Many happy returns of the day to Sir Michael Caine, born in London on this day in 1933.
In tribute, here’s our list of his most stylish onscreen characters:
1. Harry Palmer
THAT raincoat. Written as an anti-James Bond, Len Deighton’s great creation is brought off the page by Caine who makes him irredeemably cool. That’s the thing about Caine: cool without even trying. Some people are just born with it.
2. Alfie
What’s it all about? Great suits, that’s what. Iconic.
3. Zulu
His first big role on screen – scan the original poster and it will take you an age to find his name in miniscule type. This son of a Billingsgate fish market porter vaults the chasm of the class divide and inhabits utterly the role of the chinless young officer, dashing in his crimson uniform.
4. Austin Powers in Goldmember
What larks! Caine sending up the Sixties with all its outlandish, migraine-inducing colours and wild lapels, ties and flares. Not a look we would ordinarily recommend, frankly, but great fun on the big screen – and Caine is hilarious.
5. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The white suit; the pencil moustache; the slicked back hair. If Caine’s conman wants to make yer flesh creep, then he certainly succeeds. The very definition of Viper in a Well Cut Suit.
Not Fashion. Style. 