlessness of Carter in this masterful crime drama.

Sleuth (1972)

Caine was pitted against his acting idol, Sir Laurence Olivier, in this sharp, witty, and invigorating cat-and-mouse thriller.  Caine matched every step with the acting veteran Olivier to make this a darkly funny mystery.

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Caine starred alongside his longtime friend Sir Sean Connery in this adventure based on a Kipling short story.

Connery and Caine played British soldiers who desert the army and embark on an adventure of a lifetime.  As in most of John Huston's pictures, avarice is the central theme.  Connery and Caine brilliantly complement each other in this memorable film.

Dressed to Kill (1980)

Caine plays a psychiatrist whose patient is brutally murdered by a serial killer.  Caine delivers a nuanced and layered performance that is appreciated more upon the second viewing of this unpredictable thriller film.

Educating Rita (1983)

Caine plays a drunken professor who helps a vivacious working-class hairdresser (Julie Walters) receive a formal university education.  Caine masterfully conveys his character's disillusionment with his life and his profession as well as his life-changing experience after encountering an ambitious student.

Hannah And Her Sisters (1986)

Woody Allen's masterful family drama Hannah and Her Sisters explores the relationship between three tightly knit sisters and their extended family in Manhattan.

Caine played an unhappily married man yearning for his wife's vivacious younger sister.  Once again, Caine's skill as an actor makes us empathize with his character despite the character's immortality.  The performance earned Caine his first Oscar win.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Caine and Steve Martin play rival conmen.  Caine plays the upper-class, sophisticated, mustachioed, and Brylcreem-ed veteran against Martin's brash, lowlife crook in this delightful comedy.

The Fourth Protocol (1987)

This is a riveting thriller where Caine plays a British intelligence officer whose mission is to stop a KGB agent's plot to detonate a nuclear bomb on British soil and blame it on the U.S. government. 

Bullseye (1990)

This hilarious comedy of errors had Caine and his longtime friend Sir Roger Moore play dual roles.  The film works largely due to the charming performances of the leads and the scenic beauty of the English countryside.

The Cider House Rules (1999)

Caine won his second Oscar for playing a kind doctor who runs a Maine orphanage during WWII.  Caine ably plays a conflicted character: he is a doting father figure to the orphans but also has occasional flings with the nurses.

The Quiet American (2002)

Caine regards this as his best film performance.

He plays an aging British reporter in Vietnam who falls for a local woman half his age.  Caine delivers flawlessly, conveying his love for his young mistress, the insecurities of aging, and his rampant cynicism about the war.

The Dark Knight trilogy

Caine plays Alfred, who is a father figure, philosopher, and guide to Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan's masterful trilogy, which is the definitive depiction of Batman on the big screen.  Caine brings gravitas, humanity, and the necessary humor to Nolan's Gotham.

Harry Brown (2009)

Caine plays a pensioner who turns into a vigilante when street thugs murder his friend.  Caine's sterling performance as the reluctant avenger sets the tone of this film.  Caine is as menacing as he is vulnerable and inundated by fear of his own mortality. 

Youth (2015)

Caine plays a composer-conductor in retirement who receives an invitation to play his famous symphonies at Prince Philip's birthday celebrations.

Caine is brilliant as the cocky and caustic composer prone to melancholy due to his advancing age.  Alas, the film and his performance didn't receive the attention they deserved.

Beyond his on-screen performances, Caine wrote two memoirs where he recounts his journey from the working-class impoverished part of London to the luxurious mansions in Beverly Hills.

Caine even recorded a TV special on film acting where he shared valuable tips with aspiring actors.

Caine is always a witty, lively, and self-deprecating raconteur on talk shows, often sharing valuable life lessons.

Here's to wishing Sir Michael a very happy birthday and a century in perfect health.

Here's to wishing Sir Michael a very happy birthday and a century in perfect health.

He was born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr. on March 14, 1933.  He opted for Michael White as a stage name, which he thought would be easier to remember, but there was another actor called Michael White, who was prominent on the London stage.  Caine was in a telephone kiosk when his agent asked him to pick another name; he looked around for inspiration, saw that Bogart's The Caine Mutiny was playing at a nearby cinema, and hence "Michael Caine" was born.

It wasn't only his name that was requested to be changed.

The bigwigs of showbiz also recommended that Caine drop his cockney accent in favor of an upper-class English accent — back then, no major actor spoke in anything but a "posh" accent.  But this time, Caine insisted on retaining what he knew was his individuality and what revealed his working-class background.  The result was remarkable.  Caine's voice and accent are among the most recognized in the world.

During the initial phase of his career, Caine was rejected for the part of Bill Sikes in the theatrical adaptation of Oliver Twist.  Caine was distraught because Sikes was a cockney like him.  He began to doubt his career choice — if he couldn't convince the makers of the play he could play a cockney, what chances did he have with other parts?  Had he been selected, it would have presented a steady income for years.  Years later, after achieving movie superstardom, Caine was driving past the theater when he noticed that the actor who got the part was still playing Sikes.  Had he gotten the part, he would still be playing Sikes, and superstardom never would have occurred.  It was an important lesson he learned — not to fret over what is lost.

When Caine was asked why he participated in so many inconsequential films that didn't merit his talents, Caine revealed that the memory of his father passing away penniless never left him.  Caine said he had struggled for over a decade to get leading parts, and once he had achieved stardom, he was going to make the most of it so that he would never be in the circumstances of his father.

Besides Jack Nicholson, Caine is the only actor to have been nominated for an Oscar in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s.

Caine is one of the rare celebrities who sided with Brexit — he said he valued his freedom more than anything else.

Image: TonkBerlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.