Age: 93
male
Sir Michael Caine CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr.; 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinctive South London accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film icon. As of February 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide. Often playing a Cockney, Caine made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in British films such as Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Alfie. His roles in the 1970s included Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), Sleuth (1972), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Eagle Has Landed (1976) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He earned his second Academy Award nomination for Sleuth and achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983) earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) earning him his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Caine is also known for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and for his comedic roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Miss Congeniality (2000), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and Secondhand Lions (2003). He received his second Golden Globe Award for Little Voice (1998). In 1999, he received his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a sympathetic doctor in The Cider House Rules. He portrayed a British journalist in Vietnam in The Quiet American (2002), earning his sixth Oscar nomination, and appeared in Alfonso Cuaron's dystopian drama film Children of Men (2006). Caine portrayed Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012). He appeared in several other of Nolan's films including The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and Tenet (2020). He also appeared in the heist thriller film Now You See Me (2013), the action comedy film Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), the Italian drama Youth (2015) and the crime film King of Thieves (2018). Caine officially confirmed his retirement from acting on 13 October 2023 after The Great Escaper (2023).
Heart of Darkness centers around Marlow, an introspective sailor, and his journey up the Congo River to meet Kurtz, reputed to be an idealistic man of great abilities. Marlow takes a job as a riverboat captain with the Company, a Belgian concern organized to trade in the Congo. As he travels to Africa and then up the Congo, Marlow encounters widespread inefficiency and brutality in the Company’s stations. The native inhabitants of the region have been forced into the Company’s service, and they suffer terribly from overwork and ill treatment at the hands of the Company’s agents. The cruelty and squalor of imperial enterprise contrasts sharply with the impassive and majestic jungle that surrounds the white man’s settlements, making them appear to be tiny islands amidst a vast darkness.
