Michael Caine

(on why the 60s were better than the 70s) Michael: That's why the '60s were so successful. Because with booze you're all out together, drinking. What screwed up the '70s was drugs, because you had to stay at home and take the bloody drugs and you couldn't go out or you got busted by the police. The '60s got finished around 1975 when everybody was high as a kite and couldn't go out. Couldn't find their bloody shoes if they wanted to go out. You don't go out and take drugs.

(on why he doesn't do his own stunts anymore) Michael: I'm 75-years-old. I have done all those years of doing stunts. Nowadays, I try to avoid danger at all costs. I served in the occupation force in Berlin in 1951 and then the Korean war for one year. I got out as quick as I could. Ex-soldiers never do dangerous things because you have used up all your luck.

(on what it is to be British) Michael: I think what is British about me is my feelings and awareness of others and their situations. English people are always known to be well mannered and cold but we are not cold - we don't interfere in your situation. If we are heartbroken, we don't scream in your face with tears - we go home and cry on our own. It's completely to do with your comfort - we don't intrude on your space. That's very English.

Michael: Be like a duck, my mother used to tell me. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.

Michael: My view is that you should always do remakes of failures. Then you've got nowhere to go but up, you know? They can't say, "Well, it's not as good as the original", you made a piece of crap. They'd just say, "What a piece of crap that was" anyway.

Michael: First of all, I choose the great [roles], and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.

Michael: Movie acting is about covering the machinery. Stage acting is about exposing the machinery. In cinema, you should think the actor is playing himself, if he's that good. It looks very easy. It should. But it's not, I assure you. To disappear your complete self into a character is quite difficult. I've tried it 85 times, and I've succeeded two or three times.

Michael: I used to get the girl; now I get the part. In 'The Quiet American' you may have noticed I got the part and the girl. It's a milestone for me, because it's the last time I'm going to get the girl. I'm sure of it, now I'm nearly 70.

Michael: I am in so many movies that are on TV at 2:00 a.m. that people think I am dead.

Michael: I've never been out with a married woman, never. I respect others' properties.

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