Sir Michael Caine reveals his secrets to staying youthful: His grandchildren, his career...and his beautiful wife

by Deirdre O'Brien, Sunday Mirror 5/02/2012

Sir Michael Caine: “In my life I’ve always been so fortunate”

He's 78 years old, but movie legend Sir Michael Caine says lots of things in life make him feel years younger.

They include his grandchildren, his beautiful wife Shakira, his astonishing film career... and never looking at his own reflection.

“I don’t feel very old, but I never look in a mirror so I always think I’m about 38,” he laughs.

Forty years after marrying Shakira, Michael says they are as happy as the day they met.

He first saw the Miss World finalist in a TV ad for Maxwell House coffee. He was a bit of a playboy at the time with lots of girlfriends, but was instantly smitten.

Devoted... Michael and wife Shakira have been married for 40 years

He was about to fly out to Brazil to find her... until a mutual pal told him she lived a mile from him in London.

The friend gave him her number and they’ve been together ever since.

And at 65, Shakira is still amazingly beautiful.

“You should have seen her when she was 24,” he says.

“Oh we’re so romantic. We go off on little honeymoons. Every now and again we go off to a lovely hotel called the George V in Paris and have a weekend honeymoon away from everybody.

“Paris is our city. We always do the quote from Casablanca... Humphrey Bogart to Ingrid Bergman, she was saying goodbye and he says, ‘We’ll always have Paris.’ And that’s us two.”

Hardman.. Caine in Get Carter in 1971

Triple Oscar winner Michael, born Maurice Micklewhite into an impoverished family in Rotherhithe, South London, drifted to Paris as a young man.

“I know the city so well. I went there when I was very young and broke. I wound up selling frites on the streets on a hotdog stand.

“I made very good frites actually. And then I went back wealthier and wealthier and was able to stay in nicer and nicer places and to eat at all the great restaurants.”

You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.. Caine in The Italian Job

After complaining that his two daughters were slow to give him grandchildren, Sir Michael and Shakira have recently acquired three, and he couldn’t be happier about it.

“I was 75 and suddenly got three grandchildren. My youngest daughter had a son and the next year she had twins. I’ve got two boys and a girl, so it’s perfect.

“You don’t quite know how wonderful it is until you get them. And then you become completely besotted with them.

“I am, and my wife is even worse. I’m just like the grandchildren now, playing Ben on the iPad. It’s great, fantastic.”

Sir Michael, who has appeared in some of the most memorable British movies of all time, has had one of the longest careers in the industry.

But of all his roles – from breakthrough part Lt Gonville Bromhead in 1964’s Zulu to the title character in 2009’s Harry Brown – it’s as Alfred Pennyworth, the Butler in Batman, that he’s most recognised for.

Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth in Batman

Dark Knight... with Christian Bale as Alfred Pennyworth in Batman

“There was a funny incident a little while ago,” he says. “I was walking along Piccadilly in London and there was a group of 12 Japanese teenagers.

“They all saw me and went nuts. They were all pointing at me and getting little bits of paper out saying, ‘Can we have your autograph?’ And I said, ‘What film have you seen me in?’ And they said, ‘You’re Alfred, Batman.’

“Tiny little Japanese girls and they all knew who I was. Isn’t that great?”