Michael Caine's all-time favourite co-star was a true friend: “That's a ...

Sat 10 August 2024 17:15, UK

Perfectly in keeping with his reputation as one of the greatest actors to ever grace the silver screen, the legendary career of Michael Caine regularly put him in contact with a number of performers who fit the very same bill.

From his debut in 1950’s Morning Departure to his swansong in 2023’s The Great Escaper, the two-time Academy Award winner evolved from a jobbing stage actor to an international superstar, before almost turning his back on the business entirely, only to then embark on a resurgence as a respected elder statesman that lasted almost three decades.

Throughout that period, the list of icons he encountered makes for astonishing reading. Caine has been in an ensemble with Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Anthony Hopkins, Olivia de Havilland, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, David Bowie, Jack Nicholson, and literally dozens upon dozens more.

That comes with the territory when enjoying such a long, lucrative, and illustrious career, but there’s one co-star he held dearer than any other. They worked together in two features and a made-for-TV movie between 1969 and 1977, but they were friends for a while before that and for a long time after.

When asked by Pop Entertainment who he became closest to within the acting world, there was only one answer. “Sean Connery,” Caine responded, even if there was a caveat. “That’s a bit of a cheat, really, because Sean and I were friends anyway before we made the picture. Actors – movie actors – don’t see each other again.”

Their first collaboration came in forgotten small screen drama Male of the Species, before they reunited under much grander circumstances when John Huston directed them as the two leads of The Man Who Would Be King, before their third and final time in the same cast unfolded in Richard Attenborough’s epic war story A Bridge Too Far.

They’d actually met in the mid-1950s, with Caine recalling Connery’s stint as a chorus boy in a production of South Pacific. The producers of the show were seeking actors who could convince as beefy and battle-worn American sailors, but with the London scene offering very slim pickings in that regard, the casting process ventured far outside of the playhouse.

“The producer went around to all the gymnasiums, and Sean was like Arnold Schwarzenegger,” Caine suggested. “He was Mr Edinburgh. He was going for Mr Great Britain and Mr World. He was a big weightlifter, a great big guy. The opening night of South Pacific was a Thursday, and I went to a party on a Saturday night and met him there. He was 24, and I was 22.”

Little did either of them know it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that would span more than half a century and create plenty of memories for the both of them, with Caine and Connery getting up to their fair share of mischief when hitting the town. That was a decade and a half before they’d even appeared in the same project, but the bond was already nigh-on unbreakable.

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