Michael Caine Shares The One Thing Tom Cruise Asked Him When They First Met 40 Years Ago

Michael Caine has shared that a young Tom Cruise asked him for career advice when the pair first met 40 years ago. 

Double Oscar winner Caine, now 91, has penned his memoir called “Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over” and in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper he revealed that he met the future superstar at an event for Caine’s film Educating Rita, back in 1983. 

The British actor recalled:

“I turned around and there was this young actor, very polite, asking questions about how not to be just a flash in the pan. That was Tom, probably around the time of Risky Business.

“I can’t remember what I said, but it obviously didn’t do him any harm! There was something special about him. He had a great attitude, this sense of poise. What interests me is that he is really one of the last true stars in movies. People will go to see a film just because he’s in it. Brad Pitt is a star, Morgan Freeman has some of that quality too. There are so few nowadays — not like John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or Cary Grant.”

Caine added that his wife Shakira arranged a special surprise for his 90th birthday celebration: 

“[Shakira] arranged for Tom Cruise to come to my dinner at the River Café as a surprise. I was very touched.”

Caine has made more than 150 films during a career lasting 70 years. He won Oscars for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and The Cider House Rules (1999).